The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-10-22
THE ORANGE COUNTY SITUATION.
Statement from f. w. Kent and By
Republican County Committee.

TO the Voters Of Orange County;
| desire TO make a public statement
relative to my candidacy for the office
of assistant Judge. The voters are en-
titled to know the facts concerning
my candidacy and anything which !
may have had to do with the making
and publishing Of alleged false and
scandulous circulars against John G.
| Sherburne, AFRO A. Reed or anybody
else. Several weeks before the pri-
mary election was held, several friends
| Of mine urged me to become a cnndi-
| date for the office of assistant judge.
| For a long time [ declined, but finally
on urgent appeal from my friends, ]
| agreed that if Ilev cared to use my
name as a candidate for this office they
could do so. My friends went ahead
and had petitions signed for me, as |
am informed. | did nothing whatever
myself to obtain votes or to further
my candidacy.
Sometime shortly before the pri-
mary election was held, six or seven
circulars, all of which were alike, came
to me by mail. | read them and put
them on my desk. The contents of
these circulars had to do with the ac-
t~ivities Of AFRO A. Reed and a states
attorney, who | have since been in
formed was not Mr.. Sherburne at all,
and had no reference to him. | know
nothing about this publication; | do
not know who wrote it or who inspired
it to be written, and the first knowl-
edge which / had concerning it was
when / saw the copies at my home
which had been mailed to me as stated,
I do not know who procured the print
ing of these circulars, or who paid for
the printing, or where the circulars
were printed, except as ! have been
told since the primary election. ! had
nothing whatever to do about it, was
not responsible for it and had no in
terest in it.
About two or three days before the
primary election, | sent three or four
of these circulars to some OF my
friends, in a sealed envelope, with my
name on the envelope and addressed
in my W handwriting. and if there
has been any law violated by me, it
must have been owing to the fact that
L HIdiitI NiIeS VI lOuI VI lltcf VII
culars to my friends, as | have stated.
This states fully my whole connee-
tion with the charges made against
me of libel.
To my great surprise the result of
the primary election was that 7 was
nominated for the Office of assistant
Judge, carrying fourteen of the sew
enteen towns in the county. Since
that time / have been requested by
the Orange county Republican com
mittee because of my connection with
burne to withdraw my name from the
ballot, but I have felt that after al
lowing my name to be used and aft
err receiving the nomination it was my
duty to the voters Of the county to
stand as the nominee.
1t has been suggested to me that If
I apologize, and withdraw from the
ticket, the charges against me would
be discontinued; but under the cir
cumstances and my connection with
the claimed libel, I have felt it my
duty to stand by the action of the
voters at the primary election, as |
would neither be bought nor sold, and
if my connection with this circular is
anything that subjects me to crimi-
nal responsibility, / expect that shall
have to stand such punishment as the
court thinks / deserve.
| make this statement in order that
the voters may understand and know
exactly what connection I had with
the claimed libel, and what my atti-
tude has been all the time regarding
my candidacy. | have done no work
since nv nomination to secure the cleo
ton and have no time of my own to
devote to it. and it is my desire that
all voters shall vote according as their
conscience dictates, but I do want them
to know the facts, then on election day
say whether they want a square deal
or not. T.. W. Kent.
Randolph, Vt, Oct. 10, 1920.