The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-09-11

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| one of them and even names Mr.. Iigon.
MIR. Jenning is witness for the prose
| cution, and he says that President xii
go was not liked by those Holiness
brethren, and doesn't stop Mt 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.. Ii
gon was complained against at one of
| his conferences for encouraging some of
| these men to go in the bounds of anoth-
| er mans passionate.
The spirit of Mr.. Ligon is shown in
his efforts at testimony. | say efforts"
| gentlemen, because he gives no clear cut
| testimony from start TO finish. We
| looked Mr.. I.igon straight in the eyes
| when he was on the stand and saw
| his lodging. Some of the word quib
| bling that Mr.. Ligons deals in is I'M
worthy of him. He said the character
| of Mr.. kilgo was good. When asked
how about President I<ilgo's reputation
| he said: His official reputation is bad
but hs moral character is good" The
defendant now wondered in what sort
| of fix he will be when his moral char
acter gets to Heaven and his official
character goes to hell. There is but one
way out of this dilemma-that is to get
the Second Blessing and save the official
character.
In his efforts at testimony Mr.. LigOn
fails to tell anything he knew, attempts
to report rumors. Go through his testi-
m0ny, and every word Of it is rumor,
hut these rumors he seems to retail with
a special degree of pleasure. All this
shows that in spite of his high profess
Sions Of holiness he has gathered IN
amount of gossip against three men in
his conference, one now dead, and re-
tails it. DIR. Davis Kirkland, who if he
were living to-day, SirS, would be here
to answer for himself, must be dragged
out of the quiet sepuchre where his
friends put him just the other day, it
seems, and by men who profess entire
satisfaction. absolutely brought into this
court. Will man SO far lose his sense
of duty as to retail rumorS on the dead?
viii 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.
Lyon could have allowed Davis Kirk
land to rest in his grave. The defendant
knew the poor fellow and he stands to-
day to defend his dead brother and
friend against any such gossip. He had
enough. God knows he had enough to
bear. and yet he must be dragged out
of his grave and dragged into this court
to be Il party TO false rumors against Il
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
rs hearsay testimony. Yet the deputy
Mr.. Beckwith, seems to have drawn the
conclusion that the defendant was ut
terly helpless and totally ignorant of the
laws of evidence. This deputy did not
ask about the general character and rep
utation of the defendant, but sought for
special rumors. Such methods are
against the ethics Of the legal profession
and beneath the dignity Of Il heightened
lawyer
Mr.. Lyon said that he saw President
ki1go ut the Laurens Conference button
holing men, and when asked if he knew
what President Kilgo said to them he
said, mo, sir, / only supposed he was
drumming them" Mark you, he said
on the stand, this professor of entire
sanctificatiOn, at the head of the Holt
ness movement in his State, that be-
cause he saw two gentlemen walk to-
gether to or from the conference room
or walk aside in the conference room, he
sat there and suspected them of I'M
worthy manipulations. 1t takes no re-
ligion to save a man from that kind OF
suspicion Mr.. Ingersoll is pious enough
not to suspect two gentlemen talking
with each other. That kind of spirit in
the ministry would do the church of
God more harm than all of the infides
from the day, sirs, of creation down to-
the time OF Herbert Spencer, Tyndall
and the whole lot of infdel giants. All
these facts, gentlemen, go to show the
suspecting spirit of this President of the
Holiness Association and his unfair
spirit in thinking of men who do not
agree with him.
The other witness is Mr.. Jennings, a
lawyer of Spartanburg, man of a
high order Of intellect and the truest
character. He is incapable of anything
dishonest The day he was examined,
he was sick and this accounts for the
incoherences in his testimony. Honesty
requires this explanation.
Now, gentlemen, let us see what these
two witnesses testify. They are the
men by whom Judge Clark expects to
prove that the president of Trinity col
lege had the reputation in South Caro-
lima of being a wire-puler and ward
politician. Look at this testimony.
Mr.. Ligon says that President Kilgo's
character is good, was never complain
ed against He was asked the question
if there had ever been any complaint in
the conference against President Kilgo,
and he said. "No, sir" Here are his
words His moral character was good
but some of his brethren did believe that
he was somewhat of a manipulation; that
is, that he was not mean nor low.
Now mark you, your charge is mean or
low manipulator-man of the
ward politician type. Your own witness
says that even the rumor, is not that he
is low and mean manipulation, that his
character is good and his manipulation
is good. 1t is not mean, it is not low.
Whatever is not mean or low is good and
high and there is nothing grander than
Il manipulation on a high scale. God him
self from his eternal throne manipu-