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Vol. 14, No. 2
/~)N the front page of The Christian Index
for December 28, 1916, appears the usual
mottoes:
“The Entrance of thy word giveth Light”
“The Organ of the Baptists of Georgia.”
When a family newspaper, claims to be
the mouthpiece of a religious denomination,
sailing under a pious headlight, whose
wording is given above, it owes a moral duty
to the whole church for which it assumes to
speak.
There was no urgent necessity for The
Index to make extended mention of the death
of Pastor Russell. To our Baptist church, he
was a prominent minister whose faith differed
from ours, but he had never given us any
especial provocation.
A news-item of his departure would have
answered every purpose; and such an item
could have been worded in away that would
have defined his position in the religious
world, without offending either his disciples
or his adversaries.
But the present Editor of “The Organ of
the Baptists of Georgia” indulged in the bad
taste of cruelly assailing the Rev. Charles
Taze Russell before the tears of those who
mourned him were dry.
Nature is cruel enough, God knows, but
Nature had not wilted the floral offerings at
“WHY WAS FRANK LYNCHED?”
J
Frank's Own Lawyers Caused the Irregularity of the Execution, One of Them Under
taking to Act Both as PEOPLE’S EXECUTIVE and as FRANK’S ATTORNEY.
IN The Forum magazine for December,
* 1916, appears a malicious libel upon me
which was probably being put into type by
the New York printers at the same time that
the Macon preacher, W. N. Ainsworth, was
writing the malignant and dastardly attack
he made on me, the day before I was to meet
the Roman church, in a court-house fight,
where honor and life were at stake.
Whether Slaton concerted both these at
tacks, and launched them at that particular
time for the purpose of prejudicing my case,
no one can say, but the coincidence in time
and tone is peculiarly striking.
Why did Ainsworth wait until the Sabbath
before the trial?
Why did The Forum choose that particular
time ?
The author of The Forum article signs
himself “a public man of Georgia.”
Who is this public man that veils his face
from the public?
In what walk of life is he “public?”
If a professional man, has he some reason
for wearing a mask!
The Christian Index Again Commemorates Pastor Russell.
A Peculiar Effort to Justify a Libel on a Dead Man.
Thomson, Ga., Thursday, January 11, 1917
Pastor Russell’s tomb, before The Christian
Index was engaged in the un-oharitable effort
to wilt, wither, and destroy his good name.
The leading editorial in The Index for
Dec. 28, 1916, informs us that it has been
threatened with a suit for libel, on account of
its uncalled-for and unprovoked attack upon
the dead.
Commenting on this threat, and byway of
excuse for its own conduct, The Index adopts
a most extraordinary expedient:
It reproduces another libellous assault on
Pastor Russell, made by another publication,
and declares that, if The Index had re
pudiated this other libel, the author of that,
could have sued The Index for damages!
The article which The Index republishes
in defense of itself was “taken from a tract
by the Sunday School Board, Nashville,
Tenn.” *
The Index asserts that the author of this
tract “is a very learned gentleman whose
piety and fairness, even to his foes, are un
questioned.”
“The Sunday School Board is composed of
picked men, whose lives and character will
bear the closest scrutiny.”
“Surely this Board would not publish and
send out an unauthenticated tract, etc.”
If an official, does he fear the censures of
those whose votes he got?
He cannot be a clergyman, for Ainsworth
spoke for the pro-Frank clergy.
The public man of Georgia who goes into
a Northern magazine to attack the courts and
the people of Georgia, acts prudently in hid
ing his identity.
The mere fact that he does hide it, proves
that he is afraid not to hide it.
And the same proof which shows that he
meant to’’hide from his fellow Georgians,
while attacking them, proves that he is a
pusillanimous cur, with the morals of a hen
roost thief, and the courage of a midnight
assassin.
There has never been a doubt in my mind
that the Frank case would figure in politics
for years do come.
Because of this belief, I carefully prepared
the official record of the evidence for publica
tion in watson’s magazine, and the accuracy
of that record as there preserved, has never
been questioned.
At any time since then, anybody could have
secured a copy of the at the trifling
Friends, isn’t that a pitiable retreat from
an indefensible position?
Wouldn’t a prompt and manly apology
have done more credit to The Index?
Accused of libelling the dead, our “Organ”
steps behind our “Sunday School Board” —
they are “picked men” —and behind an un
named author, who “is a very learned gentle
man !”
What’s the name of this very learned
gentleman ?
The Index handled Russell's name freely
enough: why not name the men who assailed
him ?
Is The Index giving them time to make
their property over to their wives, as little
General Funston warned our Baptist
preachers to do?
First of all, let me say to the Editor of
The Index that the law does not permit him
to defend one libellous publication by quoting
another.
He can plead the truth, in his defense, and
he might mitigate the offense by proving an
honest mistake; but that which is false itself,
cannot excuse.a second libel.
Therefore the tract published by the Board
does not furnish protection to The Index.
(continued on page two.)
cost of 10 cents, and satisfied his own mind,
by reading for himself, of the recklessness
and vindictiveness with which the pro-Frank
ites and the pro-Slatonites have lied about
this case.
It can still be done, at the same trifling
expense.
Therefore, I can reasonably say to every
one who is disturbed by The Forum article,
or by its reproduction in Adolph Ochs’ Chat
tanooga Times, or by its periodical bobbing
up in other pro-Frank publications:
“Don’t require me to thresh that old straw,
again! I’ve done it, until there's not a grain
left.
Send 10 cents to The Jeffersonian Publish
ing Company and get a copy of the sworn
evidence which cost Leo Frank his life.
Read the court-house proof, for yourself!
Then, and not ’till then, will you be able
to measure the lies that have been told.”
The masked bushwhacker of The Forum
says:
Watson produced all the vague “rumors” as
evidence and warpod the testimony of the trial
to suit his purpose. Weekly he described the
(CONTINUED ON PAGE FOUR.)
Price, Five Cents