The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-09-12
No. 81

ing Judge Clark and helping him out
of his trouble into which he was dragg-
ed by this traducer of the defendants
character. Mr.. Gattis said they lived
in Durham and are not members of this
board and when urged if they had any
connection with this court he said, "I
will not say" Why? Because Mr,
Boone happened to>be witness in this
court. There is where the connection
came Judge Clark would have kept
man who was not willing to stand by
what he said to Judge Clark and they
forced him to open his lips here. They
no doubt told him you cannot play the
coward this way, since Judge Clark had
made statements ON your authority.
That is the situation of the case as it
appears to us, and if it is not true when
we find It out, we will retract it before
you, but we cannot now with the pres
ent light before us. We cannot reach
any other conclusion than this which
we bring before you now.
You recollect that we set out to find the
original informant, and satisfactorily
to our minds we have found him. We
ask YOU, gentlemen, before you fling
away the arguments that we have
made and the conclusion that we have
drawn to weigh every inch of that tes-
dmony well.
President Kilgo was summoned to
South Caronna by the prosecution to
take depositions on the charge against
his South Carolina reputationS The
prosecution secured only two witnesses,
MeSsrs. Ligon and Jennings Out of all
the thousands in South Carolina, only
two men could be secured as witnesses
by the prosecution Think about that.
Only two men out Of more than q mill
lion people in South Carolina. The de-
fendant} puts on the stand thirteen wit
nesses, and could have put on the stand
thousands had he been so disposed and
time would have allowed.
We call your attention to the class
of these witnesses. Mr.. Ligon is a
preacher and president of the Holiness
Association and that means very much
IN South Carolina. It may not mean
much to the North Carolina mind, but
It means very much more to a man who
has wrought earnestly in South Caro-
ina. According to Mr.. Ligon's own tes-
timony he knows very little about Pres
ident Kilgo. He said "We were never
closely associated" He was asked if he
was an intimate friend Of DR.. Kilgo's.
They only had a conference associa-
ton. Now there is this statement to
start out with. He also admits that
President KiIgo was opposed to his pc
culiar notions of santincation and that
there had been friction between mem
bers of this association and those who
did not belong to it. The defendant has
had those men to come to him in the
congregation, and try to lead him to
the altar. He has sat in the congrega-
ton and been abused along with the
other men who did net agree with
them; has been stopped in the midst
of his sermons by men who attacked
him becauSeAhe said something that did
not exactly agree with them. They in
trUde themselves into other pastorateeE
they encourage each other in it. One
Of the witnesses says that Mr.. Ligon's
mind is biased and that he is thought
~ L.
that the worst thing in this whole
thing is that these brethren are un-
teachable, and some of us know some-
thing about that.
Mr.. Jennings, a witness for the prose-
cution, says that DR.. KiIgo was not
liked by these men because he was not
one Of them and even names Mr.. Ligon.
Mr.. Jenning is a witness for the prose-
cutiOn, and he says that President Kill
go was not liked by Z those Holiness
brethren, and doesn't stop at that, but
says that Mr.. Ligon is the president
of the Holiness Association, specifying
him. Mr.. Brown says that there has
been friction between these two classes
in South Carolina.
Mr.. ]. W. KilgO testified that Mr. Lii
gon was complained against at one OF
his conferences for encouraging some
Of these men to go in the bounds of an
other mans pastOrate.
The spirit of Mr.. Ligon is shown in
his efforts at testimony. I say "ef-
forts" gentlemen, because he gives no
CleaF-cut testimony from start to fin
ish. We looked Mr. Ligon straight in
the ewes when he was on the stand
and saw his lodging. Some of the
word ouibbling that Mr.. Ligon deals
in in unworthy of him. He said the
character of Mr.. Kilgo was good.
When asked how about President Kill
gOs reputation he said: His official
reputation is bad, but his moral char
acter is good The defendant now
wondered in what sort OF a fix he will
be when his moral character gets to
Heaven and his official character goes
to hell. There is but one way out Of
this dilemma-that is to get the Sec
ond Blessing and save the official
character.
In his efforts at testimony Dir. LgoR
fails to tell ANYTHING he knew, at
temptS to report rumors. Go through
his testimony, and everv word Of it
is rumor, but these rumors he seems
to retail with a special decree of pleas
ure. All this shows that in spite Of
his high professions of holiness he has
gathered an amount Of gossip against
three men in his conference, one now
dead, and retails it. DR.. Davis Kirk
land who if he were living today, sirs,
would be here to answer for himself,
must be dragged out Of the quiet sepul-
chre where his friends put him just
the other day, it seems, and by men
who profess entire satisfaction, abso-
luteIy brought into this court. VIII q
man so far lose his sense of duty as to
retail rumors on the dead? Will men
not quit lying on a man when he is
dead? Will gossip follow him to the
gates of the eternal world and bonn
bard them with their falsehoods till
they shake the confidence of angels in
the newborn saint? Mr.. Beckwith and
Mr.. Ligon could have allowed Davis
Kirkland to rest I'm his grave. The de-
fendant knew the poor fellow and he
stands today to defend his dead broth
er and friend against any such gossip.
He had enough. God knows he had
enough to bear, and vet he must be
dragged out of his grave and dragged
into this court to be a party to false
rumors against a friend. on whose
bosom he leaned till his dying day.
We wish you to charge this to the
spirit of this witness.
The defendant protested against
this as hearsay testimony. Yet the
deputy, Mr.. Beckwith, seems to have
drawn the conclusion that the defend
ant was utterly helpless and totally ig-
norant O. the laws of evidence. This
deputy did not ask about the general
character and reputation of the de-