Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 13 November 1897 — Page 4

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—BY—i

F. T. LUSE.

TBBXB Of •UBWUP*IOX.:

5ne year, In the county, »1J0 Oneyear,ontof tb« comity, 110 Xnqnlrekt Office for AdvertUngr B.

NOVEMBER 13,1897.

To Defenders of Rev. Prather. ED. REVIEW:— In reply to K. K. Straughn and Adnm Hanna, whose communication appeared iu the Journal of Novembers, 1897, we wish to offer a few facte.

These gentlemen who are so opposed to judging a case on exparte statements and hearsay, were neither of them at the trial of Mr. Prather by the council at Brown's Valley. Outof their own mouths, therefore, they are not competent to aver or deny anything about it.

They say after the prosecution proposed and filled lip th9 straw bond, the defendant was never in jail. Now, the fact ie, no straw bond was ever fixed up. The defendant, however, was in ^ail in Salina after matting the bond when he appealed from the county court in which he was convicted, to the district court. And he went to jail because his

bondsmen withdrew. They a6k: "if Mr. Prather has been such a criminal ae Mr. Busybody makes him out, why has he not been convicted and punished?" The answer is: He has been repeatedly convicted and punished.

1891 he was convicted and

confessed indecent exposure in New l'ork acid was sent to prison for 90 days. Later he was convicted of numerous immoralities by the Mackinaw Presbytery of Illinois, and was punished so far as that body had a right to punish, by deposing him from the ministry of their church.

He WBB similarly convicted and punished by the K. P. lodge, of Stanford, Ills. He was convicted by the court of Salina county, Kansas, for indecent exposure on three counts, and had he either not appealed to the higher, or appeared thereat, he would have suffered the penalty fixed.

He was convicted and punished by the Christian church at Gainsville, Texas, Aug. 9, 1895, and was punished by exclusion and published as a fraud. That he was convicted and punished at Brown's Valley is well known. It remains for these gentlemen to show a single case in which he was cleared.

Tfcey Bay the case before the council was not tried on competent testimony, but on exparte statements made by men who knew nothing except by hearsay, A statement could not be farther from the truth. Was the evidence of the three jounp/ladies hearsay? Were the I-- ,8wc-ra'd^positions of the five women to whom he exposed himself hearsay?

Were the court records from New York, Abilene and Salioa hearsay? Were the records of the Presbytery anl K. P. lodge exparte? Wei-e the afli Uivite of Blanche Brunner and E. A. anton, of Gainsville, Texas, exparte? Were the numerous letters from Baptist minis-

ters testifying to his bad character hearsay? None of ihem were such. They say: "There was not a statement before the council from the county in which Mr. Prather preached and was pastor." This, however, was sufficient.

The deposition of Edith Husband, an orphan girl who lived in his own family at Abiline, where he was pastor, who testified that he attempted rape. Also the deposition of Mrs. Bussel, who lived in part of the same house with the I Prather family. She testified to his indecency.

They ask: "Why were the churches where 1r. Prather preached and was

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timony wHS brought hefore the council in abundance, but it was all against him. If, however, the gentlemen mean to ask why those churches were not heard to speak in his favor, we would answer that we suppose it was because Mr. Prather had no such testimony.

The resolutions by the Abiline church or a factor of it, and the statement by the deacons were a back number] and Mr. Prather knowB that such statements would not be made! now or at anj time since those people have learned what he is. It is not true that W. H. Mles had a letterjfrom the clerk of the Abiline church to present to the council.

No one ever denied that Vfr. Prather was ordained by a Baptist couucil at Odessa, Mo., in the early part of 1893, but Rev. T. L. Powell, who baptised Mr. Prather, and was a member of that council, states in his letter which was read before the council Jat Brown's Valley written just a few days before, that the ordination was premature.

The council at Brown's Valley know from the facts that the Odessa council did not have all the facts before them else they would not have ordained him. The council was an ordination council and not a trial council. They looked into certain rumors in the light of what Mr. Prather said and some statements he obtained, but no one was present to prosecute or bring out the actual facts. Hence the council was deceived. Besides it was shown that the greater part of Prather's immoralities have been committed since his ordination as a Baptist.

As to the capital made of the silence of John Hanna with regard Jto the indecency of Mr. Prather toward Miss Bettie Young in his home, it would seem that these men think that Mr. Hanna should have acted with the indiscretion of a lunatic. He acted on the injunction of the Scripture which says "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses." 1 Tim. 5-19.

With nothing' more against Mr. Prather than the statement of the girl, there were of necessity misgivings in his mind about it. He regarded her as a truthful girl, but the thing alleged was so vile and low that he felt there musf be a mistake. But when the man's horrible record came out and he saw that Prather was guilty of the same and other evil offenses, he had the remaining witnesses- necessary and many to spare. We now have all the court records, depositions and affidavits of the New York, Illinois and Kansas trials which were used at Brown's Valley. They can be seen at Urawfordsville. We will pro7e every statement made herein, and much more. We will go with your man to Orange, Texas, El Reno, Oklahoma, St. Charles. La., and Waverly, Mo.

We will show that the half has not been told. Prather has had seven trials and has been convicted every time, and we will prove it. Now show us one time when he was cleared and we will give in. You say he was cleared in that Kansas case where the jury hung, but he had another trial and court records show that he was convicted in that Kansas case you prate about.

JOHN JONES, J. W. HANNA, CHAS. TAYLOR, GEO. W.TODD.

An Error Somewhere. I The trial of W. 0. Sidener and Guy R. Steele, the ex-postoffice employee, which was to have come up in the Federa! court at Indianapolis on Nov. 9, has been postponed indefinitely This was caused through an oversight on the part of the inspector who had failed to notify U. S. District Attorney Wishard and the United States Marshal, and when the defendants' attorneys went over to ctofer with them in regard to he case they knew nothing about it.

Dan Simms was up from Covington Wednesday, looking after his political fences.

Cleveland Bowen, the young chicken thief, was taken to the Plainfleld reform school Monday by Sheriff Canine,

Lee Long, this week, sold his delivery line to S. T. Wilhite and Fred Vanhook, By his thorough business methods MrJ Long has established a city delivery system that is indispensible to the merchants, and the line now passes into very capable hands. Mr. Long will continue the feed business at the old stand.

A dozen line photographs for fifty cents at Willis & McQuown.s.

You Must Know

That we build heavy team harness to order. We allow no one to excel us in superior workmanship and quality of material, and our prices suit the times, tf

JOE E. FISHER.

The gold-tilled watches at the corner Jewelry Store, range from $5 to 8125. C. L. Rost. tf

OA.STORIA.

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The corner Jewelry Store is showing the largest stock in Crawfordsville. L. Host. tf.

Folaoaoul KepMlea vi BItt Him. The only man in the world who does not fear a snake bite, and upon whom the venom of serpents apparently has no effect, is William F. Witmer, whose home is in Wolfsville, Md„ says the New York Herald. His performances with copperheads, rattlers and vipers are a constant source of wonder and amazement to all who know him, and even to his lifelong friends there is a large element of mystery about the man and his strange power over snakes. He takes great pride in this respect, and when among strangers it is a favorite form of amusement with him to hunt up some ugly looking speciment of the serpent family —the more deadly the better It fits his purpose—and t* let tihe reptile sink Its venomous fangs in his bare arm or hand. Recently, while on a visit in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, a half-dozen spotted vipers were found in a bunch under a stone. Rolling up the sleeve of his coat until his arm was bare to the elbow, Witmer proceeded with his other hand to take the largest and ugliest-looking viper by the tail and, shaking him apart from the rest of the snakes, swung him about until he was thoroughly enraged. He then allowed the viper to sink its teeth in this arm. Then one by one the other vipers were picked up and allowed to seize the arm, until there was a full half-dozen of the spotted writhing things hanging from Witmer's flesh and writhing themselves about the arm in a very frenzy of rage. When the spectators were sufficiently horrified the man took off the snakes one by ope by the tail and, shaking them loose from his arm. killed them by snapping them like the lash of a •whip. For the rest of the day no one would have been surprised to see the man drop dead any moment, but, on the contrary, he seemed among the liveliest of the party. There was no swelling of the arm nor any numbness of the flesh, the only trace of the exhibition being a number of tiny red spots on the arm, which looked as if a needle had punotured the flesh. Those were the marks of the snakes' fangs.

Witmer himself says of the strange peculiarities which he possesses that it Is something inherited from his ancestors, one in each generation back as far as he knows having had this same immunity from the poison of venomous reptiles. "I do not try to explain it," said he "all I know is that I have no fear of snake bites and although I have been bitten hundreds of times I never felt the slightest 111 effects from any of them. It Is only a pastime for me to hunt and catch the most deadly serpents, and a peculiar feature of it is that onoe a snake has bitten me I have no 'difficulty in taming it In fact, at home I have a number of pet rattlers and copperheads, which know me and will come when I call them, just like a dog. I seem to have the same power over animals, and have yet to meet the first wild animal I cannot tame."

Imperial Ornithology.

It is natural enough to think that what we have never seen nor heard of has no existence but there are occasions when this pleasing personal ignorance runs against a hard fact. The story is told by a German paper, to illustrate the manner in which princes used to be educated in the good old times, that a Russian grand duke oncc came to Berlin to pay a visit to the Prussian court. It was early in the present century.

In Russia the imperial two-headed eagle is seen everywhere—not in the woods or in the air, but on decorations of all sorts—stamped, painted, embroidered and sculptured. Every Russian—even a grand duke—is thoroughly familiar with it.

While the above-mentioned young duke was at the Prussian court, a hunt was given in his honor, and by the assistance of the gamekeepers he was enabled to shoot a certain large bird. "What kind of a bird is that?" the grand duke asked of another hunter. "It lb' an eagle, your (highness," the hunter answered whereupon the Russian prince turned on him with a look of indignation and said "An eagle! How can it be, when it has only one head!"

Extremely Literal.

Jt is related of a certain very mat-ter-of-fact man that he was waked one night by a burglar at the foot of his bed, who pointed a revolver at his head. "If you move," said the burglar, "you are a dead man!" "I beg your pardon," answered the other "if I move, it will be good proof that I am alive. You should be more careful as to the meaning of your words."

The fault of this story is that It does •not tell what the burglar did then. Properly he should have fainted, and remained in the faint until the police came and took him away.

One of the Two.

It was in front of a theater that a number of people observed a showily dressed man. "I tell you," remarked one of the fcroup, "a man is lucky to have a big fur-trimmed overcoat this kind of weather." "Perhaps," was the rejoinder, in a tone of chronic discontent "he's either lucky or else he's an actor."—Washington Star.

For Herielf Alone.

I She—Do you love me forr myself dearest? He—Of coarse I do. V"«u don't suppose I want your mother ibout all the time, do you?—Judy.

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POPULAR SHIPPING CENTER OF CRAWFORDSVILLE.

A GREAT EVENT—A WONDERFUL CHANGE FOR THE LADIEg OF THIS CITY AND COUNTY.

GRAND CLOAK OPENINQ!

A repiesentative of ohe oi the largest N«w York manufacturers of Ladies', Misses' and Childr™' win 1be at this store for four days—Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and will have on exhibit the finest lines of Cloaks ever shown in Crawfordsville. Everybody is cordially invited to call mrl goods whether you want to buy or not. These goods will be sold at one-third less than goods carried i«° This is emphatically the greatest saving opportunity of your lile time. Don't let this chance slip by.

Don't Forget the Days—Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday Remember the Place and Come In.

THE GOLDEN RULE.

UP-TO-DATE RETAILERS.

FN FELT BOOTS.

We have just received a large line of Men's Felt Boots which we are now offering at prices never before equaled in this county. It is the finest Boot of its kind now manufactured and we offer it at a price that all may have warm, dry feet this winter. Call and see them.

Ed. VanCamp & Co.,

MAIN STREET, OPPOSITE COURT HOUSE.

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