The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1901-09-20

! particular time the public knows
nothing of them, and if there were
any prayers to the Throne of Grace
they were secret prayers that the life
of the brave citizen should not be
spared, but that the party who was
making the contest against him foi
office should be his successor.
~ know whereof / speak. You
know the character and the conduct
of the pulpits in your community at
that time, and 1 am advised and
know that throughout the length and
breadth of the state of Kentucky, with
but few exceptions, there was no con-
domination of anarchy or anarchism,
nor was there any denunciatiOn of the
assassin.
SCORES THE PRESS!
sIn addition to that, there was a
portion of your public press which not
only before the elimination of that
great crime winked at it, if they did
not approve and encourage, but after
the elimination of that Offense de-
liberately asserted that nobody knew
and that nobody could find out who
the assassin was, andi charges and
counter charges were made.
"There were no'efforts on the part
of those in power, except the civil
service officers of your country, to as
certain ard arrest the guilty parties,
and when the civil officers of this
country undertook to perform their
duty and presented themselves upon
the capitol square of this city, they
were confronted by an armed body of
men who had been gathered there for
a purpose which nobody has ever at
tempted to explain and which has
been up to this time unexplained.
DEFENDERS OF CIVIL LIBERTY.
81 mention these facts, gentlemen,
because | am determined that history
shall be vindicated. / do not want
nor do intend,,s far as | am con-
cerned, that the people of this COM
monwealth shall forget the great crime
and outrage that was perpetrated
within its borders, and as the out
come of it these same people who are
now, as / said awhile ago, Eliminating
the thunderbolts against anarchists,
at that time and ever since up to this
time have been the great defenders of
civil liberty leagues and defenders and
apologists for the armed mObs who
should cOngregate in one end of the
state and march to the capital city of
the commonwealth to defy law and
order and the civil authorities there
in power.
"Not only that, but after "a grand
jury OF this county has made due in
dictments, and after a Iparty had be-
come refugee from justice and had
taken asylum in al adjoining state,
the requisition of your governor was
peremptorily refused, and the same
refugee, assured and protected by four
governors of sister states, made a
triumphant tour to national politi-
cal convention at Philadelphia with
the absolute assurance that during
that journey no officer of the law
would execute the processes of this
court or should attempt To execute the
processes issued by the governor of
your commonwealth.
"And it is lamentable fact, if his
tory be correct, and if the newspaper
prints properly published, that the
man who is now the second great Of
ficer of this nation, then the governor
of the state of New York, openly and
above board assured the refugee ON
justice and boasted of the fact that if
he came within his jurisdiction he
should receive ample and proper pro-
| lection.
"These are facts that become and
are part of history not only of this
commonwealth, but of the great ma
ton in which we live.
"These suggestions have felt it was
my duty to submit to you. My man
hood revolts at the idea that public
official, whoever he may be, from the
highest to the lowest, cannot discharge
his duty without subjecting himself to
the danger of receiving at an untime-
/ ly moment the assassin's bullet. If it
be approved IN one instance, if it he
overlooked in one instance, if it re-
main uncondemned and UNPUBLISHED
/ IN one instance, where is the official,
from the highest to the lowest in your
land, who can undertake to perform
his duty according to'his conscientious
convictions without being subjected to