Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1889 — Mr. Powell Again Replies to “Truthful David.” [ARTICLE]

Mr. Powell Again Replies to “Truthful David.”

Washington,D. C-,Scpt. 2,1883. . Editor Republican: Dear Sir, I must beg pardon for again intruding upon yourself and the public. 1 supposed that I had made my formeT statement so plain that the wayfaring man, though a fool, could not help bnt understand my position, but it seems my Democratic friend, Mr. Shields, even falls below that standard of per-; ception. I was not, nor am I now, I laboring to show to the public that t am a man without faults, nor am I trying, as Mr. Shields tries to make it appear, to build up a reputation for courage. All that I attempted was to show that Mr. Shields’ statements were false and cowardly, neither of which facts he has the hardihood to deny, but attempts to avert or ward off their force by craftily assailing me and pretending to feel hurt that I had not called him a liar and a coward before he ever assailed me, or gave me any provocation to do so. (T would be pleased if Mr. Shields would be kind enough to inform me how to resent an insult before it is offered.) Mr. Shields also sees fit to remind me of the fact that I had been beaten for a county office in a general election &e., and labors hard to make it appear that my general reputation was bad on that account, yet. in the same letter he has the unmitigated cheek to say that justice could not be meted out to me in Jasper county, because of my political influence, or words to that effect; for he says, “It is well known that in some parts of Jasper county justice is meted out with rigor or leniency according to political affiliations of the culprit.” Now if it were true that such a state of public feeling exists as Mr. Shields strives to stigmatize me with, there ought to be no trouble to bring the “culprit” to justice, m this particular case.

And farther, if Mr. Graham or his friends did not feel that justice would be done me by Justice Graves, of Wheatfield, where Mr. Graham resides, and whose bondsman Mr. Graham was at that time, they had access to the justices’ courts of the whole county and also the grand jury and circuit court, and neither is the case yet outlawed, and I would esteem it as a special favor if Mr. Shields would ' look after the matter and have it investigated, and I assure him that should an indictment be found, the “culprit” will be there for trial.

As a matter of fact, the statement of facts in the Graham affair, as delineated by Mr. Shields, is wholly at variance with what occurred on that occasion, but that I don’t care to discuss here, as it was discussed by the papers at the time. But Ido feel mortified that Truthful David should not have been consulted by the President before he made his Indiana appointments, and would suggest that in future he be consulted on all such topics.

“CULPRIT” JOHN.