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North
Arkansas Times Page 1 Editors Gazette: I this morning received
the Arkansas Weekly Republican of the 30th ultimo, in which I
find, under the head of “The Mason Assassination Case,” the following: Just previous to the
killing of Mr. Mason, a letter was published in the Batesville Republican,
from which we make the following extracts: “In a speech delivered at
the barbecue in Batesville, on The letter goes on to
state that “Capt. Bryant, of As the sentiments
contained in the letter, reciting facts of such grave and serious importance,
have never been denied by any of the parties of whom they were affirmed, we
conclude that they are true: I was absent from home
when the communication referred to in the Batesville Republican was
published, and never saw it until to-day, after I received the Little Rock
Republican. Immediately after reading
the article in the Arkansas Republican, I procured the Batesville Republican,
containing the communication referred to, which communication is as follows: JUSTICE vs. ASSASSINATION. Editor Batesville
Republican: Is it right for us as good citizens to disgrace our State and
dishonor our nation by tolerating inflammatory speeches, murder-encouraging
lectures and incendiary publications?
Permission is encouragement. Is
it right for men to sit idly indifferent while the lives of our friends
(innocent and noble men) are threatened by conspirators and highwaymen, whose
record of treason is indelibly written with guiltless blood? To neglect the enforcement of law is
treason. Is it right to allow our
homes, families and society to be thus endangered and to bequeath to widows
and orphans only unavenged murder and endless
persecution? To tolerate crime is to
authorize felony. Particularly and to
the point: In a speech delivered at the barbeque in Batesville, Sept. 10.
1868, one D. Nichols, of Jacksonport, said: “Go up and offer to register,
and he who is refused let him hold Mr. John Campbell responsible, and teach him
that his miserable neck shall pay the forfeit of his audacity.” Now, if this advice is followed by any one,
shall not the adviser be held responsible, and if harm befall
any of the registrars does not true justice demand that Nichols and his
confederates shall repay the sacrifice.
On the same occasion the notorious Wm. Byers sat upon the platform
giving his tacit assent and approval t the entire proceedings, while a man
calling himself Col. Cameron advised the assassination of Hon. E. Baxter and
other officials, and subsequently, in his own speech, Mr. Byers called on a
vast throng of excited men who listened to him, to mark those officials as
well as the editor of the Batesville Republican, predicting that a terrible
retribution would follow the execution of the registration law. – Now, if any
of these gentlemen are assassinated as advised, does not truth and equity
point at once to the conspirators, and say that he who pronounced the
sentence must march with his accomplices to the scaffold? Or if depredations or injuries is not the
property of the instigators forfeited to just retaliation? Capt. Bryant, of These questions we ask in
the name of humanity under the eye of God, and we put the case candidly
before the tribunal of Reason, Conscience and Devine Justice. Self protection is the first principle of
human law. -Justice Upon reading it, I
immediately addressed a note to the editor and publisher of the Batesville
Republican, demanding the name of the author of the communication referred
to, to enable me to instigate legal proceedings against the calumniator, to
which I received the following reply: “The writer of the
communication referred to is responsible, and will answer when legally called
upon. Respectfully, “Michael McCanany, “Publisher of Batesville
Republican.” Upon receipt of this I
immediately addressed another note to Mr. McCanany,
in which I stated that his answer was not satisfactory; that I had made a
legal demand of him for the name of the author of the communication, and that
it was his duty to give it, so that I might legally call upon him (the
calumniator;) that it was impossible for me to legally call upon him without
first knowing who he was; and again renewed my demand for the name of the
author of the communication. – To this request he declined to accede, unless
I would institute legal proceedings against him. I make this statement to
show to the public the gross injustice of the publisher of that paper, in
refusing to give the name of the author of the communication. The communication in the
Batesville Republican is a tissue of falsehoods from beginning to end. Mr. D. Nichols, of Jacksonport,
did not make a speech from the stand at the barbecue, on the 10th ult. I was not
present when he made any speech at Batesville. I did not hear him make a speech while
there. I was present and upon the
stand at the barbeque grounds when Col. Cameron made his speech there, and
heard every word he said. In the
speech he did not utter a word or sentence in that speech which could be
tortured to such a meaning by ANY HONEST MAN. The whole communication so
far as it relates to me is a willful, malicious, wicked and deliberate lie,
and known to be such by the author and publisher thereof when it was written
and published. It is only a part of a
plot to excite the worst passions of their partisans to commit acts of
violence and outranges upon the best citizens of our country. Respectfully, W. Byers |
North Arkansas
Times-102468.doc