Year: 1863

lndC may ledu TO Sucn an lnSlnuatlOn. w e
find no fault for any exceptions that may
be taken to our present situation, for
though it has been unsought and unpleas-
ant, it is, perhaps, vulnerable. We shall
therefore reserve to ourselves the right, in
future, to reject any or all communications
that may not plainly come under the head
of legitimate newspaper discussion and
if any take ofense at this, on our heads
shall rest the consequences while the au-
thors may choose, or not, the alternative
adopted by newspapers everywhere, of in
serting such matters in the form of adver-
tsements


COPPEI, June 1st, 1868.


EDS. STATESMAN in reply to sheriff
Whitman, we wish to state that our con-
victions -..et forth and charged in our
former article have been confirmed. He
commences his answer by an admission that
the necessary papers for Bunton's arrest
were placed in his hands by the retiring
officer end that on that very day Bunton
was in town but he did not get information
of it till after Bunton had left. With the
information that Whitman had the war
rant he does not tell whether he had COM
municated this intelligence to Bunton's
friends or not, but this is the plain infer
ence. Do you know Bunton Mr.. Whit
man, and didn't you see hlm that day in
town and send some one to inform him
that you had the warrant and then
come and tell you that he had left town.
You next state that you never heard Of his
being in town but once since, and then you
was informed by Mr.. Chase and then you
got after him to catch him and enquired
nightly after him, but couldn't catch him.
You all the time keep out of sight the fact
of your personal knowledge of Bunton,
and seem to think that he couldn't be ta-
ken outside of the corporation. We have
information that you have been informed
byother parties that Bunton was in town
and that you made the wonderful discovery
that Bunton had the impudence of the
devil. You next refer to the warrant is
sued by the court on the indictment Of
the grand jury, and your wonderful efforts
to get information of Bunton's wherea-
bouts. You are heavy on getting informa-
ton, but you seem to think and act like
it could be got nowhere but in town. Your
statements with regard to Hodgis and the
arrest made by him and the citizens of cop
pei and his and your subsequent action, we
leave for him and you to settle it places
him in a dilemma. Hodgis concealed the
nature of the warrant from Bunton pur-
rosely as he stated to us, so that he would
have less trouble in your getting him to
town, and that he would be in irons and in
confinement in ten minutes after getting to
town. Next you allude to Judge M'yche,
and the matter of bail We would respect
fully ask Judge Wyche (as we need infor-
mation) if he can show by the authority Of
law or the practice of the courts in crimi-
nal jurisprudence that the indictment of
person by the grand jury for murder in the
first degree is an offense admissible to bail
With regard to your excuse about Bun
tens escape, and your efforts to keep him,
we think you ought to be ashamed. You
say the Judge and yourself and parties
thought Bunton more secure in custody of
a lame man than in lame Jail. Is the
jail insecure Then, sir, by shackles and
fastenings, and if need have been, a lame
man or two outside, and pistol or so, you
could have kept him at least till the extra
judicial proceedings of Judge Wyche could
have transpired. We are sorry that your
heads y ere not large enough to let in such
thoughts as these. We do not wish to be
trifed with after this fashion.


You next proceed to show youi huge ef-
forts to recapture Bunton. You did get
outside of the corporation this time, but
with your back to Bunton. You went to
the Garrison to get soldiers, and failed, and
then turned your face towards Bunton and
got back into the corporation, and by mid
night you say Hodgis and another man
started to Coppei to get parties there to
arrest him again; but here you cheat us
out of one cay. You should have stated
that you gave Bunten the benefit of an
ether day inside of the corporation You
must have been so fatigued from your eff
forts that you fell into profound slumber
fter your return from the Garrison that
yol was unconscious of the escape of a
day before you got Hodgis and another
man on the way to Coppei, your statemen S
Of plot to hang Bunton are not true in
any particular. There was some talk Of
this kind by parties but no such plot, and
the very 1oortAy individual that as re-
quested to leave in two hours was not
threatened with any consequences, your
plain statements of facts to the contrary
notwithstanding You speak of our ex-
citements in penning our article and of
our political designs, your statement is un-
true in toto. AS to excitement we have
enough of that to prompt us to try to pro-
tect ourselves in our right to life liberty
and property whether we are assisted by
the strong arm of the law, or whether we
are denied that assistance If the law
helps us we heartily acquiesce; if not,
where there is no law, or no administra-
ton of law, the people are law unto
themselves.


Here follows the sixty-nine names
which were appended to the former com
munication from Coppei, and which we
have not time to set up in types. EDS.


Reply.


EDS. STATESMAN AS your columns seem tc
be at the disposal of parties who may wish to
belch forth personal SANDER, persecution, malig
nifty aud fasehood, it IS but Just that the party
vilifed should have an opportunity of rep lying
through the same medium. Upon reading the
article dated at Coppi, June 1st, 1868, l thought
l would let the matter rest upon its own merits
as the style and manner in which it is written