The Winslow mail., 1914-04-11
DEACON SMITHS
IDEA OF EVIDENCE

R. C. Smith, erstwhile County
Judge and at present drawing
the salary, if not filing the posi-
ton of Superintendent of Public
Instruction in Navajo County, is
reported to have studied law.
We are not inclined to give
credence to everything we hear,
especially when the story i'm
poses heavily on our credulity.
But if this report happens by any
chance to be statement of fact,
we feel reasonably sure that if
he engages any ordinary lawyer
! to handle his case, he could com
pei the return of his tuition fees
from the correspondence insti-
tute that obtained his money un-
der false pretenses.
Our impressions are based up
on his seeming misunderstanding
Of that very important part of
law called evidence.
About two months ago he pro-
claimed thru his yellow dodger
that q respected and esteemed
county officer has commercialized
his office by sharing in the prof
its Of county printing. When
that general alarm was sounded
before the public we felt sur
prised by the gravity of the
charge and expressed our belief
that the Deacon was on the dan
ger line of libel that might be
proven coWardly and malicious
unless he was fortified by the
necessary evidence to sustain his
charges. We waited awhile and
the Deacon, in evident support
of his allegations and with EN-
bryonic understanding of evil
dence, comes back with the state
ment that two demands made by
the News Publishing Co. upon
the county had been trimmed. +"
Our repeated demand for evi-
dence was answered by the edi-
tor Of the little snowflake last
week by a dissertation on Judge
Sapp's alleged disregard for le-
gal ethics. followed by his state
ment that upon a certain occa-
sion two citizens of this eonlmun-
ity imbibed an undue amount of
Barleycorn. Of course this i'm
poses some strain on our imagi-
nation in trying to figure out it's
relevancy to the issue, but we
suppose it represents his idea of
evidence. Hence, we express
the belief that the money the
Deacon paid for legal training
would be cheerfully refunded by
any falr-minded tutor who had
hoped to give value proportion
ate to his compensation.
The Deacon S effort in assail-
! idg the character of his fellow
men because of alleged, bibulous
habits upon long past occasions,
is difficult to account for. We
can only suggest it attributable
to his inbred disrespect for per-
sons, law and decency, to say
nothing of the legal ethics about
which he prates in his eensure
of Judge Sapp. His efforts to
besmirch the character and rep
utatlons Of men whose integrity
and honor could only be ques-
toned by a perverted and gan
grened mind has failed ignomin-
iously and fallen to the ground
with a dull thud. A mere tyro
as an editor, a masterpiece of in
efficiency as an educator, a de-
famer ef character and a moral
coward, the Deacon occupies a
pitiable position in the public
mind. We have a fund Of cpl
thets that have been applied to
such cases as the Deacon. We
have heard of a man being called
a cross between a hydrophobic
skunk and an Arizona lizard.
But this would seem a mild term
in properly characterizing one of
Smith description. The exuda-
tionS of a skunk would be altar
of roses compared with the odor
that emanates from the Snow
flake Herald,