Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-07-03
Asking the People to
Judge Fairly.
Says the Provocation
Was Very Great
For Punishment Such as Was Put
Upon Mr.. Kennedy.

olutions of the so-called Indignation
meetings recently held in various pats
of the city to express local sentiment
in regard to the kohler- Work Kennedy
affair, only one is dwelt upon or even
referred to, and that is the wrong done
to Mr. Kennedy and family.
The citizens thus assembled seem
to have lost sight of everything else
and to treat the affair as an unprovok.
ed assault and have entirely forgotten
the familiar adage, circumstances al
ter cases."
In matters Of so much public interest
as this and especially in view of the
prominence of the parties concerned,
the public should know all the facts.
And the promoters of good conduct
and the denouncers of bad conduct
should hold up to light all the facts
and all the parties concerned and to
place upon each one, be he low or high,
his just share of whatever wrong has
been committed. And In so doing
the poor man is no more to be shielded
in wrong doing than the rich; the man
in the common walks of life no more
than the man in the higher. Let each
bear the just burden of his own acts.
| The acts of Messrs. Kohler and Work
in the above trouble of June "a have
been pretty freely published and dis
cussed and need no reiteration here.
Let us consider Mr.. Kennedy's acts,
which are directly responsible for that
trouble, and which have scarcely been
mentioned In those meetings and pub.
lications.
The scandal involving the families of
Messrs. Kohler and Work and which
broke out just one week before the
horsewhipplng occurred, is familiar to
every reader of this paper, so that the
mention of the scandal was all that
was necessary to call to mind the
names of the parties involved. Dur
ing the week following, the scandal
was thoroughly sifted and no intelll'
gent and fair minded person believed
that there was anything of 1t but scan
dal, with which the atmosphere in that
locality has for long time Sc med
highly charged.
And Mr.. Kennedy, being man Of Mt
least average intelligence. must lie
presumed to have been satisfied thar
there was not word of truth in it.
SO clear was this to the minds of the
editors of the other papers of the city
that not one of them made any mention
of it, and the public mind had just
about settled down to the same con-
cluslon.
Had it not been for Mr.. Kennedy,
the matter would have seldom ever
been made mention OF thereafter, and
no horsewhppng would have occurred
But at this stage what did Mr..
Kennedy do2 He alone revived aud
gave confirmation TO the scandal by
publishing in his little paper the fol-
lowing article, which came out ON Sat,
urday, following the Monday that the
scandal broke out. Here is his article:
''rhe fore part Of the week the
air was full of wild rumors as to
how Il young husband returned
home unexpectedly and found his
wife in the embrace OF another
young, aud but recently married
young man, who was promptly
shot by the injured husband"
Thus far MI. Kennedy simply pub
iished the well-known rumor. Then
he proceeds 10 comment upon II, and
here is what he said about 1t and
} for which he alone is responsible:
IAN the parties move in the high
est society AND THE FACTS
HAVE BEEN DENIED AND SUP
PRESSED. There it ends; expect
a miserable existence of an innocent
wife ON one side and wronged
husband on the other. II ia too
: bad that the latter was such poor
marksman.
Let us separate Mr.. Kennedy's com,
ments into distinct sentences and pass
Judgment upon each separately:
First: IAN the parties move in the
highest society," That is true
Second: "Apd the facts bave hsep