The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-09-25
Rev, 7. ]. Gattis Writes
Continued from Ninth Page.)

according to the testimony of the venera-
bic Rev. +. G. Herbert, was a storm
centre in his native State. and who, ac-
cording to the testimony of President j.
3. Haynes, said at our late General
Conference held in the city of Baltl-
more: "The men in the South Carolina
Conference, who are opposed to me are
a set of white-ivered towards" and
who. since he came to North Carolina,
according to two reliable witnesses, sent
to the venerable Dr. Kingsbury, Of Will
mingtOn, n. c., this message: You are
n hypocrite. and Ihave the medicine for
you, and the preachers at my back.
Yes, it has been left to this man to
declare that r. ]. Gattis is Il slanderer,
backbiter. maligner. stabber in the back
and worse than highway rObber. But
as to all these things, ! am willing to
leave the verdict to the true and un-
prejudiced men and women of both
North and South Carolina. Once more,
he said in his speech at his investiga-
ton that Dr. Peacock testified that l
had slandered him John G. Kilgo) to
DIR. Peacock This is not according to
Dr. PeacOck's testimony, so | pass 1T by.
All the SANDERS and falsehoods. mlsrep-
resentation and innuendoes in reference
to myself, about which | have written
in this article, were uttered by John
C.. KilgO, in a speech delivered to the
trustees of Trinity college, on the 31st
of August, 1898. and thousands of cop
les of this speech, by his authority or
his consent, have been published in the
Dol t,.h no oil oh
Observer and other papers of the State,
and about ten thousand copies of it are
being published in pamphlet form to be
scattered far and wide through North
and South Carolina, and though seven
of the trustees who were present live
in our town and three of the trustees
were in my store within the next two
or three days after the investigation,
heard not one word of these ISLANDERS
and Misrepresentation and falSehOOds
until ! saw them in this speech pub
lshed in the Raleigh Post And this
is the man who was Il storm centre in his
own State and Conference before he
came to North Carolina, and who has
been for about three years past, l be-
lieve, the greatest disturber of peace
and fomenter of trouble in educational
matters and in our beloved MethOdism
that North Carolina has had for forty
years. This is the man who is at the
head of Trinity college, one of the sue
cessors of the great and self-sacrifcing
Braxton Craven. This is the man who
has harped upon and rung the changes
on the words, Christian Education, from
mountain to seabOard, until the very
term itself has become offensive to
many among the noblest people in our
own and other churches.
Just as am about 10
close this article, the North Carolina
Christian Advocate, the organ Of our
North Carolina Conference, Of this week
issue, has been handed to me. The first
editorial in this issue has the following
heading, SIN the Interest of Justice and
Truth" But / ask, where is the justice
and where is the truth, about which he
is talking, to be found. and when will we
have the peace for which the editor says
he so earnestly prays. A minister of our
church and conference is earnestly re-
duested by one of the leading trustees
of our college to go before that body, in
the interest of the church and the college,
and testify to what he knows to be a
fact. He is advised by the president of
the board of trustees to go on the witness
stand and testify to the truth, however
painful it may be to him. He takes this
advice, and in the performance of what
he believes to be a duty, he testiGes to
n simple fact, which is one of the least
of all the sins Of which the defendant
in this case is accused, and that minister,
whose reputation was hitherto unsullied
-, Ill 4loA &c
in ridicule, contempt and scorn, is called
a slanderer a maligner, more to be
dreaded than n highway rObber, and
twenty-five of his brethren listen to all
this and not one word of protest is of
fered by them. But the statement is
made that the speech in which all this is
said is one of the finest ever heard, and
that the vindication of the man who made
this speech is complete. My dear brother,
you may cry peace, peace, peace, as
long and as loud as you please, but there
is no peace, there will be no peace, there
can be no peace while all this is endorsed,
or allowed, and the man who does it is
said to be completely vindicated.
And just here l want to add my sol
emn protest against the attempt Of DIR.
KilgO and his friends trying to make
the impression that a criticism of him
and his conduct is an attack on the
college or the trustees or the church.
Such an attempt ought not, and | trust
will not, deceive even children. To testi-
fly before that board of trustees as to
John G. Kilgo's reputation in South Car
Dina was Il very painful duty, and one
of the most painful things that l have
ever had to do in a ministry OF almost
forty years has been to write this article
in my own defense, but have written it
in the fear of God and so far as / know
myself, in the love Of truth and my
church. | think | have counted the cost.
If / stand or fall alone, let it be so. If
my head, literally or figuratively, is to be
cut off by m brethren or those in authori
ty over me for doing what ] believe to
be my duty, then let it fall. But think
know something of the mind and heart
of the MethOdists and many other good
people of both North and South Carolina.
With the facts before them, leave the
result in their hands, believing that by
and by the clouds will be dispelled the