The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-08-19
STREETER
ON WAR PATH

HUSH! HUSH! LEAGUE EDITORS
MAY BE SHOT SOME MORN
AT SUNRISE
Gentlemen, hush! There is about to
pc sudden death or an epidemic Of
mayhem among League newspaper
editors and speakers of the last cam
paign. If not that, then the jails are
to be crammed with them as victims
In chains and slavery. At least, that's
the threat that this fire-breathinp ed
ltorlal from the New England Herald,
Il. V. A. of course) would seem to
carry:
ut is understood that both CIV
il and criminal action is pending
for slander and libel against
Lieut. Frank Streeter of Linton,
who is now out of the race for
the office of lieutenant. governor.
Insinuations and yelled charges
against Streeter's moral record
were numerous in the last weeks
OF the campaign. North Dakota
does not have law such as the
Minnesota law which resulted in
an order of the court disqualify-
ing the Rev. Mr.. Quale, 'Nonpar-
tisan Lacquer, for deliberately
maligning Congressman Volstead
but its citizens can invoke the
aid of the courts or the time-hon-
ored modes of self-defense."
Notice the gentle threat in the last
line: "Can invoke-the time honored
1,on1nc nf co1f loFo,oco Tofe~.
pistols for two! Or will it take the
form of lynching party and mob
law? That seems to be the .approvcd
methods of those towards who 1: =
fearful of taking individual action.
What has Streeter to complain
about? AL that was said concerning
him was taken from the court records.
He was being sued by his attorneys
for their fees when he ran as the ex-
ponent of social purity for lieutenant
governor of the l. V. A. ticket. The
attorneys either defended him or Sc
cured settlement out of court in pro-
ceedings on statutory charge brot
against his immaculate self.
1t did seem strange that the man
who stood as the bulwark against
Free Love in this state should, at the
very time of his fight against this
great evil, be charged with being the
father Of an illegitimate child. Yet so
many of those who are so tender on the
theory of Free Love are said to be not
quite so tender on the practice Of it.
Now Mr.. Streeter breathes civil and
criminal fire against those who looked
up the records. He is going to haul
them into court and if the court will
not punish them for being curious
enough to look into the records, Mr..
Streeter, in truly democratic and 100
per cent American style, will take the
law into his own hands and run amuck
among the editors and slay them.
Not one of the editors assented that
the charge made against Mr. Streeter
was true. They did not attempt to
give the name of the girl, they did
not say the date was 1912, nor did
they intimate that the child was born
in Minneapolis. They never intinated
that the mother was "bought off,"
They never remotely referred to an
other later instance which may or
may not have occurred Just previous
to the time Mr.. Streeter went to war,
and which may or may not have been
closer to Linton than the first case,
nor did they even hint that in that
case, also child was born. If the
League editors, themselves denounced
as Free Lovers and immoral, had been
of the calibre of Streeter and some OF
the other I. v. AS they might have
said things that might have shown
where the immortality and Free Love
actually were practiced.
They refrained as that sort of muck
is not the weapon that the League or
it's members use. They refrained and
contented themselves merely with the
publishing of the attorneys complaint
when suit was brought for fees. They
refused to sit as Judge, jury, witness
es and executioner upon the case or
cases. It might have helped the Lea
que cause but it might have injured
innocent persons and the whole truth
had not been determined because the
cases were never brought before q
court. and the facts officially estab-
lished. ~
In the fact of that course of con-
duct, the New England Herald, un-
doubtedly speaking with authority,
announces that Streeter will have re-
course to the courts, and if they fail
him, to the unwritten law, League ed
itorsy might look with small apprehen-
sion for an airing Of the matter in the
courts. Others might have more cause
for apprehension unless they figure
that the gun play is the best answer
and that dead men tell on tales.
Since the Forum and it's kind were
so interested in fighting ssfree love"
We will see what comment it has to
make regarding this particular iIi-
stance among its |. V. A. purity pets
and there is a fine list OF them
which will be presented in order that
they may be duly hung in the Forum
Hall Of Fame-or infarny.
--------
rro.G-rnnaxar<s car1nnrans YrSr m -