The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-09-12

the knit brow of distress he wore. these
men come here and say that he is a
frank, open, independent man who
stands on his manhood.
And yet, here is this man, Judge
Clark, who, mark you, was not present
on the occasion of that speech, who
never sat with the defendant, outside of
this Benefactors Parlor, three hours
together socially, man upon whom is
the ermine of the Supreme Court of
North Carolina, sitting in judgment up
on the innocent, frolicSome spirit of the
defendant, when with his boys, they
went to thank a good old gentleman for
u 4 rich benefaction which he had be-
slowed upon their institution. That
vas no mean hour to us; other men
may have cursed it as an hour of bar
! tering away manhood; other men may
nave shed false tears and mourned hy-
pocritically over what they. thought
was a degradation OF this Institution;
Il but in that crowd, that happy laughing
crowd. assembled on the green of that
OH gentleman's yard sat that night
men who knew Trinity when she was
small and poor and who know her now,
and are thankful to a Providence that
led her amid her strifes and protects her
IN her wealth. They loved Trinity in the
dark days and they did not that night
90 to barter their institution to any
body. Because the defendant told MIS-
t"r:Ctl Truth, that he, Mr.. w. Duke is
the 81 eateSt Fenefactor in the South,
he is charged with sycophancy. Have
W II. 81 ut!fmen of the Board of Frus-
tees, como here year nv year, ana s. IN
the defendant Lariar this institution IF
fi'r small gains, absolutely. trading its
! character for a few shei1als and
lettering it out in the pastures on -Pn-
litical grazers, and have you kept your
lips closed? That is a charge that
. doesn't simply strike the President, but
/. it charges the last man, from Judge
Clark down, with being a party to a
fearful crime, and that crime in re-
ligiOus matters.
\ young man, Mr.. Council, says the de-
fendant made an impromptu speech,
that he said nothing that Judge Clark
published, that he made a humorous
reference to Mr.. Dukes home. All, let
me say, after an association of fifteen
} long and eventful wears with men,
measuring their characters by the
standards Of truth, by which we meas
ure them under the ordinary conditions
of life, that a man who leaps at such
small, insignificant things as these to
make Of them crime, is man whose
spirit would degrade praying into crime
if his interests so indicated to him.
We come to the speech as the third
charge. The defendant is made to ut
ter a speech, which, If true, is bias
phemous. What are the facts in the
case? The speech was made in the
presence of several hundreds of people,
and evidence is ample that no such
speech was made. The witness for the
prosecution says it was not made. Mark
you, this is no indirect discourse, at
tempted to be quoted, but it is posi-
tive statement that in the spirit of
i sycophancy President KiIgO made this
speech, and in it attempted to defame
the courage of Mecklenburg, wipe out
the Iustre of Bethel. stamp out the
glory of Cardenas, and on this dust
and wreckage erect a god of gold.
What does Mr.. Bivins say, a student
who has been in the class room with
the defendant and heard his private
talks to his students. and when he
spoke his thoughts out frankly, as Mr..
Bivins says he always does? What does
Mr.. Bivins say? HE points us to high
standards" Just contrary to Judge
CIark's charge; he tries to lift the
minds of his students to the heights of
Shadrach, Meshach and AbednegO,
where, in defiance of the assembled
hosts, they will not bow at the sound
of music, but stand out and declare
that manhood and truth are above dol
lars and pennies. A number of witness
eS, gentlemen, went on the stand to
testify as to this same fact, men who
mark you, were standing close by the
side of the defendant on that occasion.
Every man of them SAYS, mo such
speech was uttered" They testify, on
the contrary, that the spirit of the
defendant is reVeTent spirit, that ne
-
fer God and the truth, and that he new
er takes such high language as the cor
OnatiOn declaration of God when He
shall crown His son, and drags it down
to an hour like that, and gives it any
such false application. He is a rever-
ent man. they say DO they know?
They have seen him in the happy crowd
full of laughter; they have seen him in
the sad hour of the heavy SrOanS in the
cemetery; they have seen. him bowed
,i1arr
i they have heard him talk to his stu
dents assembled from all parts Of
North Carolina; they have seen him
down morning after morning in prayer;
en- soul and trying to lead it into spirit
ual light and liberty, and these men say
he is reverent.
There are some things, gentlemen,
that it takes a stronger nerve and
spirit than the defendant has to bear
without emotion. His mother taught
him reverence before he can remember;
she taught him to honor God and his
word; and now, after the toll Of these
Years, to have flung to the four winds
of the earth that this man is a common
blasphemer is beyond tolerance. You
may substantiate the other charges II
you can, but in the name Of God and
all truth, don't charge the defendant
with trampling on the first lessons his
mother taught him at her knees.
Take in the surroundings o. this
present, and could have learned of it
only by hearsay, and he would not in
innate that he made this statement
upon anything else than hearSay evil
Idence. He is member or the Supreme
Court of this Commonwealth and ex-
amines and passes upon the ability OF
young men to practice law in it's courts
and nobody should know better than he
that hearsay testimony is never valid
testimony His experience at the bar,
his dignity in the Great Court where
he has a seat, should have lifted him
high enough not to introduce mere
newspaper reports, for the slander and
damage of one over whom he had been
sent as guardian. But he does it on
hearsay testimony.
You recall that he accused the Board
! of Trustees Of convictinAg him on ex
parte testimony in the June meeting;
yet he a Supreme Court Judge, on
hearsay, ex parte testimony, renders
this verdict of blasphemy against the
defendant and announces it to all men.
There is no way out of that gentlemen;
no amount of squirming, no amount or