The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1918-09-05


to the Holland ranch and interviewed
Oldham. He of course denied the
statements attributed to him, and
agreed to buy twenty dollars worth
of stamps. After the officers had
left he made statements that he had
gotten out of the trouble easily, as
he only had to buy twenty dollars
worth of stamps to keep from being
arrested. This is also embodied in
the sworn affidavits in our possession,
and which may be seen by anyone de-
string to read them.
Then Oldham became sore and told
the men on the ranch that he would
"kill the d son of B.
who turned me in," and added that
'it came from this place, too," mean
ing Hollands place. This is also
sworn testimony.
A short time after this Oldham
arose one morning and without eat
ing his breakfast took team and
started for the field. Holland asked
him to come in and eat breakfast,
which he refused to do. Then he
was asked if the team had been fed
and his reply was that it had not.
Holland told him he could work with
out his breakfast if'he wished, but
that he must take the team back to
the barn and feed them. Oldham
thereupon flew into rage and made
rush at Holland with the threat that
he would kill him. Not knowing
whether Oldham was armed or not,
Holland drew his gun and ordered
him to stop, but he kept coming, and
Holland shot him, the bullet entering
his leg or thigh. Afterward Holland
brought him to town and turned him
over to the officers who put him in the
hospital. AS near as we can learn
Oldham was never under arrest, and
was allowed to leave the hospital as
soon as he was able.
Now, after Oldham has been out of
the hospital couple of weeks, Mr..
County Attorney decided that Mr..
Holland must be prosecuted vigorous
ly, and uses all his authority to spend
the money of the taxpayers Of the
county to prosecute loyal citizen
and heavy taxpayer at the request
of this disloyal man who has
cursed our Government, refused to
buy War Savings Stamps, and. pays
no taxes in the county. At the pre-
liminary hearing, we are told, the
county attorney, for some reason,
strenuously objected to the admis-
sion of any testimony IS to the cause
of the shooting, and relied on the un-
supported testimony of Oldham, as
against that of Mr.. and Mrs. Holland
and two other disinterested witnesses
as to the facts in the case, accepting
the statements of disloyal, pro-Ger-
man Oldham as the truth in the mat
ter.
We are further reliably informed
that at the preliminary hearing it was
brought out that on their way to town
after the shooting Oldham made the
statement to Holland that if he
(Holland) would go no further with
the investigation as to his disloyal ut
terances he (Oldham) would not ask
prosecution for being shot. Two wit
nesses, we are told, testified to this,
yet the County Attorney causes ac-
tion to be brought.
These are the facts in the case, the
best we can get, and we have followed
the matter closely from the begin
ming, and in almost every instance we
think Mr.. Light has acted in a preju
diced manner, his statements and ac-
tions showing clearly that he would
be pleased to see Holland suffer for
his action.
It should make no difference how
poor or how friendless Oldham may
be. AS an American citizen he is en-
titled to the protection of the law,
and If his Americanism was not ques-
toned we should not venture word
in opposition to Mr.. Light. But that
is where we and other red-blooded
Americans register our kick.
We claim that man who will
make statements calculated to inspire
doubt in the mind of anyone concern
ing the value of the securities offered
by the Government of the United
States, and urges them not to invest; |;
who will attribute crookedness to the
Red Cross organization which is
bringing back to health our boys back
of the battle-lines in France, is a-pro-
German and is disloyal. These things
have been proven against Oldham
and the evidence was all before the
county attorney before he caused the
arrest of Mr.. Holland. We heard two
witnesses say they considered Old
ham disloyal, and this in the presence
of the county attorney, and. after
having recited what they heard him
say as to the War Savings Stamps
and the Red Cross.
In the name of common sense how
much more does Mr.. Light or anyone
else want than this. Must man muir
der an American, or blow up train
or ship before he can be called
disloyal? What can we expect from
our citizens if little juvenile prose-
cutor will use all the power at his
command to stick man for protect
ing himself from death or. injury at
the hands Of disloyal BUM whom he
has reported in defense of his coun-
try?
Quincy Holland is not on trial in
this case-American citizenship is at
stakel Will the man who reports a
Stacker or a pro-German receive the
support of the law or will he be COM