Monday, April 28, 2014

THE CORTLAND NEWS SUED BY "PROFESSOR" DIXON FOR LIBEL



The Cortland News, Friday, May 11, 1883.
DEFENDING HIS FAITH.
A Temperance Advocate Suing his Defamer for Libel.
   The Cortland county temperance executive committee have issued a circular stating that in view of the wholesale slanders issued by the " Ring" of Cortland county, and the libels published by their organ, THE NEWS, assailing the character of temperance candidates, and believing that the same persons who have traduced other speakers will not hesitate to defame their advocate, Professor Dixon, he being a stranger, and thereby prejudice the people from attending his meetings, they wish it to be known that Professor Dixon is in the county by special invitation of the county temperance committee, and that he is endorsed by the National Prohibition Alliance, and by the State Christian Temperance Unions of a dozen States.
   Mr. Conger, proprietor of the Marathon House, in Marathon, was in Cortland yesterday, and stopped the publication in THE NEWS of a statement that Professor Dixon drank several times at his hotel a few days ago. Mr. Conger stated before several witnesses that he had no knowledge of Mr. Dixon's indulgence in drink, and did not believe that the charges made against him were true, and will make affidavit to that effect.
   Professor Dixon has caused a Supreme Court writ for libel to be served upon the originator of the falsehood of the Cortland county "ring."

“Professor” Dixon in the Role of “Reverend.”
From the McGrawville Sentinal of May 5, 1883.
   Many of our readers will remember the lectures on the "Pyramids of Egypt," which were given by Prof. A. C. Dixon, in this village last fall. He afterwards canvassed this county in the interests of the temperance cause, and finally left several engagements unfulfilled and went off "after evidence to clear up his character," having in his possession about $100 of the money furnished for campaign purposes, and who has not been heard from in this section since. He has at last found himself in hot water, as will be seen by the following from the Elmira Sunday Telegram, of April 29:
   "CORRY, Pa., April 28. — Professor A. C. Dixon, of Iowa, delivered two lectures on the pyramids and the Nile temples in the First Methodist Episcopal church in this city early last week. Representing himself as a local preacher he was granted the use of the pulpit also, and preached the preceding Sunday morning and evening. After his departure from town, Rev. A. J. Merchant, pastor of the church here, wrote to the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Iowa, to which Dixon professed alliance, and received a reply to the effect that Dixon is not a local preacher, that he is a dead beat and a fraud, and that his lecture is purely visionary. Furthermore, he is unduly fond of the ladies, and has a wife in Vermont from whom he has been unable to get a divorce because of her estimable character and his own unsavory reputation. This letter was presented to the Evening Herald for publication, which was refused. Mr. Merchant then gave it to the Weekly Telegraph and sent copies to the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate and other religious journals, supplementing this action by informing the Methodist clergy in neighboring towns of the facts by letter. Professor Dixon happened to pass through Corry, recently, and learning of the proceedings as above, stopped over, announcing his determination to see the affair through to the end. After a brief interview with Mr. Merchant, that gentleman made exceedingly quick time to the telegraph office, when he sent dispatches to the Advocate and other papers, requesting them to publish the matter. Dixon demands a thorough investigation of the charges made against him. He denies all the charges, claims that he is divorced from his former wife, and that his personal reputation cannot be successfully impeached. The outcome of the matter is awaited with much interest here, particularly by the church people."
   That such a "pimp" (as Prof. Dixon used to call those fellows who sold whisky) should be allowed to go unpunished is a disgrace to people who claim to be law representing citizens. The editor of the Sentinel would like to see the said Dixon about $3.25 worth, and knows of some others who have larger amounts against him.

Waiting to be Whipped.
   The humorist of Peck's Sun has been threatened with a whipping by a young man whose sweetheart broke her engagement after reading one of Peck’s articles advising girls to let young men to whom they are engaged severely alone if they take to drinking. To the young man's threat Peck replies:
   "What would we be doing while such a youth, with his skin full of benzene was whipping us on sight? This young man has never whipped any editors, evidently. He has never had to be carried out on a window shutter to a hospital, and lay in a stupor while the doctors set his bones, and has never laid in a delirium for months, and seen the air full of sorrel-topped editors walking over him with hunting boots on. He should commence down low and work up gradually to editors. Let him attend a few ward caucuses, with their rows, and take in a few summer garden picnics, and balls, and prize fights, and if he lives, then he can think about whipping a newspaper man. But he wants to learn to pray, and it is best to bid an affectionate adieu to friends, and pay up whisky bills, for there is nothing that injures a young man's reputation so much as to have his trunk attached, after he has been buried by the authorities for an old liquor bill. In addition to announcing that our office hours for being whipped at sight for articles that appear in the paper, are from 8 A. M. to 6 P M., we will state that the advice to girls who are engaged to drunkards is still in force, and if they will all take it to themselves, and ship the drunkards before it is everlastingly too late, and thus make themselves and their mothers happy, and we will take chances on a whipping from the drunkard in every case, and make him a present when they marry a sober young man. Don't hang on to any drunkard for fear be will whip us."

Train Dispatching.
   "People who climb on a passenger train when she is two or three hours late little imagine what endless planning and management it takes to get her through safely. Let a freight get behind time and we can handle her by running her on another train's time, but a passenger breaks up everything on the road. A train dispatcher must be familiar with every circumstance and every possible combination of circumstances. He must know on just what portion of the road fast time can be made and give orders accordingly. He must never give an order for a certain time to be made unless he is positively certain that the grade and condition of the weather will permit of such time being made. To-day I may order a train to run from station A to station B, and another for a train to run from B to A when the same order tomorrow would precipitate a collision. You have got to know all the men on the line.
   “Why, on that road that I worked on there would be engineers and conductors that could never get a train through on time. Then there would be others that would never be late except in case of accident. Why, sometimes during my eight hours of duty I would give 250 train orders. Just think of that a moment. Here is a passenger train four hours late and a freight side-tracked at almost every station. Of course that puts every train behind time. First I have to order the operator to put out his flag and hold the train for orders, and then I have to send the order and wait for it to be repeated back. At the same time a train may be passing a station five miles away, where I want to hold and side-track her. All this time I must not unnecessarily detain the freights. Sometimes right in the middle of a rush of business like this the wire will break or some operator will leave his key open. Then everything is to pay. Fortunately the train dispatcher's order is law. Every employee is bound to obey it. So we do not have to worry about that."
   "Why did you leave the business?”
   "Because I was growing a year older every week. I had the work of ten men upon my shoulders. You often hear about the brave engineer, clinging with firm resolve and calm resignation to the throttle while the engine is plunging on toward inevitable destruction. His responsibility is nothing. He has only a single train and has no duty but to obey rules. The train dispatcher has a hundred trains under his finger that presses upon the key. A moment's delay to a passenger train, a trifling accident to a freight, and the dispatcher is cussed. The eight hours you put in bending over your key seems like a week. Your head swims and grows dizzy beneath its awful responsibility. No more train dispatching for me, if you please."—Cleveland Herald.




 

No comments:

Post a Comment