The Somerset reporter., 1907-11-28
mot Guiltyo is Our Plea.


Waterville Sentinel under date of
Nov. %, making comments upon our
views as to the progress of enforce
ment in Skowhegan as expressed by
us in our issues of October "a and No.
ember ID. Among other observations
the communication says that the
REPORTER was guilty of stating what
it knew to be false, intimating, at least,
that we have wilfully lied, to get
down to the language used by the
Sentinel, and that we have been gull
ty of false and cowardly misrepresen-
tation.
The situation suggests to US the ad-
dress made to the jury at the opening
of case where the defendant was
charged with the theft of kettle.
The council for the defense said
"Gentlemen, my client is innocent.
u e are prepared to show you by evil
dence, first, that he d id not take the
kettle; second, that If he did take it,
that it was cracked and damaged and
without value; and third, that he re-
turned it in better shape than when
he took it," The REPORTER will
have to make it's defense on about the
same lines: First, we did not say
what the communication states we
did; and second, if we had, we
cannot see that the harm done would
have been of a serious nature.
In referring to the Sturgis deputies,
in our issue of October "a, we say,
"While the presence of from one to
five Sturgis deputies, in Somerset
county, with Skowhegan as their
headquarters, has been productive of
no arrests since early last summer,
we feel positive that it has operated
to reduce the sale of liquor to a min
imum" This seems to have been the
basis of the charge, in the Sentinel
communication, that we said there
had been "Two Sturgis deputies in
Skowhegan all the time since last
June.o
We think there have been on sever
al occasions five Sturgis deputies in
this county at one time; we do not
think there has been less than one for
any important period since they com
menced operations in this territory.
The above language, what the article
in the Sentinel says we said, and what
we actually did say, is presented with
this explanation. Our readers may
Judge what warrant there Is In 1t for
the charge of wilful misrepresenta-
tion.
"Lie number two,o i'll the language
OF the communication, has reference
to statement it is claimed the RE
PORTER made that "fve men" were
arrested by Sheriff g. II. Smith and
tried in the Skowhegan Municipal
Court on November 1.-THE error, as
claimed consisting in the fact tnat
one of the five was a woman. Mis-
taken identity of this kind might be a
very serious matter, but in the pres :
ent instance, had we made the report
according to the statement of the
Sentinel, as they allow we were ac-
dents, we can hardly appreciate how
an error as to the remaining one fifth
would be just cause for all the good
Republicans to leave the party, as the
Sentinel declares we are forcing them
to do. However, we search our news
report in vain for the error complain
ed of and fail to find anything of the
kind. We stated at the outset that
''five violators of the law were arrest
ed" and later on fully explained that
one was woman. In fact, the al
legations made by the communica-
ton in the Sentinel are so far from
the facts, that we cannot believe the
person who wrote it ever saw the ar
ticles in the REPORTER to which he
refers. He must have been told of
them and even then by some one who
read them very carelessly.
IL LluSb NC ORNdShO w Ola WIN nav Z
read the article in question that it
emanated from some one closely
identified with the interests of the en-
forcement commission. 1t is not the
REPORTERS intention to make state
ments of any nature that the facts
will not verify in every particular.
In all instances we aim to "be to their
faults a little blind, and to their vir
tues ever kind", and we will be found
always among the first to laud the
praises OF any good work done by the
commission.
We have the highest respect for
Alfred Ii. Lang, the active man on
the Enforcement Commission. Som
erset county never had a better Off
cial then he proved to be as sheriff,
nor are we likely to have. In his
present work we believe he does only
what he thinks is right. He cannot
avoid errors and he labors under dis
advantage from the great difficulty in
finding men of character and stand
ing who will take the position of a
deputy in the work under his super
vision.
We should also say that we can
hardly believe the communica-