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 James D. Fay JAMES D. FAY,
Attorney and Counselor at Law, Corvallis, Oregon.
Will practice in all the courts of the state, and attend promptly to
all business entrusted to his care.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, September 17, 1859, page 1 NEW LAW FIRM.--D. Wm. Douthitt and James D. Fay, Esq., have entered into partnership in law business in this town. Read their card in our advertising columns. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, March 7, 1863, page 2 KILLED.--The Jacksonville Sentinel says that a son of one Ralls, aged three years, near Willow Springs, Jackson County, Oregon, on July 27th, was riding upon a wagonload of hay, from which he was thrown, and in his fall to the ground he encountered the pronged end of a pitchfork, one prong of which entered his throat, and by his weight and the momentum of the fall was forced clear through and protruded out at the back of his head, producing instant death. Sacramento Weekly Union, August 22, 1863, page 7 GOOD NEWS FOR COPPERHEADS.
When Judge Williams addressed the Union men at Jacksonville on the 28th
ultimo, a gentleman interrupted him to hand a dispatch announcing the
approach of Grant to Richmond. It was received with great enthusiasm
and applause.On the evening of the same day, J. D. Fay addressed the secessionists at the same place. He was also interrupted with a dispatch and remarked that as Judge Williams had read a late dispatch with important news to his crowd, he would also read a message with encouraging information. The word was, "Holbrook, Tracy and Risley are running independent for the Legislature against the Union ticket." The information was received by the copperhead crowd with the most boisterous acclamations. It was as good news for them as the victories of Grant were for Union men. That is just the difference. A victory of the independents over the Union men of Multnomah is as gratifying to copperheads as a victory of the national armies is to the Union men. Oregon Statesman, Salem, June 6, 1864, page 2 FAY.--On Wednesday night last, Fay, the irrepressible copperhead from Jackson County, let himself loose before an assembled squad of his followers in the courthouse of this place. His remarks were characterized principally by a spirit of malicious misrepresentation running through the whole of them; indeed, the speaker acknowledged as much by fact that when he did, by accident, tell a truth he would interpolate his remarks with "this is so," "this is a fact," etc. The principal point he made, and one which was loudly applauded by the copperheads present, was that McClellan was not his choice. This Fay possesses the "gift of gab," speaks very fluently, and the only thing he needs, in our opinion, to make him a successful speaker is a little common sense. In this very essential qualification he appears to be almost entirely deficient, and in lieu thereof seems to depend entirely upon hoarsely uttered and grossly false assertions. This style of oratory might have won in the dark ages, or even in modern times in certain localities, Long Tom, Soap Creek, etc.; but to palm it off upon a reading and intelligent community, as the product of brains, won't do. Fay might do to act as chaplain to a guerrilla band, but to addresss a sensible audience, he won't near do; his lack of brains is too apparent. Oregon State Journal, Eugene, October 22, 1864, page 3 Married.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
October 29, 1864, page
3
By Rev. P. M. Starr, at Roseburg, on the 22nd inst., Hon. JAMES
D. FAY, of Jacksonville, to Miss GERTRUDE
APPLEGATE, of Yoncalla.
With the above notice came also the substantial compliments of the pair--a bottle of fine champagne. Under the influence of its sparkling contents, we prospose the following sentiments: May they, like
"Young Clarendon
And his Amelia prove a matchless pair; With equal virtues, and equal grace The same distinguished by their sex alone Hers the mild luster of the blooming morn, And his the radiance of the risen day." The two centers from whence most of this abuse and slang of Gov. Gibbs has been disseminated are the Arena set in Salem, and the barroom doggery in Portland, where the Evil Genius sponges his whiskey. Besides these, a satellite of both called Dirty Ben has been industriously engaged in the same line in Polk, to whom may be added the red-mouth Fay of Jacksonville, whom Senator Nesmith, in a public speech, once aptly characterized as a "poor cross between a rat terrier and a ringtailed monkey." "Gov. Gibbs and His Maligners," Oregon Statesman, Salem, January 9, 1865, page 2
Fay, who is running the Reporter,
over
the livery stable of Clugage & Drum, claims to be a brother of
"Old
Virginny." You saucy-brandy-face-blackguard, you are no relation
whatever of "Old Virginny." You never saw the Old Dominion. A few years
ago you boasted of having been born and raised in Charleston, the
cradle of secession and treason, and you drank lots of cocktails and
toasts to the success of South Carolina and Jeff Davis; but since
Charleston has fallen into the possession of the Union forces you
desire to hail from Virginia. You may bray about coming from "Old
Virginny" until doomsday, but no one will believe it. Every contraband
in town knows you are either from the bogs of Ireland or from the
mosquito swamps of South Carolina.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, April 1, 1865, page 2 OUTSPOKEN.--In these times, when Copperhead leaders are trying to worm into the columns of their organs a sort of half-and-half eulogy and reproach of the late lamented President publishing abusive extracts with great gusto upon the outside, struck off previous to receiving the news, while in the editorial column they attempt halfhearted candor and contemptible eulogy, it is startling to find in J. D. Fay, editor of the Reporter, one who does not condescend to truckle to policy or deny himself. Differing from him diametrically as we do, we prefer his words for the same reason that we respect an outspoken rebel more than a palavering "peace Democrat." The following extract from the Reporter, much as we condemn it, is at least consistent with its former course. The people are to decide if formerly or now they can sanction or approve it. The great and good of all the world are against them if they do. "Much as we have opposed his policy--bitterly and earnestly as we have denounced his official conduct--we cannot but unite in common with thinking men of all shades of political opinion in a feeling of profound regret at the occurrence of so calamitous an event. While we honestly believe that it would have been far better for the peace and prosperity of the country had he never seen the light, we cannot regard his assassination as a blessing or in any other vein than as an evil to the nation, and can but denounce the murderer as an enemy not only to the peace and good order of society of the United States but as a violator of the laws of God and man. His death will not change the policy of the party in power, nor will the blood shed by the murderer's bullet fill the veins of the myriads whose gore crimsoned the plains of the North and South. The fatal deed which deprived him of life cannot resurrect the inanimate dead whose graves roughen the battle fields to which his fatal policy led them. Nor can virulent reproaches heaped upon his tomb stifle the malice, obliterate the hatred, and wash out the bitter recollections engendered by the strife of sections. Nor will his memory covered with obloquy and reproach console the mourning hearts of the widow and the mother and fill the place by the fireside forever made vacant by this 'cruel war'." Morning Oregonian, Portland, May 1, 1865, page 2 MORE DEMOCRACY.--A correspondent of the Jacksonville Sentinel charges James D. Fay, the leader of the Democratic squad in the last Legislature, with recently using the following language in the presence of a number of gentlemen, to wit: "That he was now, as he always had been, in favor of the recognition of the independence of the Southern Confederacy." Fay is one of the honest, outspoken Democrats. Oregon Statesman, Salem, May 8, 1865, page 2 Born.
In Jacksonville, Oct. 11th, the wife of James D. Fay, of a son.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
October 14, 1865, page
2
JUBILEE IS COMING.--The
little red-mouthed Copperhead, Fay, who spoke on Saturday evening last,
said that if Dowell were elected there would be a carnival among
thieves and criminals. Wouldn't the Democracy have a good time, then?
Wouldn't there be a jubilee--a general jail delivery and a glorious
reunion of Fay and his Democratic friends. The orator seemed to be
thankful that even this crumb of comfort was left them, and wisely
concluded that it was an ill wind that blew good to no one, as the
elevation of Mr. Dowell seems to be inevitable.
NOT SATISFIED.--From
a private letter from Roseburg, we learn that the result of the
Democratic state convention was received there by the unwashed with
unmistakable manifestations of chagrin and disappointment. The
nomination of Fay seems to elicit the most unfavorable comments, in
fact, there is no man prominent among the copperheads as unpopular as
Jas. D. Fay.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
April 14, 1866, page
3Consistency.
Is
said to be a
jewel. We invite our readers to feast their eyes on the following
string of Democratic pearls, to which we will add from time to time,
until
election day. So just
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
April 21, 1866, page
3
James D. Fay, Democratic candidate for Congress, says: I believe in the right of secession as a divine right. James K. Kelly, Democratic candidate for Governor, says: If United States bonds are not taxed, I will never vote to pay the interest of the public debt, by G-d. James O'Meara, Democratic candidate for State Printer, says: If the people get a chance, they will extinguish the whole corrupt public debt in thirty days without any tax. M. H. Abbott, editor of the Oregon Herald, and a Democratic leader in Oregon, said in 1861: We consider the Union dissolved, never to be reunited. In 1862 James D. Fay said: I demand that the South be allowed to go in peace. In 1864 James O'Meara said that he would not take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States because he would not commit perjury. In 1861 James K. Kelly declared that the Union never could be saved by war. These are a few little incidents in the political career of prominent Oregon Democrats. Oregonian, Portland, May 4, 1866, page 1 A COUPLE OF QUOTATIONS.--The Oregon Sentinel, published at O'Fay's home in Southern Oregon, gives the following as the language of James D. Fay, Democratic candidate for Congress: "I pronounce this war an unholy crusade against THE NATURAL RIGHT OF SECESSION--carried on by murderers and thieves for rapine and plunder." That is Fay's opinion of the loyal soldiers and the loyal people who furnished the bone and sinew of the government during the terrible struggle for national existence. How would loyal Oregon like to be represented in Congress by the man who publicly expresses such sentiments? Here is another quotation which the people should remember: "I believe in the right of secession AS A DIVINE RIGHT and demand that the South be allowed to go in peace." Keep these declarations in memory. Oregonian, Portland, May 5, 1866, page 2 A Vote for James D. Fay.
A vote now for James D. Fay is a vote in favor of abandoning the fruits of the
late victory over disunionism, secession and treason to
the traitors themselves.A vote for James D. Fay is a vote ratifying his treasonable declaration that "THE RIGHT OF SECESSION IS A DIVINE RIGHT." A vote for James D. Fay is a vote saying as he said that the late war on the part of the North was "AN UNHOLY CRUSADE AGAINST THE NATURAL RIGHT OF SECESSION." A vote for James D. Fay is a vote declaring as he declared that the Union soldiers who carried on the war for the Union were "THIEVES AND MURDERERS." A vote for James D. Fay is a vote declaring as he and the Democratic Party declared that the war was a "FAILURE." A vote for James D. Fay is a vote in favor of admitting into Congress any unrepentant rebel who may present himself with a certificate of election, without regard to what he may have done to destroy the Union, or what he may be in favor of doing hereafter. A vote for James D. Fay is a vote, practically, in praise of the men who opposed coercion who were in favor of letting the rebellious states "go in peace," and who sympathized with and assisted the rebels in every possible way. A vote for James D. Fay is a vote ratifying the infamous Copperhead record [of] the last five years. Oregonian, Portland, May 8, 1866, page 2 The Oregonian charges Mr. Lane with having said at Umatilla that if he were in Congress he would vote for the admission of Jeff. Davis. This is false. Mr. Lane did say that the States themselves had a right to select their own members, and if they were duly qualified and elected according to the law of the state, Congress had no right to reject them. If the members had committed any offense it was alone in the province of the courts to determine upon the nature of the crime, and to impose its punishment. Oregon Herald, Portland, May 10, 1866, page 1 Indeed, a prominent citizen of this place, the day after the several candidates spoke here (they were here on the 27th), said that he had been a Democrat all his life, but if Fay was the best material the party could find to send to Congress, he was done with them. O'Fay became so excited over some allusions to his political record, read by Mr. Mallory from the Jacksonville Sentinel, that he appeared even to forget the respect due a respectable audience, and with an aged minister of the gospel as chairman, used profane language during his agonizing and fruitless efforts to disentangle himself from the foul meshes of secession Democracy. At one time in his address he became indignant over the imputation of his opponent that secession was a dogma of the Democratic Party and, raising himself upon tiptoe demanded, "Why, if secession is part of the Democratic creed, have they not seceded long ago-- (A voice)--Because they couldn't. O'Fay--Because they couldn't--how do you know they couldn't! (Voice)--Because they tried for four years and we would not let them. The Union men here are pleased with our state and county nominations, and had we had the privilege of choosing our opponents we would in most instances have chosen the same individuals they have nominated. We expect to elect our county ticket, and give a sufficient majority for the state ticket to overcome the small majority the Cops [Copperheads] may have in Union County. Much is said nowadays by the Cops about the split in the Union Party. I will just say that here there is no split. I do not know a single Union man in this county that supports President Johnson. J.A.F.
"Letter from Baker County," Morning Oregonian, Portland,
May 10, 1866,
page 4Read It.
The address of Messrs. Fay and Lane to the people of Grant County
should be read by every voter in the state. It presents in a frank and
lucid manner the issues pending in this campaign. Its positions are
such as every Democrat in the state endorses, and to which every
candidate upon the Democratic ticket is pledged and to which our
opponents are irreconcilably opposed and are trying all means to evade
by raising false issues, personal and irrelevant. They are trying to
make it appear, by garbled extracts and detached sentences of former
speeches, that Mr. Fay and Mr. Lane formerly believed in the right of
secession. We do not know or care whether they did or not, and shall
take no trouble to inform ourselves in regard to their position upon
that question when it was before the American people. It has been
submitted to the arbitrament of arms and finally determined, and has no
more to do with the present contest than a belief in the moon
hoax
of 1835. We say this the more freely because we never did believe in or
advocate the right of secession--the right of a sovereign state to
violate a compact perpetual in its terms, any more than any other
sovereign power had a right to violate a treaty without just cause. The
Federal Party of New England and the Abolition Party were the only
parties in this country that ever did endorse the right of a state to
nullify its Constitutional obligations. The people of the South simply
appealed to a revolutionary right through the instrumentality of their
state governments and were defeated, and that is the end of it. Every
Democrat in the North tried every means possible to avert the contest
and preserve the Union--without bloodshed--and were only defeated in
their endeavors by the unanimous opposition of the Republicans in
Congress. The issues which divided the Democratic and Abolitionists
before the war are, as Mr. Lincoln predicted, again upon us--the
Democratic Party is unanimously in favor of restoring the Union; the
Republican Party is against it. Then the cry was--"No Union with
slaveholders"; now it is "No Union with rebels." If Mr. Mallory
professed to be a Union man while the war was in progress and endorsed
the unanimous resolution of Congress, declaring that the war was
prosecuted only to restore the Union with "the equality, dignity and
rights of the several states unimpaired," he certainly repudiates that
pledge now, and is not a Union man in any sense of the word. If Mr. Fay
believed in the right of secession when it was a live issue, he is
certainly a Union man now, and that is all that we want to know of him
beyond his character for honesty and integrity, which is unimpeached.
Oregon Herald, Portland, May 15, 1866, page 2 To the Voters of Grant County.
Oregon
Herald, Portland, May 15,
1866, page 4PORTLAND,
May 14th, 1866.
Fellow citizens of
Grant CountyAs the nominees of the Democratic Party for Congress and Secretary of State, we had designed visiting you during the present campaign, and had made appointments to meet you at various places in your county. After reaching Auburn we found that the road over the mountains [was] quite impassable, and were thus compelled to abandon the trip. We regret this exceedingly, as at this particular time it would have afforded us sincere pleasure to have discussed before you issues which we conceive to be of vital interest. These issues are not only important, but to a great extent entirely new, and in the consideration of them it would be well indeed if we could divest ourselves of party and political prejudices, and approach the subject "with malice toward none, with charity for all," with heads capable of understanding and hearts willing to receive the truth. The platforms adopted by the two parties whose candidates solicit you suffrages are already before you--between them and not between men are you to choose. What a contrast! Is not one ambiguous, deceptive and demagogical--the other bold, manly and patriotic? The great question, however, is that of reconstruction. What should be our course toward those states whose people were lately in insurrection? There are but two positions, the one suggested by President Johnson, and the other indicated by Congress. The first embraces the idea that the Southern states have not been, and therefore are not now, out of the Union--that they are free and equal members of the Union, and as such entitled to all the rights and privileges belonging to such a condition. This is President Johnson's position, and in it the Democracy, as well as many who have long opposed the Democracy, sustain him. The plan of Congress is that these states are out of the Union--at all events, so far out that they shall not be allowed representation in the national council--a right which unquestionably belongs to every state in the Union, until such time as Congress shall have declared them entitled to such representation. This is the position of the Republican Party here and elsewhere. Which is correct? This you are to decide next June. For what purpose was the war waged? Was it to preserve or destroy the Union? If it was the former, and it was not a failure, the policy of Johnson is correct. Was it waged for the purposes of Congress or for the suppression of the rebellion? If for the former, the position of the Republican Party may be consistent though certainly not magnanimous, but if for the latter purpose merely, and it has been accomplished, the policy of the President and the Democracy is the only true one. In a resolution adopted by Congress after the war had fairly begun, it was solemnly declared that the war was waged simply "to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several states unimpaired." Mr. Lincoln never recognized any other object, and it is for this that we are contending. The Southern states have done all that either Mr. Lincoln or Mr. Johnson suggested as necessary to a friendly reception on the part of the Northern states, and yet they are denied the rights of states. They have abolished slavery, they have repealed certain laws, they have repudiated their debts, yet Congress requires more. When is there to be an end? What is to be the ultimatum? Their design evidently is not reunion, but the indefinite postponement of such a thing. Consistency, even in wrong, may be admitted. It bespeaks at least some sincerity and honesty. The Republican Party can lay but a poor claim to such a thing. They recognize the South as in the Union, so far as the duties of states are concerned, but out of the Union when their rights as states are involved. They are in the Union for the purpose of taxation, but out of it for the purpose of representation. We are laboring to preserve this sacred principle upon which this government was founded--the inseparability of taxation and representation--and insist that Congress has so authority to deny admission to representatives who possess the requisite Constitutional qualifications, and we denounce, in the language of our platform, "the present action of Congress as an unwarranted assumption of power, revolutionary in its tendency and dangerous to the liberties of the people." To the provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights bills, together with the unanswerable objections set forth in Johnson's vetoes of the same, we invite your attention. The first was defeated by the decision, the firmness and patriotism of our President--yet it serves to show the animus of that party. The latter is no less objectionable, and, as it is an existing law, we must boldly meet it. We opposite it because it conflicts with the rights of the states, and inevitably leads to negro suffrage and the perfect equality of the races, socially and politically. The Constitution of our state, aiming to preserve a white man's government for the benefit of white men, inhibits negro immigration. This law entirely abrogates this clause in our Constitution. The act admitting Oregon into the Union guaranteed to us the free and uninterrupted exercise of this right, and now Congress attempts to impair--indeed to utterly destroy--this right. Are you wiling to admit that your liberties and the rights of your state are thus entirely at the mercy--the discretion--of a wild, capricious and fanatical body? And if their design was not universal suffrage, if their purpose was merely to protect the freedman in the enjoyment of the fruits of his labor, why did they invest him with all the dignity and rights of an American citizen, and remove those barriers which God and the laws of the land placed between the races? Why not content themselves by securing to the negro those rights which every unnaturalized foreigner enjoys under our laws? Are negroes and Chinese entitled to greater protection than an Englishman, German, Irishman or Frenchman? Why, then, such extraordinary legislation in their favor? God grant success to that party which alone has the will to save this Republic from the miserable fate of the anarchical governments of Central America. To the sixth Democratic resolution we would also particularly call your attention: Do you favor the establishment of a privileged class of citizens--a moneyed aristocracy indeed, who while living in wealth--reveling in luxury--enjoying all the benefits and blessings of government--are yet relieved from bearing the duties and burdens of citizens? If not, resist at the polls the further exemption of bondholders, rich men, from taxation. Consider calmly and well Congress' plan of reconstruction, the report of the committee of fifteen, the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights bills, the present bond system and Sherman's proposed Loan Bill and you will then realize the fearful tendency of Republican legislation. It is to the centralization of power, the equalization of the races and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. Before such a condition of things the happiness and liberties of the American people will go down forever. JAS. D. FAY
LAFAYETTE LANE Corrected.
SALEM, May 19.
ED. HERALD:
I see in the Oregonian
of the 8th inst. a slanderous lie on Jas. O'Meara--who is no great
friend to me, yet justice is due him from my hands. The facts are
these: Mr. O'Meara had given up his seat to accommodate two ladies,
from Salem to Waconda; near the latter place the stage stopped for the
ladies to get out. Mr. O'Meara, as any gentleman should, got out to
assist the ladies and their children to the ground. As the ladies
vacated the seat, a gentleman (sitting by my side on the front seat)
squatted down in Mr. O'Meara's seat. Mr. O'M. remarked--"That is my
seat, sir; I only gave it up to accommodate the ladies. I wish you
would take the other side" (but on the same seat). Gentleman No. 2
replied--"I won't do it!" The driver was called, and he (the driver)
requested gent. number 2 to let Mr. O'Meara have his seat. Mr. O'M.
never attempted to draw, nor even named [sic] pistol, nor
did gent number 2 attempt to smash
or mangle anyone. The Oregonian has made
a big lie out
of nothing. You are at liberty to use my name if you like.A PASSENGER.
Oregon Herald, Portland,
May 23, 1866, page 2. I
was unable to find a report of this incident in the four pages of the
May 8, 1866 Oregonian; it
may have been published in an edition other than the one microfilmed.
O'Meara is mentioned, however, on page 4 in a speech by Governor Gibbs.DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.
Oregon
Herald, Portland, May 24,
1866, page 4ADOPTED BY THE DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION OF OREGON, HELD IN PORTLAND, APRIL 5, A.D. 1866.
1. Resolved, That
we reaffirm, as the creed of our political faith and practice, our
steadfast devotion to the following principles, viz: Equal and exact
justice to all men, of whatever state, party or sect; the support of
the state governments in all their rights, and of the federal
government in all its vigor; a jealous care of the elective franchise;
the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; opposition to
the centralization of power; economy in all public expenditures; the
general diffusion of education; the encouragement of morality and the
highest civilization; the right of every man to worship God according
to the dictates of his own conscience; freedom of speech, freedom of
the press, and freedom of the person under the protection of the habeas corpus.
2. Resolved, That the action of the majority in Congress, in refusing to admit the Representatives of eleven states, is an unwarranted assumption of power on the part of Congress, revolutionary in its tendency and dangerous to the liberties of the people; that we do and will sustain President Johnson in his determination and efforts for the complete restoration of all the constitutional rights of all the states, and we unreservedly approve his veto of the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights bills, and all his constitutional efforts to prevent the fanatical majority in Congress from changing or destroying our cherished form of government. 3. Resolved, That the position assumed by President Johnson, that the Representatives from the Southern states ought to be at once admitted to seats in Congress, and that legislation affecting such states while they are unrepresented is unconstitutional, meets with our hearty approval. 4. Resolved, That the assumptions of the opposition that the Democratic Party is in favor of repudiating the public debt, and that it is in favor of nullification and secession, are slanderous and false. 5. Resolved, That we endorse the sentiment of Senator Douglas, that this government was made on a white basis for the benefit of the white man, and we are opposed to extending the right of suffrage to any other than white men. 6. Resolved, That the exemption of United States bonds from taxation is substantially the exemption of rich men from taxation because they are rich, and the taxation of poor men because they are poor, and we are in favor of taxing those bonds for county, state, and municipal purposes. 7. Resolved, That strict and impartial justice demands that the expenses of the general government, as well as of the state governments, should be borne by the people according to their ability and not according to their necessities; and hence that we condemn now, as in the past, a protective tariff that tends necessarily to oppress the masses for the benefit of the rich. 8. Resolved, That in a democratic government the real sovereignty rests in the people, and all efforts tending to wrest power from the people is a war upon them, revolutionary and dangerous; and that the existence of national banks, after the experience we have had with and without them, especially in times of peace, is a subject of just alarm. 9. Resolved, That the unlawful and shameful squandering of the people's money by our present state officials meets with our emphatic condemnation. 10. Resolved, That we will ever hold in grateful memory those through whose patriotic, not mercenary or partisan, services the dignity of the Republic and the integrity of the Union were preserved; and we denounce as a base insult to the gallant living and heroic dead, the present efforts of the radicals to convert the nation's victory into a partisan triumph--seeking to make the late war one of conquest instead of the suppression of the rebellion--for subjugation instead of restoring the Union--for the negro instead of the white man. 11. Resolved, That the miners should be encouraged and protected in the free use of the mines. 12. Resolved, That we adhere to the great American Monroe Doctrine of nonintervention by our transatlantic neighbors with the governments of this continent, as a cherished Democratic doctrine. Hon. James D. Fay.
A few facts relative to the personal
history and character of JAMES D. FAY,
Democratic candidate for Congress, have recently come to our knowledge,
which we deem worthy of publication.Several years ago, JOSEPH JEFFERS, ESQ.--now a well-known and worthy citizen of Portland--resided at Oregon City. One day--it was in the fall of the year--he was told by a friend that a boy--whom he had found below town, near the Clackamas--was at his house, and that he was in very destitute circumstances and entirely unbefriended. A short time previously, Mr. Jeffers had lost a son, and though he is proverbial for his kindheartedness, it is probable that this fact made him more susceptible to the influence of generous impulses than he would have been under ordinary circumstances. He immediately, with his friend, repaired to a piece of ground covered with bushes, and found a boy, about fourteen years of age, engaged in cutting brush, and, as his friend had said, the boy's costume was decidedly scanty and seedy. Mr. Jeffers approached him and inquired where he was from, and was answered that he was originally from South Carolina. "You are a long distance from home. Have you friends?" asked Mr. Jeffers. "No, sir," and the boy began to cry. "Stop that, my boy; stop that," said Mr. J. "You must remember that, though you are thousands of miles away from your old home, yet you are not entirely outside the pale of civilization. You will find here good Christian people who will see that you do not want. You must be a little man now. What can you do? What would you like to do?" "I don't know, sir. I never worked any until after I left home. I really don't know what I could do." "Are you willing to work?" inquired Mr. J. "Yes--at anything I can do." "Would you like to have a home?" "Yes, sir," and the boy commenced crying again. "Stop that, my boy," said Mr. Jeffers. "Dry up. You must be a man now. How would you like me for an adopted father?" Here the boy scanned his interrogator very closely for some moments, and then relied: "I think I would like you, first-rate." "What is your name?" To which was replied: "James D. Fay." "Well, come along with me and I will see what can be done for you." The boy and his friend now started for town. Passing along its principal street, they stepped into a shoe store, and a pair of good socks and shoes were soon procured; then, entering a clothing establishment, a shirt, pants, coat and hat were purchased, and he, whose costume but a few moments before was so unseemly, was soon metamorphosed into a neat, trim and tidy boy. Arriving at Mr. Jeffers' residence he was introduced to Mrs. J., and was asked if he thought he could like her as his adopted mother, to which, after scanning her closely, he gave an affirmative reply. Mr. J. then said: "Now, James, I want you to understand that this is your home. There (pointing to the library) is a good assortment of books. Whenever you have any leisure, I want you to employ your time in reading and improving yourself. I will help you to obtain a good education. I want to have a fair and full understanding with you. You must not visit the grog shops and doggeries around town, because you will there learn bad lessons, and form acquaintances that will injure you. I want you to go to church and Sabbath school regularly. You must never swear, or cheat, or lie. Always tell the truth. Never prevaricate--never utter a falsehood, no matter what the circumstances in which you may be placed. Will you promise to obey me in these things?" To which the boy replied: "Please, sir, may I attend my own church?" "What church is yours?" "It is the Catholic." "James," replied Mr. J., "I have always believed that the Constitution of the United States is one of the greatest monuments of human wisdom ever erected. Among other inalienable rights it enunciates is this: That every person has the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. You may attend your own church, and all I have to ask is that you be a good Catholic. Again I ask, will you follow my advice, or commands?" Young Fay arose to his feet and replied with great emphasis: "God being my helper, I will." So that point was settled. Days, weeks, and months passed, rapidly and pleasantly away--young Fay gaining the confidence, respect and esteem of all who knew him, and being loved and cared for as an only son by his adopted parents. But now a black cloud passed over his young head. He was attacked by a disease which culminated in that most direful of all calamities--the loss of reason! Believing that much depended on good nursing as well as good medical aid, either Mr. Jeffers or his wife was with him continually, administering personally to his wants for about fifteen months--the entire period of his illness. Mr. Jeffers had to relinquish a lucrative business, and his financial affairs suffered considerably as a consequence. Seeing this, an old friend and neighbor one day advised him to put his young charge on the county, as being the best policy on the whole which he could adopt. To which well-intended suggestion Mr. Jeffers replied "Never--NEVER! while my head is hot, and I have a dollar, shall that boy be placed on the county. Never! no, never, shall it be thrown up to him, in after life, that he was once a charge on the county and a pauper! So there is no use talking to me anymore on this subject. James don't go to the poor house while I live," and Mr. Jeffers was, not long afterwards, made happy by seeing his afflicted protege "clothed, and in his right mind again"--a blessing Mr. Fay has uninterruptedly enjoyed--the insinuations of the valiant and redoubtable "Col." Hawkins to the contrary notwithstanding. As young Fay approached manhood he manifested a decided preference for the law, and he was accordingly placed in the office of Judge Skinner, then of Astoria, as a student. Here he applied himself so unremittingly to his studies and to business that in a comparatively short time he passed the requisite examination, and procured a license to practice law. Mr. Jeffers then said to him: "James, you must now strike out and see what you can do for yourself. My business has become somewhat deranged, and I have not much to give you. I have, however, a lot uptown which I will deed you, which you may sell and the proceeds of which you may use. Strike out into the world, and if you cannot get along, come back home, and while I have a crust of bread I will divide with you. Farewell, my noble boy!" Young fay sold his lot for $150 and "struck out" for himself. His subsequent career is too well known to every old Oregonian to need a recapitulation by us. In September, 1864, Mr. Jeffers received the following letter: HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES, Salem,
Sept. 1, [1864].
Dear
Sir: I
started from home some two weeks prior to the meeting of the present
term of the Supreme Court purposely in order to have some leisure time
in which to pay you a visit. But I regret most deeply that my time has
been so much occupied by business connected with a very important suit
now pending in the Supreme Court that I have not been able to carry my
wishes into execution prior to the commencement of the session of the
Legislature. You will please take for the present, at least, the will
for the deed. I intend to visit you before the session closes. Rest
assured, Mr. Jeffers, that I have not forgotten, nor will ever forget,
the kindness I have been made the recipient of, and the obligations I
am under to you and your family.Although I am well aware that I will never be able to cancel the deep debt of gratitude I owe you, still, I hope someday to be a position where I can testify, by tangible evidence, my deep sense of the obligations you have placed me under. I have won for myself a name in this state of which I am, without egotism, justly proud, both professionally and politically, but I am also aware that it is to you and your family that I am indebted for all that I am, or expect to be. Please present my regards to Mrs. Jeffers and the family, and believe me, dear sir, very respectfully yours. JAMES
D. FAY.
Mr. JOSEPH JEFFERS,
Esq., Portland, Oregon.A word more and we close. Mr Jeffers, in answer to questions from us, stated that Mr. Fay, while under him, followed his advice, or commands, very fully, and in the matter of always speaking the truth he could not be excelled by anybody. "Whenever," said he, "James D. Fay asserts a thing positively and unequivocally, you may be assured it is the truth. He won't lie--he will not equivocate, and as for fear he does not know what it is--he is as brave a man as ever trod the soil of Oregon." Such, voters, is the man whom the Democracy of this state have nominated as a candidate for Congress. Viewed merely as [a] man, you certainly cannot bestow your suffrages on one more worthy [of] your confidence and support. Oregon Herald, Portland, May 26, 1866, page 2 A FANTASTIC CUSS.--O'Fay, the Democratic candidate for Congress, is a "phunny" fellow. When he resided in Astoria, some years ago, he was in the habit of getting drunk and marching through the streets with whole bolts of gaudy ribbon tied on his hat and arms and around his body. We have this from one who witnessed his antics.--Albany Journal. That is nothing. We have seen him drunk in Jacksonville, riding a billiard cue all over town like a little boy with his first pair of boots astride his mother's broom. "Candid Joe" would explain that by saying he was slightly insane. Does Oregon want to send a lunatic to Congress? Oregon Statesman, Salem, May 28, 1866, page 3 Affecting Narrative.
We think there
are few persons who have not been deeply affected by reading the
touching, moving, sorrowful, distressful, tristful,
agonizing history of the foundling, James D. Fay, which appeared in the
Herald on
Saturday morning. Of the ancestry of the foundling nothing is said;
hence we infer that the biographer is willing for the world to take it
for granted that the pedigree of his hero is precisely as Nesmith
described it, viz.: "A bad cross between a rat terrier and a ringtailed
monkey." The foundling's history, as given in the Herald, commences
when he was fourteen years of age. At that tender age he was found
"cutting brush" in Clackamas County. For most lads of his years, this
work would not have been esteemed an especial hardship, but for one who
was born in South Carolina it was too much, and the hero of the story
cried. Yes, actually cried over his misfortune! Infallible indication
of no common intellect was this burst of tears. After witnessing it,
who could fortify himself against the conviction that James D. Fay, the
South Carolinian, was destined to be a distinguished man? No wonder
that his patron saw in him the germs of coming greatness?"A boy of fourteen who cries because he is obliged to work must surely have material in him for a congressman," thought his patron, and the hero of the story was pointed to a library and told to improve by reading and study the wonderful talents which his tears had given an unerring promise of. He was told "not to visit the grog shops and doggeries," which the little James promised not to do. How nobly he has kept his word! Does anybody suppose that the foundling never tasted ardent spirits? Not once. Why, he has grown to be one of the first temperance reformers of the age! His ruddy face, blossoming nose, and the company he keeps, will tell you that. Nothing but virtue in his looks! Think you he ever visited a grog shop? The purity of his language will disprove that! And his Chesterfieldian manners are against it, too. And his vocabulary of choice and elegant expressions and expletives and epithets prove beyond question that he never was in a "doggery." No, never! Are you not ashamed, sir, to shake your head so incredulously? The peculiar conduct of James, the foundling, is not to be attributed in so base a vice as inebriety. What would look like a "spree" in others is but an eccentricity in him. No, no, he is not drunk when he lies in the street of a night with a curbstone for a pillow! 'Tis one of the eccentricities of a great man which gives proof of an intellect of wonderful capabilities and powers! So it is certain that the foundling never disobeyed the instructions of his benignant patron! The foundling's benefactor exacted a promise of our hero that he would forever be a devout Catholic. "God being my helper," quoth the tearful James, "I will." With an integrity of purpose that never wavered, the foundling went to a Methodist camp meeting near Corvallis a few years after, made a happy profession of religion, joined the church, was baptized by immersion by Father Wilbur, and became what is known among some excessively fastidious people as "a howling Methodist." Was this a violation of his solemn promise? Not any. For wasn't he kicked out of the Methodist Church in a very short time for his--eccentricities? And if he did commit a slight fault in abandoning the Catholic faith contrary to his promise, didn't his subsequent ejectment from the Methodist Church atone for it? Assuredly, very assuredly, it did. The foundling was since afflicted (so the chronicle relates) with the loss of reason. He became a maniac! The cause of this calamity was the same as that which had moved the foundling to tears, as above related--he didn't want to work. He was going to blow out his brains! The shotgun had to be hid! 'Twas the only way of safety. But his benefactor, having one day come to the conclusion that our hero was not so thirsty for his own blood as he pretended to be, carefully loaded the aforementioned shotgun and offered the lethal weapon to his ward. And did the foundling frantically raise it and fire? Did he clutch it with the grip of a maniac? He quietly took the gun and began to examine it! Reason dawned upon him at that instant! Truly it was a miraculous cure! We have thus given the history of the most important part of the life of the foundling, James D. Fay. Young men, if you are looking for an example, study the life of this foundling. Our task is done. Our story has ceased. Our theme has died into an echo. We leave it here, trusting that from the above history the world will be convinced that James D. Fay is no ordinary man! Morning Oregonian, Portland, May 28, 1866, page 2 Hon. James D. Fay.
The "official" organ [the Oregonian--see
above], in yesterday's issue ridicules Mr. Fay because, when a boy of
only fourteen years of age, he wept. When he did this he was thousands
of miles away from the home of his childhood, entirely unbefriended,
destitute of money and very poorly clad. If, when reference was made to
his old home and friends, he did cry a little, we fail to see that it
was any crime, or that it reflects any discredit upon him. A boy who
under his circumstances would not momentarily give way to tears would
give evidence of precocity in sin which would, if unrepented of, cause
him subsequently to steal soft soap, or a hog from the "Jones" family,
or receive $800 for his vote when in the legislature. We think the
tears young Fay shed were perfectly natural, and so far from being a
disgrace to him, did him honor. There are times when even good and
brave men weep,
and no one
considers it disgraceful or dishonorable. Our Savior wept over the
grave of his friend Lazarus, and he who will not occasionally weep
gives evidence that the sluiceway of his heart has been closed, not
only by the engrossing cares of this world, but by the more hardening
process of crime. We honor the boy or the man who will occasionally
show that he is not altogether lost to every ennobling impulse and
tender sensibility, by weeping.The "official" organ, not content with ridiculing Fay because when a boy he once wept, makes sport of him because when a boy he was for awhile bereft of reason. This may be considered right and very smart by the corrupt and venal hirelings who do up the dirty work of the "official paper of the state." But in the just judgment of all good men such a course will be condemned. We have ever sympathized with the unfortunate. Whenever we see a human being bereft of an eye, or arm, or leg--or maimed and disabled in any way--we always experience a sympathetic throb in his or her behalf, and we had always supposed that this was right, but according to the system of ethics practiced by the "organ" this is all wrong and worthy of condemnation. In their view, if a man is so unfortunate as to be bereft of reason, instead of sympathizing with him, and rendering him assistance, the finger of scorn should be pointed at him, and he should be satirized and ridiculed without stint or mercy. This utter callousness of heart--this demoniac spirit exhibited by the "organ"--is, however, precisely what might be expected from those who would steal soft soap, or purloin a fat hog from the "Jones family," or receive a fat bribe for a vote when in the legislature. Oregon Herald, Portland, May 29, 1866, page 2 Negro Equality.
CORVALLIS,
May 28, 1866.
EDITOR
OREGONIAN:--Men
living here say that when Fay lived here he lived and ate with negro
Sam, the barber, and men have gone in to get shaved and Sam would get
up and shave them and leave Fay at the table.A.
A.
The writer of the above is a responsible citizen of Corvallis. The
partner and associate of the negro Sam is the man who is leading the
Democratic howl about "Negro Equality."Morning Oregonian, Portland, June 1, 1866, page 2 Mr. Fay as a "Disunionist."
While the Radical press of this state are hurling their
foul-mouthed,
slanderous charges against the Hon. J. D. Fay, the brave young champion
of Democracy, we undertake to show that there is not a truer and abler
friend and defender of the Union, the Constitution and the laws in this
broad land than Jas. D. Fay, in proof of which we publish the
following extract from the Journal of the House, for the session of
1862, pages
19, 20, 21 and shall continue to show proof from time to time
that the charges thus made against the gentleman in question are base, malicious, willful LIES:"KEEP IT BEFORE THE PEOPLE." WHEREAS, There is now in progress a wicked and armed rebellion against the Federal Union, seeking its overthrow and dismemberment, and, WHEREAS, Those engaged in this revolutionary and treasonable movement claim that the several states possess the constitutional and legal right to secede from the Union and inaugurate a new government, including the resulting right to support such organization by force of arms, and, WHEREAS, The people of the state of Oregon, citizens of the United States, have a vital and paramount interest in the preservation of our beneficent system of free government and the perpetuity of the Federal Union as its basis, Therefore, be it Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, That we have a firm and unalterable attachment and devotion to the American Union, that it is a binding and perpetual connection between the states composing it, that the alleged right of secession urged by those resisting the federal authority has no existence, is a doctrine alike unfounded in the Constitution and fatal to all good government, and we brand it as a political heresy, cherished only by traitors and their sympathizers. 2nd. That the rebellion is an unjustifiable, inexcusable and wicked attempt, the result of a base conspiracy, long since entered into by ambitious enemies of our republican institutions, to overthrow our glorious Union and the noble form of free government which it supports, and that those who justify or apologize for their treason are false to their government and traitors to the cause of humanity throughout the world, and that this infamous revolt should be suppressed by the use of every means necessary to effect that object. 3rd. That as the Federal Union is the basis of all our prosperity and character as a nation, we will support the executive of the government in every effort "to preserve, protect and defend" it, and take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and that all attempts to embarrass the Administration by assaults or captious criticism upon its policy should be regarded as unpatriotic and having a tendency to aid the traitors now fighting against the government. 4th. The war against the rebellion should be prosecuted for the sake of preserving the Union and not to subserve any mere partisan purposes whatever, and to this end, while we insist that an assault upon the peculiar institutions of the rebellious states was never any part of the purpose of the government in its efforts to maintain its authority, we deny that slavery shall be allowed to stand between the loyal American citizen and the preservation of the government, "that the paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and not to save or destroy slavery," and that we pledge the people of Oregon to sustain the federal authorities in any lawful action in reference thereto, which has for its purpose and result the maintenance and perpetuity of the Union. 5th. That the weak and wicked scheme of a Pacific Confederacy, concocted and cherished by secession sympathizers and agents, meets the emphatic condemnation of the people of Oregon, and we denounce it as a development of treason, and favored by no man who has intelligence and patriotism. 6th. That the practical issues of the times demand that patriots cease to cavil or discuss the partisan questions of the past, that all who desire the perpetuity of our free system of government should unite in one common fraternal effort to support the national executive in its endeavors to subdue the present causeless and wicked revolt against the best and wisest government ever devised by man, until the end shall be accomplished, whatever of time or sacrifice its consummation may demand. Mr. Gillette moved the adoption of the resolutions. On motion of Mr. Dufur, a call of the House was ordered. The roll being called, all the members answered. The yeas and nays being demanded on the adoption of the resolutions, resulted as follows: Yeas--Messrs. Applegate, Blair, Brown, Collard, Conyers, Cummins, Dufur, Engle, FAY, Gillette, Humason, Haines, Hemenway, Kearns, Mallory, McClure, Minto, Moores, McCully, McCoy, Ramsby, Richardson, Reed, Smith, Stevenson, Simpson, Van Dyke, Wasserman, Williams, Witham, Wilson, Watson, Mr. Speaker--33. [Nays--None.] Oregon Herald, Portland, June 2, 1866, page 4
FAY WEAKENS ON HIS
RECORD.
The following dispatch was sent us yesterday from Jacksonville, where
Fay is too well known to dare deny his treasonable record as charged
against him:Jackson County All Right for the Union. "JACKSONVILLE,
May 3rd, 1866.
"EDITOR
OREGONIAN:"Fay failed yesterday to say anything about his record and virtually admits its truth as published, his assertions of its being a lie to the contrary notwithstanding. Union men are confident of carrying Jackson County." When Fay was down here he denied his traitor record, vehemently pronouncing the charges against him to be "infamous lies." At Jacksonville, where HE HAD PUBLICLY OFFERED AND DRUNK A TOAST TO JEFF. DAVIS, James D. Fay did not dare deny the charge. He knew that a dozen men who heard him utter the shamelessly treasonable toast stood ready to convict him of falsehood if he denied it. At Jacksonville, where he had asserted his believe in the right of secession as a DIVINE RIGHT and had demanded that the South be allowed to go in peace, James D. Fay did not dare deny the charge. He knew it could be proven on him by dozens of credible witnesses. At Jacksonville, where the charge had been pressed home upon him that he was a traitor and had repeatedly uttered treasonable language, James D. Fay did not dare to open his mouth in denial. Morning Oregonian, Portland, June 4, 1866, page 2 Thrown Away.
The Auburn
Stars and Stripes,
speaking
of one J. D. Fay, the Democratic candidate for Congress from Oregon,
warns the Democracy not to vote for him. "Your votes will be thrown
away on that chap," says the Auburn paper. "He would not get a seat in
Congress, if elected. He ought to be set to dressing stone in the
Oregon penitentiary, and get a little moral principle drilled into him
before being permitted to run at large among the wild Democrats of that state." And
all this merely because Mr. Fay, in a recent public speech, expressed
the sound Democratic sentiment--"This war is an unholy crusade against
the right of secession."San Francisco Chronicle, July 4, 1866, page 4 DIED.
FAY.--On
Thursday, the 5th inst., of consumption, at her father's residence, at
Yoncalla, Douglas County, Gertrude, consort of Jas. D. Fay, Esq., of
this county, aged 25 years.Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, September 7, 1867, page 3 RETURNED.--Mr. Valentine S. Ralls, an old citizen of Willow Springs, in this county, has just returned from a business visit to the Atlantic States. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, February 29, 1868, page 3 REVIVAL.--It is reported that Mr. P. D. Hull, of Jacksonville, a practical printer, has purchased a controlling interest in the press and material of the late Reveille, and will resume the publication of a Democratic journal at that place under the editorial control of Hon. J. D. Fay. We hope this is true. Mr. Fay is probably more thoroughly identified with the policy and interests of the Democracy of Oregon than any other man in the state, and his well-known ability cannot fail to make the enterprise a success. The first number will be issued sometime in June or July, when all "policy men" and time-servers had better stand from under. Polk County Times, Dallas, Oregon, May 1, 1869, page 2 P. D. Hull, of Jacksonville, a practical printer, has purchased a controlling interest in the press and material of the late Reveille, and will resume the publication of a Democratic journal at that place. Jas. D. Fay, editor. Oregon City Enterprise, May 8, 1869, page 2 SHOT.--On last Monday, as James Ralls was going from Big Bar, on Rogue River, to his father's on the stage road between Willow Springs and Dardanelles, he accidentally shot himself in the right breast with the whole charge from a shotgun. The barrel fell out of the stock and set the cap off. Wound not considered dangerous. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 26, 1869, page 3 NO LAWYERS.--Jas. D. Fay left for Salem yesterday to prepare for the Supreme Court. Next week all the rest will follow and we will enjoy a short season of peace. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 28, 1869, page 2 J. D. Fay will deliver the oration at the Fourth at Jacksonville. "Oregon," Oregonian, Portland, June 12, 1869, page 2 NO LAWYERS.--Jas. D. Fay left for Salem yesterday to prepare for the Supreme Court. Next week all the rest will follow and we will enjoy a short season of peace. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 28, 1869, page 2 HON. James D. Fay returned from below last Thursday night. He has sojourned quite a while in the much-vaunted Webfoot land, yet we believe his predilections for Southern Oregon are in no way abated or impaired. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
October 23, 1869, page
3
STATE SENATOR FAY.--Hon. James D. Fay manifests a disposition to "go after" the interlopers and canting hypocrites in the Democratic ranks who pretend to be better than they are, and always deny their principles up to the very hour of success and then rush in to claim all the spoils. Fay never denies his principles. He was an avowed secessionist when such time-servers as Ben. Harding, Thayer, Ben. Hayden, Joe Smith, Col. Kelly, and all that crew, were either "howling radicals" or afraid to open their mouths, and when Bush and Nesmith wanted to hang Gen. Joe Lane for treason. And he boldly advocated repudiation when others were afraid to say a word. Fay seems to remember these things, and has, perhaps, not forgotten Nesmith's elegant remark about a "rat-terrier and ring-tailed monkey." Hence, we are not surprised at the course of the News, Fay's organ, which pronounces Joe Lane "the noblest Roman of them all." It also copies with evident gusto a heavy dig from Mosher's and Lane's Roseburg organ at the Democrat, characterizing the arguments of that paper before election against repudiation as "contemptible assaults upon Mr. Fay." Oregon State Journal, Salem, June 25, 1870, page 2 The Captive Fay.
It was Joseph Rodman Drake, poor fellow, who immortalized himself, and
proved that American poets possess ideality, by composing the beautiful
poem, "The Captive Fay." The attempted enterprise of the Salem Clique
to capture the indomitable Fay of Jacksonville, cannot possibly equal
in romance or ideality the wonderful fancy of Drake, but it may be
counted among the ideal enterprises of the nineteenth century. The
effort is certainly to take possession of Fay, and lead him, nolens
volens, into
the bosom of that Democratic elysium, the Salem Ring. The impudence of
the thing is only to be reconciled by faith in the old adage, slightly
transposed, that "misery makes strange bedfellows," reading instead
that such a result follows a decided Democratic success.
O'Meara can speak of Democratic maneuvers of the past with a positive knowledge that is most refreshing. The time goes not far back when he claimed and received consideration from that party, and was one of its champions. The Bulletin, therefore, speaks by the card, and our notice the other day that the business manager is fitting up a suite of rooms for Hon. J. D. Fay calls forth some interesting facts worth knowing, and which we take pleasure in offering our readers. The Bulletin says: "With all these fresh honors and grand attentions now being paid to Mr. Fay, we cannot avoid a retrospective view of the Ring members in connection with that very gentleman during the past eight or nine years. In the session of the Oregon Legislature of 1862, Mr. Fay was the only Democratic member in either House. In his place in the lower House, though entirely alone, and without even one partisan supporter or friendly colleague to second any motion, he fought the most gallant fight during the whole session that was ever witnessed in a deliberative body. Notwithstanding it was in high war times, and Salem was the citadel of the war party, and angry strife, hot blood and dark threatenings against any who thought and spoke as did Mr. Mr. Fay were continually encountered, he never weakened in his dauntless spirit, never faltered in the hottest struggle, never failed in his heroic performance of duty in vindication of his party. He was ever on the alert, untiring, indomitable. And, though alone in the Legislature, he gave the Republicans much trouble in passing some of their extreme party measures, and prevented them from passing others still more extreme. In Salem, in those days, dwelt the chiefs of the Ring. They had fine houses, ample means, and could dispense hospitality as they chose. Mr. Fay was a stranger in the city, the only member of the Democratic Party upon whom hospitality could have been bestowed, and bravest among the brave spirits of the whole state had he proved himself himself in fighting the battles from whence sprung the victories and spoils which the chiefs of the Ring now enjoy. But during all these dark and threatening days, when the encouraging grasp of friendly hand, when the cheering word of a true supporting friend, when the kindly glance or the approving look of a devoted party brother, and when the proffer of hospitality from any who felt sympathy with the cause for which he battled, or evinced approbation of his gallant behavior would have given him joy and pride, and swelled his manly heart with emotions which only the fearless champion who contends against overwhelming odds can know or appreciate---then in those days of roughest fortune and gloomiest outlook, not one token of as much as recognition did Mr. James D. Fay receive from any of the chiefs of the Salem Ring, who now seek to oppress him with the bounties which they have to bestow. Another incident we remember: In 1866, this same James D. Fay and Mr. Joseph S. Smith were competitors before the Democratic State Convention held in this city for the nomination to Congress. The Marion County delegation was led by Gen. John F. Miller, a wealthy citizen of Salem, partner in the woolen factory with, and the devoted partisan friend of, Mr. Smith. After a hard struggle in convention Mr. Fay received the nomination. The next morning Gen. Miller remarked to us that had Mr. Smith been nominated, he (Miller) would have gone over to Ladd & Tilton's bank and drawn $10,000 to spend in the campaign, but now not one cent would he give. The Marion delegation returned to Salem, and several of them refused to vote the ticket on the day of election. Not one of them actually worked in behalf of Fay; one or two of them professed to support him, but really they injured him by the quiet apathy with which they studiously prosecuted the campaign. Mr. Smith canvassed a portion of the sate, but only for Mr. Smith for U.S. Senator--not for Mr. Fay for Congress. Not one word did he ever utter in any way of his studied speeches in behalf of Mr. Fay. Mr. Grover preserved the same apathetic course toward Mr. Fay. And even Mr. Watkins smothered his accustomed fire and reckless zeal to that campaign, and Mr. Fay was abundantly scratched in the ranks of the Salem Ring faction all over the state. It must be particularly gratifying to Mr. Fay that he has at least won his way into the good graces of these chiefs of the Ring, who had so long rewarded his unconquered and enthusiastic Democracy by galling slights, open contumely, and deliberately figuring to defeat his election to Congress. He must feel commingled joy and gratitude in learning that Mr. Watkins is fitting up a suite of rooms for him in Salem--where, as the lone Democratic member of 1862 he was not honored by so much as one poor nod of recognition by the chiefs of the Ring who now so handsomely cater to his comforts and stand ready to furnish him even luxuries. MORE SUPPRESSIONS BY THE "ORGAN."
(From the Bulletin of November 1.)
In yesterday's Bulletin
we instanced the unblushing knavery of the Herald in
having mutilated the legislative reports in order to withhold from its
readers the condemnation of the State Printer, Thos. Patterson, the
business man and part owner of that paper, by the Democratic
Legislature lately in session, for the "gross frauds" and plundering of
the State Treasury committed by the State Printer. We have another
instance now to record.
Just after the election of Colonel Kelly as United States Senator, the Herald published a most malicious attack upon the President of the Senate, Hon. James D. Fay. The publication was so unprovoked, wanton and infamous that Mr. Fay demanded an investigation of the charges and a vindication of his fair name at the hands of the body over which he presided. A committee was accordingly appointed, and the chairman of that committee, Senator Brown, of Baker County, was one of the most bigoted Senators in behalf of the Herald. In giving in to the report he admitted that he had not devoted the time or application to the case which ought to have been given, yet the report completely vindicated Mr. Fay. In the Herald's report of the proceedings in the senate, after giving a colored version of Mr. Brown's remarks, in its own interest, it says: "Messrs. Cornelius and Hendershott introduced resolutions exonerating Mr. Fay from any charges preferred against him. "Mr. Cochran called for the ayes and nays on the motion to adopt the resolution." Now, we will present the action of the Senate as properly reported, thus: "Mr. Hendershott offered a substitute, which was accepted, as follows: "Resolved, That the charges preferred against James D. Fay, a Senator on the floor, through the columns of the Oregon Herald, were in our opinion base and slanderous, and beneath the dignity of any respectable newspaper." And, besides this stinging rebuke and just condemnation of its course, President Fay made the following remarks: "Mr. Fay said he had been slandered by the Herald because he came here in the interest of his section, and determined to do what he could to secure it railroad facilities. The editorials of that paper were the heaviest load he had to pack during that political campaign. The Senator proceeded at length to defend himself against the attacks of the Herald. He said the first assault on his reputation came from the organ of the Democratic Party--the paper of the State Printer, who would not have been State Printer but for the votes he held and cast in the Albany convention. He denounced the charge as cowardly and mean, and said the author of it had not even the manliness to say, when examined, that he meant him." The Herald suppresses Mr. Fay's remarks and Mr. Hendershott's substitute. Why? We may well judge. The rogue and simpleton who own that paper, and the poor tool who edits it, are determined that their own readers shall be kept in ignorance of the knavish and shameless robbery of the public purse by the State Printer, and also of the severe but merited condemnation which the Herald and the State Printer each received at the hands of leading Democrats in the Legislature. As they have been guilty of these suppressions in their paper, and inasmuch as the Senate Committee on Printing have proved upon Patterson "gross frauds," we may expect to see the Journals of each House mutilated and altered in every place where the State Printer wishes to keep from the people the condemnation of his own rascality, and the strong censure of the Herald for its willful falsehoods and base slanders. A pretty Democratic officer is the State Printer, to be convicted of robbing the State Treasury by his own party members! A fine state organ is the Herald, to be severely denounced by members of its own party in the Legislature! What an organ to have the cheek to prate about the fraud and corruption of any other party, or of any public officer! Oregon State Journal, Salem, November 12, 1870, page 1 Neither of the Jacksonville papers received yesterday contains a word in regard to the scandalous matter alleged by the Herald's correspondent against James D. Fay. Those papers are dated February 25th, and the letters to the Herald were dated a week earlier. The shooting affair took place on the 25th, but subsequent to the publication of the newspapers of that date. The whole scandalous and almost tragical transaction is still involved in mystery, so far as anyone here can judge of it, and we wait for further information before commenting upon it. We may say, however, that if there was really such a state of feeling at Jacksonville about it as the Herald's correspondent alleged, it is passing strange that neither of the papers of that town, for two successive issues after the development of the affair, have had one syllable to say in regard to it. Oregonian, Portland, March 3, 1871, page 2 SHOOTING AFFRAY.--The following is from Jacksonville, under date of Feb. 25: A shooting affray took place here today on the main street of this town, between Valentine S. Ralls and James D. Fay, in which neither of the parties received serious injury. It seems that Ralls approached Fay and accused him of the seduction of his daughter, and told him that one of them must die. Both drew pistols simultaneously, Ralls firing first, the ball striking the guard of Fay's pistol and preventing its use. Ralls fired three shots, one of which passed through the pocketbook in the breast pocket of Fay's coat, lodging against a rib, but doing no injury. After the shooting, Ralls mounted his horse quietly and rode home. Weekly Enterprise, Oregon City, March 3, 1871, page 2 THE LATEST HORROR.
The following letters are from the
Portland Herald of the 26th
inst.:A Sad and Terrible Chapter of Crime--Seduction of a Beautiful Young Girl--The Babe Born in a Stable--The Heart-Broken Woman Flees with Her Offspring to the Wood to Seek an Untimely Death--The Citizens' Search for the Lost One, and Her Wail of Despair When Found--The Base Seducer's Name and Character. ---- JACKSONVILLE,
Feb. 18, 1871.
To the Editor of
the Herald:DEAR SIR:--I have a horrible tale to tell you, which I have seen with my own eyes, as did some fifteen others of our citizens. I relate it to you so that you may be able to do the public justice (if justice can be done in such a case), by holding the villain up to public scorn and execration. What I state to you is true, every word of it. A man lives in this town with his two sisters. The house they live in belongs to him. During the last eighteen months he has kept a young lady as a hired girl to do the work for the family. He and the hired girl slept upstairs, a thin partition separating their rooms, while his sister [sic] slept downstairs. The young woman is a very beautiful girl, and a girl whose character stood high in this town. On last Thursday morning, the 16th inst., she disappeared from the house about daylight. A messenger was sent to her father's house to ascertain if she had gone home (her father lives about seven miles from town). The messenger returned about 4 o'clock in the evening with the information that the girl had not been home. Immediately a party of men, some fifteen of us, started to hunt for the girl in the hills back of the house. We soon found her track, and tracked her about one mile, when we found her in a thick bunch of brush, with an infant wrapped up in her dress. The child was alive and comfortable; the poor girl was almost chilled to death. Had we started an hour later on her track, night would have overtaken us before we could have found the girl, and ere morning she would have chilled to death. The girl confessed in the presence of her own mother, and others, that the father of the child is the man at whose house she had been living. That it is his child the entire community is well convinced, The girl is about twenty years old now. She loved this man as only woman can love, and you can see what has been done for her. Is it not a nice man that can turn his dwelling house into a house of ill fame? His sisters are both estimable ladies, and I sympathize with them to the bottom of my heart. I have given you nothing but the facts in this case, which you are at liberty to use. JACKSONVILLE,
Feb. 19, 1871.
To the Editor of
the Herald:DEAR SIR:--I wrote you yesterday, giving you the facts in a case just developed which is truly heartrending. If you had heard the wail that went up from the poor girl when we found her, nearly chilled to death, you would never forget it. Many of our citizens believe that Fay knew the girl was in the hills when she was first missed. There was no sign of any afterbirth where we found her. The girl now tells that she had the child in Fay's stable. Fay and ------ hunted for the girl in the morning; each looked in his stable for her. Now it seems very strange, inasmuch as she was confined in the stable, that he could not have seen indications of it while searching there, not over two hours after she had been confined in the place. I wish ------ had looked in Fay's stable also. The impression is that the girl, when she found Fay would not marry her, would not be governed by him. Hence she did not leave Fay's household. She says Fay was going to send her home today, but that she was confined sooner than she expected. This is why Fay did not have her away. When she was up and down all that night, as she was, and then missing next morning, could it be possible that Fay did not know what was up? He must certainly have surmised the cause of her strange absence, and it does appear strange to us all why he did not raise the alarm until late in the evening. As it was, darkness very nearly shut her out from us until the next day, and then death would have stilled her tongue forever. She has the sympathy of everybody. State Rights Democrat, Albany, Oregon, March 3, 1871, page 3. Note that the writer didn't name Fay in the first letter. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, March 4, 1871, page 3 AN ATTEMPTED MURDER.--On Saturday last, while Senator Fay was seated in the Bella Union Saloon reading a newspaper, with his back to the door, V. S. Ralls entered, and without a word drew his pistol. Mr. Fay, happening to glance up, caught sight of the action, and springing to his feet had barely time to draw his revolver and present it when Ralls fired, the parties being about six feet apart. The ball from Ralls' pistol glanced along the ramrod of Mr. Fay's pistol, struck the end of the plate of the trigger guard, driving the plate back and disabling the weapon, the parties being so close together that the powder burnt Mr. Fay's fingers and face. The ball split on the end of the plate, a part going through Mr. Fay's coat, pocketbook and striking the second rib on the right side, inflicting a painful flesh wound; while the concussion of the blow on the pistol caused it to inflict painful wounds on the hands and fingers. Ralls, immediately upon firing, retreated to the street and fired two more shots into the saloon at Mr. Fay, who was virtually disarmed, happily, however, inflicting no other damage. A more deliberate attempt at murder was never perpetrated in this state. We understand the proper steps have been taken to bring the attempted murderer to justice. Democratic Times, Jacksonville, March 4, 1871, page 2 Card from James D. Fay.
JACKSONVILLE,
March 4.--The following card from Senator Fay in relation to the Ralls
difficulty appears in one of the local papers today:
CARD.--In view of atrocious calumnies put afloat by interested persons in regard to my alleged connection with a woman lately in my employ, I deem it proper to state that I deny the charges alleged against me, and court a thorough legal investigation of the affair. I therefore ask a suspension of the public judgment until the case receives the investigation which I trust it will have before the courts, and as to the result of such investigation I have no apprehension. (Signed) JAMES D. FAY. JACKSONVILLE, March 4.--V. S. Ralls and James D. Fay, the parties to the shooting affray of last Saturday, were bound over yesterday in the sum of two thousand dollars each, to keep the peace. Ralls was arrested on a charge of an attempt to kill, and gave bonds for his appearance at the next term of court. Albany Register, March 11, 1871, page 2 The Jacksonville Affair.
"Last
Saturday, about noon, V. S. Ralls, an old resident of this county,
stepped into H. Breitbarth's saloon, in this place, where James D. Fay
was sitting, reading a newspaper, when a serious affray took place
between the two men. When Ralls stepped in Fay's back was turned to the
door and he was not aware of his presence until Mr. Breitbarth
accosted the former, calling him by name. Fay turned immediately, and
also spoke to Ralls. He perceived a movement on the part of the latter
as though he were trying to draw a pistol; he immediately drew his
pistol, and while both pistols were presented almost muzzle to muzzle,
Ralls fired, striking Fay's pistol and rendering it useless, the ball
splitting in two, cutting his thumb and finger badly, and the two
halves passing through the side of his coat, about three inches apart.
One of the pieces struck a pocketbook he had in the breast pocket of
his coat, passed through it and glanced off on a rib; the other piece
did not seem to have much force and did no injury. Ralls then went out
of the door, and Fay in the rear of the counter, in the saloon, after
which Ralls fired three more shots, none of them taking effect. Fay's
pistol was so damaged by the first shot of his antagonist that it was
entirely useless, and he never fired a shot. Ralls then went across the
street, mounted his horse, and rode home. He was arrested, last
Tuesday, and brought to town, but his examination was postponed until
yesterday. He says Fay drew first. The difficulty grew out of the
seduction of Ralls' daughter, which he imputes to Fay. With charitable
feelings for the unfortunate girl, as well as for her more unfortunate
parents, we omitted any mention in our last week's issue of her giving
birth to an illegitimate child, on the 16th inst., under circumstances
calculated to excite the utmost degree of compassion, but among the
whys and wherefores of the affray we have just chronicled, we find it
necessary to mention it now. It is truly lamentable that an occurrence
of this nature has happened in our midst, yet in a case so full of
contradictions, we esteem time the best arbiter and judge on whose head
the blame should fall. Its decrees at last are sure and its punishments
just."
The Jacksonville papers of Saturday last have accounts of the shooting
affray in that place between V. S. Ralls and J. D. Fay, with mention of
the other and more revolting features of the affair. The Sentinel says:
The above is all the Sentinel has in regard to it. The version of the shooting affair given by the Times differs in some particulars from the above. We quote: "On Saturday last, while Senator Fay was seated in the Bella Union Saloon reading a newspaper, with his back to the door, V. S. Ralls entered, and without a word drew his pistol. Mr. Fay, happening to glance up, caught sight of the action, and springing to his feet had barely time to draw his revolver and present it when Ralls fired, the parties being about six feet apart. The ball from Ralls' pistol glanced along the ramrod of Mr. Fay's pistol, struck the end of the plate of the trigger guard, driving the plate back and disabling the weapon, the parties being so close together that the powder burnt Mr. Fay's fingers and face. The ball split on the end of the plate, a part going through Mr. Fay's coat, pocketbook and striking the second rib on the right side, inflicting a painful wound; while the concussion of the blow on the pistol caused it to inflict painful wounds on the hands and finger. Ralls, immediately on firing, retreated to the street and fired two more shots into the saloon, at Mr. Fay, who was virtually disarmed, happily, however, inflicting no other damage. A more deliberate attempt at murder was never perpetrated in this state. We understand the proper steps have been taken to bring the attempted murderer to justice." The Times in another place says that the account of the shooting affair telegraphed to Portland "was inexcusably false in several particulars. There was no remark made by Ralls in reference to seducing his daughter. That was manufactured from whole cloth." The same paper also makes this statement: "The Herald publishes several grossly false and scandalous letters in relation to the Fay-Ralls trouble. The infamous scoundrel, to whom public opinion points as the author of these letters, has been forced by public sentiment to leave his family and the town, just as those letters appeared here." We give the above as all the information yet obtained concerning the affair. Whether Fay can exculpate himself remains to be seen, but it would appear that public sentiment at Jacksonville is not so much against him as has been represented. The general drift of the statements in the Jacksonville papers is such as to indicate quite a different state of circumstances from that first reported. Oregonian, Portland, March 11, 1871, page 2 SHOOTING AFFRAY AT JACKSONVILLE, OREGON.--The Yreka Journal of March 8th has the annexed: Last Saturday a week ago, V. S. Ralls, an old resident of Jackson County, stepped in Breitbarth's saloon, where James D. Fay was. Fay, noticing Ralls drawing a pistol, drew his also, and while both pistols were presented, almost muzzle to muzzle, Ralls fired, striking Fay's pistol, rendering it useless, the ball splitting in two, cutting Fay's thumb and finger, and the two halves passing through the side of his coat. One of the pieces struck a pocketbook in his vest pocket, and glanced off on a rib; the other piece did not seem to have much force. Ralls fired three more shots, none of them taking effect. Fay's pistol being disabled, he was unable to use it. Ralls was arrested on the Thursday following, and bound over in the sum of $1,000 to appear at the next term of the circuit court. The difficulty grew out of the seduction of Ralls' daughter, which Ralls charges on Fay. The girl was employed at Fay's house, and was found missing one morning. A number of citizens made search for her in the vicinity, and found her in the woods near town, with an infant wrapped in her dress, and the girl almost chilled to death. Had she remained there overnight, she would certainly have died. Fay publishes a card in the Jacksonville Democratic Times of last Saturday, denying the charges alleged against him, and asks a suspension of public judgment until the case receives the investigation which he trusts it will have before the courts. Sacramento Daily Union, March 13, 1871, page 3 The Ralls-Fay Affair.
Oregonian, Portland,
March 18, 1871, page 2From the Jacksonville Times.
"The Herald publishes
two letters from this place in reference to the sad affair which
recently transpired here. The local papers here, unwilling to further
wound the feelings of the family of the girl, and equally unwilling to
make a statement in advance of a local investigation, which was
expected to take place within a few days, refrained from mentioning the
occurrence. But a miserable scoundrel who, while pretending sympathy
for the unfortunate girl, in order to glut his personal and political
animosity against Mr. Fay, parades her shame through the columns of the
Herald, and
uses her misfortune as the instrument of his private vengeance, and
that paper descending to the level of the Mazeppa,
or a like reason publishes these letters. The Mercury, Democrat and
other "tenders" of the Herald,
without
waiting to hear both sides of the case, hasten to repeat the story of
the lying coward who did not dare append his name to his communication.
Upon the unsupported statement of an anonymous correspondent these
papers have thrown themselves into ecstasies of virtuous indignation.
"We are glad to notice that there are some newspapers in the state who, like ourselves, would denounce the crime in fitting terms if it were true, yet, with a spirit of fairness and justice, wish to hear from the other side before proceeding to denounce an individual unheard. We are happy to notice this spirit of candor among some portion of the press of the state. Mr. Fay has publicly denied the charge. He informed the father of the girl of his anxiety for a legal investigation, and offered to facilitate such investigation by all means in his power. From the fact that such investigation is expected to take place, and from a natural reluctance to publish abroad in the newspapers the domestic arrangements--even to refute the infamous slanders of his enemies--Mr. Fay has thus far refrained from publishing a defense, reserving the facts in his possession for the trial. He has not been afraid of a public uprising as the Herald's correspondent intimates, for not only is it not true that the whole community believed him guilty, but, on the contrary, that belief is confined to a few of his political and personal enemies, and the circumstances connecting Mr. Fay with the affair are so absurd and improbable that there are none of them who really believe it. "The Herald's correspondent carefully conceals the fact that it was Mr. Fay who sent the messenger to the house of the girl's father; that it was he who organized the search; that it was he who sent at his own expense for her mother; that no member of his family, nor in the community, suspected her condition, and that she disappeared without the knowledge of any person in Mr. Fay's house; that it was he who sent for medical assistance, and that it was to his own house he brought her when found; that his family and himself, as well as the community, were ignorant of her condition. He also conceals the fact that while still upon the hill, where Fay and every other man present cheerfully took off their coats and covered the girl to make her comfortable as possible while waiting for the carriage, the Herald's sympathetic correspondent was the only man who refused to lend his coat. He insinuates that Fay stood in danger of a mob, but he does not add that when his letter appeared here so great was his terror of personal violence that he would shirk out of town every morning early and remain all day, slinking back when darkness covered his advent, and kept this up for four days, and even at this writing does not dare show his cowardly face upon the streets except at rare intervals when the coast is clear. "In conclusion, we beg to assure Mr. Fay's many friends throughout the state that he is ready and anxious for the fullest and freest judicial investigation of this unfortunate affair. An infamous attempt has been made to blacken his good name by the slanders of cowardly scribblers, and the conspiracy of others to blackmail him. His life has been attempted in a most cowardly manner, and his political and personal enemies are enjoying a devilish carnival over what they fondly hope is the ruin of his reputation, but he is confident, and so are his friends, that an investigation will not only develop his innocence, but [reveal] the most damnable blackmail conspiracy ever hatched in the state." To the above we append the following, which explains itself: "PORTLAND, March 9.--To James D. Fay: We are authorized by J. R. Neil to inform all whom it may concern that he was the author of the letters to the Herald alluded to in your dispatch of March 1st. 'T. PATTERSON
& CO.
"On the 1st of March I telegraphed to
the proprietors of the Herald
for
the name of the author of the lying and scandalous letters from this
place, in reference to myself and an unfortunate girl, who is being
used as the tool of others, to gratify personal and political
vengeance. After nine days deliberation the above answer is given. If
the coward and liar whose name is given above were worthy of my notice
he should not complain of a want of attention on my part. Our last
interview proved his cowardice, his whole career proves his meanness,
malignity and mendacity, and to the judgment of the public we leave him
for the present."JAMES D. FAY."
The Fay-Ralls Affray.
Below we publish a sworn statement from the daughter of Mr. Ralls,
which will be found to corroborate the letters heretofore published.
Mr. Ralls also publishes a long letter in which he charges the
seduction of his daughter on Mr. Fay, but as we did not publish Mr.
Fay's defense from the Times,
we do not deem it just to publish his statement. The
affidavit was published in the Herald
of the 21st inst.:
STATE OF OREGON, County of Jackson. I, Hannah A. Ralls, being duly sworn, depose and say that my name is Hannah A. Ralls; that my age is twenty-one years; that I have been working for James D. Fay, at his house in Jacksonville, most of my time during the past eighteen months; that about one year ago James D. Fay and I were engaged to be married; that we occupied rooms upstairs, with only a partition separating them. I, the deponent, further say that I was delivered of a child in Mr. Fay's stable, on the morning of the 16th of February, 1871; that said child was begotten by James D. Fay, in his own house, under promise of marriage. I further state that Mr. Fay knew my situation, and advised me to go home and have my mother give me medicine to destroy said child; that I was confined some two weeks before Mr. Fay or I either expected me to be. I also state that Mr. Fay saw me on my way to his stable, to be confined. I further state that Mr. Fay and I occupied the same bed the last time on Sunday night, February 12, 1871. I, Hannah A. Ralls, being duly sworn, depose and say that the statements set forth in the foregoing affidavit are true. HANNAH
A. RALLS.
Sworn and
subscribed to before me, this 8th day of March, A.D. 1871.LA
F. GALL, J.P.
Weekly Enterprise, Oregon
City, March 31, 1871, page 2Messrs. Beekman and Fay are putting up a handsome fence between their residences. "Improvements," Democratic Times, June 10, 1871, page 3
LETTER
FROM MRS. O. T. DANIELS.
SALEM,
Oregon, Aug. 11th, 1871.
Dear Mrs. Duniway:--Believing,
as I do, that woman's power should be equal with man's to
make and control her own social conditions, I cannot refrain from
speaking on a subject which, to me, seems perfectly horrible. Not many
months since,
the press of this state published a full account of the true character
of Jas. D. Fay. At least we have as yet none of the proof which he
says he can bring to gainsay the charges against his character. But I
notice that the same papers which published full accounts of his
atrocious and worse than brutal act are speaking of him as Honorable.
My heart burns with contempt and indignation! Why should a man be
called honorable
when it is publicly known that he did not scruple to
rob a poor, weak, dependent girl of her virtue, which is more than life
itself? In the name of humanity, do you think that there is a virtuous
man or woman who can consider him worthy to be called honorable? Think
you that the poor victim of his wiles and false promises--the
misled, the hopeless, heartbroken, forsaken, ruined girl--will
call him honorable?Yet, despite the fact that the villain Fay has proved himself unworthy of every attribute of noble manhood, the newspapers call him honorable, and many of them are willing to accord him position--office! Cash and brains make for him a free pass everywhere, while his poor victim and her shame-stricken friends are left to bear the burden of his disgrace, their ruin and the world's bitter scorn. Woman is powerless so long as she eats the bread of dependence to prevent the aggression of man. Were the tables turned today--were man dependent upon woman for his subsistence and representation, and she thereby possessed of power to control his whole moral condition--he would very soon find himself compelled to square his life to a new code. In moral rectitude woman herself should not demand less of woman, but of man she should demand more. There should be no law or usage which recognizes or for a moment tolerates a privileged class, which is nothing less or more than an aristocracy of sex. Public opinion must abandon its liberal pardon of the vices of men. I pray that the unequal and debasing standard of morality may be cut short, and that sex may no longer be a protection for the libertine or a cloak for the honorable. MRS.
O. T. DANIELS.
The
New Northwest, Portland, August 18, 1871, page 2LETTER FROM SOUTHERN
OREGON.
REPLY TO MRS. O. T. DANIELS SOUTHERN
OREGON, August 22, 1871.
Mrs. A. J. Duniway:--Your
paper of August 18th contains a
letter from Mrs. O. T Daniels, to which I would ask the
privilege of making some replies.To her first sentence I would say that woman makes and controls the whole social world. Her associates are the select few of "Upper Ten." She welcomes to her circle profligate men and bars profligate women. If Mrs. Daniels would change the moral status of society, she must ask her sisters to help her--theirs is the power. Affable mammas receive the Mr. Fays of the world, offer them their fair young daughters, and smile forgetfulness of past offenses. If Mrs. Daniels would have both parties treated equally, let her ask some Hannah Ralls to meet those affable mammas, and then see if woman has any pity for "an erring sister's shame." Mrs. Daniels' "heart burns with contempt and indignation" (hope it did not set her clothes on fire!) because the newspapers call Mr. Fay Honorable--a prefix to which he is entitled by law--and suggests that no more offices be given him. She shows a spirit of malice and spite towards him which suggests the thought that sometime he has been remiss in gallantry to herself. It is not "cash and brains" alone which gives him a free passport everywhere--for he has little of the first--but because he is a man who has been tried and found always faithful and true to friends and party. He has relatives and friends who feel deeply every slanderous word spoken against him, but he himself cares little for lady scribblers who send their efforts to the papers merely because, unless they published themselves, their insignificant names would never appear in print; who, puppy-dog style, attack some noble game, imagining that it will abound [redound?] to their credit. That woman does not wisely who courts the enmity of a bad man. Were Mr. Fay the bad man she calls him, Mrs. Daniels might well tremble for her own safety. When the woman was brought to the Saviour he bade the one of her accusers who was innocent to "cast the first stone." Could Mrs. Daniels bear that test? "The hopeless, heartbroken, ruined girl" (who, by the way, was engaged to another man all the time), is a woman of twenty-two or three, whose past was not spotless, and whose family experience was not such as to leave her in ignorance of the consequences of indiscretion. She is a designing woman who aimed at becoming Mrs. Fay, and was abetted by her family. She hoped by blasting his reputation and lowering it to her own to compel him to marry her. She has succeeded partially in the first--for there are enough of howling scandal-mongers to keep the thing always before the public--but in the last I opine that she will fail. Yours
for JUSTICE.
The
New Northwest, Portland, September 1, 1871, page 2 FURTHER REPLY TO MRS. DANIELS.
EDITOR NEW NORTHWEST:I have read with considerable interest Mrs. O. T. Daniels' letter published in your paper of August 18th; also the reply of "Justice" from Southern Oregon. And now, if you please, I should like to express my views in regard to the matter in a further reply to Mrs. Daniels. When a woman so far forgets her position in society as to appear in enmity against man, and stoops so low in that regard as to become a "howling scandal-monger," she deserves the severest reproach and condemnation; therefore I would say to her, Shame! Shame, Mrs. Daniels! You have sought by howling scandal in the public ear to bring disgrace on a noble and honorable gentleman, but happily your attempt has failed. The shafts of "malice and spite" hurled at one in every way your superior have fallen harmlessly, but you will in no wise be held guiltless. Justice has taken your case in hand, and it is hoped you will receive the full measure of your deserts. Strive as you may to rob Mr. Fay of his title and deprive him of the right of holding office, you are powerless to disturb his calm repose. To all your efforts he can truthfully exclaim: "There is no terror, Mrs. Daniels, in your scribblings, for I am armed so strong in the consciousness of my great moral worth and political importance that I heed them as the barking of a puppy-dog, which I respect not." Mr. Fay is guilty of no misdeed, but has acted in the best interests of society. The creature you have been pleased to style "the hopeless, heartbroken, ruined girl," is a bold, bad, "designing woman, who aimed at becoming Mrs. Fay." Who can estimate the magnitude of such presumption? A woman, "whose past was not spotless," aspiring to the dizzying height of becoming the Honorable Mrs. Fay! To be his mistress would be honor enough for such as her. But to think of becoming his wife, the mother of his lawful children--the idea is preposterous! Finding she could never attain so lofty a height, what does this wicked creature next attempt to do? To blast his reputation--degrade him--ruin him--and then marry him! Marry her victim? The wretch! How richly she deserves the infamy to which she has been consigned! Contrast her dark design with the conduct of noble man. Does he seek to marry the woman whose reputation he has blasted? Never! His pure, sensitive nature would shrink from uniting in holy matrimony with one so degraded. Hannah Ralls is accused of attempting a deed the vilest man would blush to contemlate. Surely Mr. Fay is entitled to the lasting gratitude of humanity for placing so terrible a creature where she properly belongs--beneath the feet of society. See how the very life of public morals was imperiled by her freedom! An unchaste woman will infect with moral leprosy every virtuous woman with whom she comes in contact. Happily man, being so infinitely superior to woman, is not subject to moral contamination. He can wade through all manner of filth and wickedness, and come out pure and undefiled; but let a woman come in contact with evil, and straightaway she becomes inoculated with its deadly poison. What nobler work could an honorable gentleman engage in than ferreting out the erring women of the land and proclaiming them to the world, that the innocent wives and daughters and sisters of men might avoid their destructive presence? No wonder the "affable mammas" smile upon him, and the grateful papas electioneer for him, and the "fair young daughters" flock around to do him honor! He is the hero of the day! And yet, Mrs. Daniels, you would punish him! Punish men for violating the law of chastity! Great Heaven! What ruin you would make of all that that is great and grand in the universe! Only think of it! The noblest work of God--the lord of creation--mighty, majestic, irrepressible man--degraded, humiliated, cast out of society for yielding to the instincts of his nobler nature! Woman, you are crazy! You have imbibed the odious doctrine of "Equal Rights" till you have lost your senses. If you wish to be respected you must renounce such extravagant ideas and be reasonable. Say what you please about Hannah Ralls. Ask that she be imprisoned, hung, whipped or burned at the stake, and you will be honored for your love of virtue. There is no danger of hurting the feelings of her friends, for she has none. The whole world is against her. Even Justice does not scruple to give her an additional kick. But don't you dare to say another word against the character of Mr. Fay. He is too "noble game" for an insignificant "puppy-dog" like you to attack with impunity. If he does not see fit to make you "tremble" for the offense, he has friends who will do it for him. Beware! Justice is on your track! Very truly yours,
McMINNVILLE, Sept. 28, 1871.MAN'S RIGHTS. The New Northwest, Portland, October 20, 1871, page 2 Fun at Jacksonville.
JACKSONVILLE, Nov.
21.--This morning about 8 o'clock two young women named Fanny and
Hannah Ralls walked into the dining room of the United States Hotel, in
this place, armed with cowhides, and administered an unmerciful
castigation to a man named George Tribble, lately arrived from Crescent
City. The girls accuse him of testifying falsely against the character
of one of them before the grand jury, and the act was applauded by
everyone present."By State Telegraph," Oregonian, Portland, November 22, 1871, page 1 The grand jury of Jackson County ignored a bill against Hon. J. D. Fay for seduction. Thus ends a case which caused so much excitement last spring. The trial of V. S. Ralls, for shooting at James D. Fay in February last, was concluded in the circuit court on the 27th ult., having occupied nearly three days. After an absence of only half an hour the jury came into court with a verdict of "not guilty," which was received with continued applause by the crowd that occupied the courtroom. "State News," Oregon City Enterprise, December 1, 1871, page 2 WILLIAM M. TURNER is the telegraph operator at this place; besides this, he is School Superintendent. As an employee of the telegraph company, he holds a high position of trust and responsibility, and becomes the custodian of the confidences and secrets of the community to a very great extent. So much so that the laws of this state impose a very heavy penalty for their betrayal. Sec. 9, p. 918 of the code reads as follows: If any agent, operator, employee in any telegraph office, or other person, shall knowingly and willfully send by telegraph any false or forged message, purporting to be from such telegraph office, or from any other person, or shall willfully deliver or cause to be delivered to any person any such message, falsely purporting to have been received by telegraph, or if any person or persons shall furnish or cause to be furnished to any such agent, operator or employee, to be sent by telegraph or be delivered any such message, knowing the same to be false, with the intent to deceive, injure or defraud any individual, partnership, or corporation, or the public, the person or persons so offending shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or imprisonment not to exceed one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the Court. To that section we ask the prayerful and careful attention of Mr. Turner. Ever since the Ralls scandal became public, Turner has missed no opportunity to misrepresent the facts where it became necessary, to send press dispatches about the matter, in some cases descending to absolute falsehoods. In his dispatch to the press, in regard to the shooting, an absolute and willful falsehood appears where he represents Ralls as charging Fay with being the seducer of his daughter. In his late dispatches regarding the affair with Tribble and the acquittal of Ralls, the same style of malignant misrepresentation appears. In the former case he unblushingly asserts that every person present applauded the bold deed, where two stalwart men, either one of whom was the superior in strength of Tribble, stood guard, while the girls, Hannah and Fanny Ralls, each of whom is as big as Tribble, beat him with cowhides. We assert here that the right-minded men and women of Jackson County take no such view of the matter, but believe that when these women thus unsexed themselves, they placed themselves outside the pale of sympathy. In the other case, that of Ralls' acquittal, a vast flourish of trumpets is attempted to be made on account of what is called "continued" and "renewed applause" by the audience which heard the verdict. The facts are, there were from five to seven men near the courthouse door, Ralls' particular friends, who stamped their feet when Judge Prim tapped on his desk with a pencil, and they slunk out of the door like beaten hounds. That is about all there was of the "continued" and "renewed applause." Now what can be thought of a man who prostitutes the great engine of public intelligence to his own private and malignant vengeance; who deliberately and willfully imposes on the public a misrepresentation of facts; who either suppresses the truth, or so colors it with falsehood, that it is in fact a lie, in order to wreak his malicious revenge on a personal and political foe? Can this man be safely trusted with the secrets of trade, of families, of business, where he permits his private feelings to so work upon his sense of duty, that he deliberately perpetrates a falsehood in order to injure a foe in the public estimation. Under this state of facts, could any enemy of Turner's safely go to the telegraph office with a message gravely affecting his reputation, his estate or family, and not fear that his family or business confidence would be blazoned to the world, if it would do him injury? We opine not. He has neither sense of manhood nor fair play. He took exceeding good care that no telegram, announcing that the grand jury ignored the bill against Fay, should go to the press. If the grand jury had returned such a bill, does anyone believe he would not have sent it on the wings of the lightning from one end of the coast to the other? We do not know what despotic powers a telegraph operator may be endowed with by his company, but one thing must be evident to everyone: they are sometimes entrusted to very poor hands. Democratic Times, Jacksonville, December 9, 1871, page 3 Southern Oregon.
Weekly Oregon Statesman, Salem,
December 13, 1871, page 1
The Jacksonville Sentinel
says:
Miss Hannah Ralls, upon the trial of her father for assaulting J. D.
Fay with a dangerous weapon, gave a full statement, under oath, of her
seduction, her flight from the house, and her extreme suffering in the
cold from early in the morning until found late in the afternoon. She
gave her evidence slowly and calmly, without showing the least
vindictiveness or anger. Her statement brought moisture to the eyes of
many in the crowded courthouse, and carried conviction of the
truthfulness of what she stated to every unprejudiced mind. This
evidence was admitted for the purpose of showing what an overwhelming
weight of mental suffering the defendant's mind must have been under
upon hearing of the ruin of his family by the prosecuting witness.
THE
FAY-RALLS CASE.
The
Jacksonville Times
of Dec. 9th [above]
contains the following convincing leading article in regard
to this somewhat noted case. We copy it entire:For nine months this county, and in fact the whole state, has been filled with monstrous rumors, misrepresentations and slander, charging upon Senator Fay the seduction of Hannah Ralls. When these charges were first made public the accused publicly denied it, and expressed his desire to submit it to a judicial investigation, in a card published in this paper. No circuit court convened from the time this charge was made until last month, and when the grand jury was impaneled the girl made her appearance before it, and preferred her charge, producing all the evidence she had. The gentlemen composing this body were Ben. Haymond of Rock Point, foreman; J. B Wrisley of Manzanita, John Grieves of Jacksonville precinct, K. Kubli of Applegate, A. C. Rockfellow of Ashland, L. G. Allen of Rogue River, and Wm. Haskins of Applegate. All of these gentlemen are well known, prominent and respectable citizens of the county, whose integrity and honor no one will seriously question. Messrs. Rockfellow, Grieves, Wrisley and Haskins are Mr. Fay's political enemies; with Messrs. Haymond and Haskins his personal relations are such that they do not speak. His relations with Messrs. Kubli, Wrisley and Allen are cordial; and his acquaintance with Messrs. Grieves and Rockfellow is most limited. All of these gentlemen have heard the grave charges preferred against Senator Fay for the past nine months and must be presumed to be more or less affected by them, but to their honor be it said, they refused to allow prejudice, political or personal rancor to swerve them in an investigation made under their oaths as grand jurors. After hearing the evidence of the girl and her witnesses, and an investigation lasting over two days, they refused to find a bill, which is something extraordinary, considering the outside pressure manufactured and the multitude of slanders put in circulation by the enemies of Fay, who were using the girl and her family as a means of destroying him, in the hope of political success upon the ruins of his reputation. The surprise abated, however, when the girl's story came to be related on the stand. On the trial of Ralls, she was introduced, not as a witness to prove the seduction as a fact, but to prove that she related her story to her father the night before the shooting took place, in order to show the effect upon his mind. She told her story and recited it as a lesson learned from a book and conned over beforehand, winding up by stating "this is what I told my father." She asserts that she "told her father." She asserts that she was at Fay's house on the 1st of February, 1870; that on the 2nd he made improper advances to her, which she repulsed, and he told her she was right. The next night he repeated his advances and promised her marriage. She again resisted him, but on the 5th he came to her bed and accomplished her seduction under promise of marriage. She was very particular in her statement of dates, and also in the statement that both of Fay's sisters were residing at his house at the time. These ladies were introduced for the purpose, we presume, of adding to the dramatic situation. The conversation detailed as taking place on the 1st of February took place, as she says, while these ladies were out calling. On the 2nd they were also out when the conversation took place. We stop here to remark that the whole history of seduction may safely be challenged for a case, such as this is represented to be, where a virtuous girl was seduced in the brief space of four days. She is approached on the 2nd, again on the 3rd, and yields on the 5th! It brings to mind the memorable saying of Caesar, "Veni, vidi, vici," and argues either that Fay was perfectly irresistible or the girl wonderfully complaisant. Now the truth is, Hanna Ralls was not at Fay's house either on the 1st, 2nd or 5th of February, 1870, she was actually in the employ of Mr. Max Muller of Jacksonville, who, with his wife, can verify this statement, as can also Mrs. Louis Horne, Hon. J. N. T. Miller and wife. Hannah Ralls did not come to reside at Fay's until about a week after his little son was taken sick of scarlet fever. A reference to the files of the Democratic News will show that the number for Saturday, February 12, 1870, Vol. 1, No. 42, contains the following: "ANOTHER.--Hon. James D. Fay's little son Jamie was taken with scarlet fever last Tuesday. His case is a severe one, though not as yet dangerous." Now this paragraph fixed the date of the boy's illness on the 8th of February. The ladies and gentlemen above mentioned will testify that Hannah Ralls was not residing at Fay's house at that time. Mr. and Mrs. J. N. T. Miller and Mrs. Horne frequently sat up with the child, and knew that neither she nor Mrs. J. D. Coughlin (Fay's sister) were residing there at that time. These witnesses are all unimpeachable, and the evidence afforded by the newspaper paragraph could not be manufactured. In the next place, Mrs. J. D. Coughlin, whom the girl states was living at Fay's house, did not come to Jacksonville till May 4, 1870. This can be verified by reference to the books of the stage office. Thus, there are two most important points of the girl's testimony fairly and squarely contradicted by disinterested witnesses. The circumstances under which she came to Fay's house were simply these: She came one day to see the child, after he had been sick about a week, and was asked to stop until the child got better, as the family and friends were all worn out with watching and attending him. This she agreed to do if her employer was willing. Mr. Fay saw Mr. Muller, and he agreed to let her come, under the circumstances. After the child got better, about the first of March, she went to Muller's and applied for her old situation and Fay also went to Muller and offered to return her to her first employer, but he had in the meantime employed a Chinaman, and she was refused. She then stayed at Fay's, chiefly because it was through his means that she was deprived of the place at Muller's. This application upon her part and his is totally inconsistent with the idea of her being under an engagement to marry Fay at that time. Then her statement as to his conduct when, as she alleges, she told him that the crisis had arrived (on the 15th of February, 1871--the day the child was born) that she went to his room-door and told him, and that "he sat up in his bed and laughed," is so monstrously improbable and so utterly preposterous that it will tax the credulity of her warmest friends and Fay's bitterest enemies to the very uttermost to believe it. That a man, situated as she alleges Fay was, with the victim of his seductive arts about to bring forth a bastard on his very hearthstone--with his social, professional and political reputation crumbling in ruins on his head, should laugh at the spectacle, is something extraordinary indeed. We fancy, with the rest of mankind, it would be a moment fraught with indescribable agony, instead of a time for laughter, and we imagine that the "counselor" who put up this little job drew too largely as well as too injudiciously on his fertile imagination, when he introduced this little incident. But, above all, her leaving a bed in the house of her alleged seducer, to bring forth her child in the hills, is the strongest point against her. She assigns no reason for it, and most probably had none, unless it be that she dared not face the family she had deceived for nine long months. The grand jury could not believe her improbable statement, nor can anyone else when confronted with the facts. Mr. Fay courted the investigation, and the action of the grand jury has amply vindicated his reputation from the malicious assaults of his slanderers. Of course we have no means of knowing how the vote stood, but rumor has it that so far from there being but three votes against the indictment, as the Sentinel basely and falsely insinuates, there was but one for it. This, under the circumstances, is a great triumph, after the bitter tide of persecution, slander and falsehood which this man has had to stem and fight since last February. His enemies promised themselves a victory by the aid of the congenial weapons of falsehood, perjury and misrepresentation, and have a defeat to acknowledge, which they own by seeking to cowardly beslime the grand jury. The gentlemen composing that body, it is highly probable, will survive the attack. Daily Oregon Bulletin, Portland, December 14, 1871. Clipping in the Beekman Papers, Mss 916, box 15, Oregon Historical Society Research Library. Mr. William M. Turner as a
Telegrapher and as a Citizen.
In an issue of the Jacksonville Times,
its
supposed editor, Mr. James D. Fay, gives vent to his spleen in an
unwarrantable and unfounded attack upon the agent of the Western Union
Telegraph in this place. The Times
endeavors
to throw discredit on the public telegrams sent by that person, in
relation to the Ralls-Fay affair, and reflects in an infamous manner on
his business integrity. We desire to show the public that every
telegram sent was true,
and
to teach Mr. James D. Fay that the day has passed when he can ride
roughshod over this community or any member thereof. Charge number one
is that the telegrapher sent a public dispatch last spring in relation
to the shooting affray; that was false, inasmuch as Ralls did not
accuse Fay of the seduction of his daughter. The only inaccuracy was
that Ralls did not accuse him when he shot, but it makes no difference,
Ralls did accuse him, the victim accused him, and has sworn to it in
open court, and notwithstanding the action of the last grand jury, he
stands so accused, at this hour, before the people of this county,
whether he be guilty or not. Charge number two is that there was no
applause when the Misses Ralls publicly cowhided Tribble. Right here we
assert and can prove that the dispatch in relation to that affair was
strictly true--that the act met with the emphatic approval of
nineteen-twentieths of our citizens, and public sentiment has decided
that if the lash had fallen on the principal in that social drama,
instead of on a worthless tool, now held on a charge of perjury, the
applause would have been measurably greater. Charge number three is
that Mr. Turner did not telegraph the ignoring of the charge of
seduction against Fay. This is true, and we blame him for it. He should
have done so, and added that the public were in a frenzy of shame and
indignation at the failure of justice, owing to the fact that the grand
jury were instructed that
it required two witnesses to procure an indictment, and
that a vigilance committee was openly talked of--not whispered
about--for the purpose of satisfying justice; had he done this, he
would have done his whole duty. Charge number four is that there was no
noticeable applause when Ralls was acquitted. It is false; there was
applause, marked and emphatic, from a crowd of fifty or sixty persons,
those who kept silent being only the attaches of the court, and so much
so that the judge's voice was nearly inaudible. The editor of the Times (the
prosecuting witness) did not hear it, but today he feels it, and he knows that
the telegram was strictly true. James D. Fay has not been treated
unfairly, and on the contrary he willfully suppresses the fact that the
telegraph agent went out of his way last spring and telegraphed his
card of denial, when he was under no obligation to do so. We pronounce
the whole tirade a groundless, infamous and useless attempt
to rob a man of the means of supporting his family, by casting a slur
on his business integrity. If James D. Fay has any charges to make
against William M. Turner as a telegrapher, why does he not make them
to the officers of the company, instead of through his now-disreputable
organ? Why? Because he knows that he could not sustain them. Because he
knows that Mr. Turner enjoys the entire confidence of this community
and of his employers, and that no business firm or respectable citizen
in this place would ask for his removal. The Times is
so kind as to call the telegraphers attention to certain passages in
the code. We are informed that the agent is quite familiar with them,
and as legal business is dull, we would kindly ask its editor to
familiarize himself with the following interesting paragraphs from the
same volume, page 558, sec. 631.
"If any person, under promise of marriage, shall seduce and have illicit connection with any unmarried female of previous chaste character, such person, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary, not less than one, nor more than five years, or by imprisonment in the county jail, not less than three months, nor more than one year, or by fine not less than five hundred, nor more than one thousand dollars." Page 550, sec. 599. "Every person convicted of the crime of perjury, committed on the trail of, or proceedings in a criminal action for a crime punishable with death or imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five, nor more than twenty years. Every person convicted of the crime of perjury, committed in any proceeding in a court of justice, other than such criminal action, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary, not less than three, nor more than ten years, and every person convicted of the crime of perjury, committed otherwise than in a proceeding before a court of justice, or convicted of the crime of subornation of perjury, however committed, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary, not less than two, nor more than five years." Now for Mr. Turner as a citizen. We know of only one man in Jackson County who makes any pretensions to purity; that is the editor of the Times. Mr. Turner makes none. Suppose his life prior to his coming among us had been idle and dissolute and abandoned. What of it? Suppose even that he had lain in the gutter. What of it? Every right-minded man or woman must admire the manhood and will of any man that raises him from degradation to the position of a useful and respected citizen. During six years' residence among us, no one can point a finger to a stain on his character, and we honestly think that if he thought that nine-tenths of the people of this town and valley believed him guilty of an infamous crime, and despised him for it, he would leave instantly, and not allow his name to be a stench in the public nostrils. Whatever Mr. Turner has done, there are some things he has not done. He has never lain drunk in the gutter of this town and shot, assassin-like, at the friendly hand that would have raised him up; he has never crowded himself--armed--into a public assemblage, and wantonly insulted one of the first ladies of the place, and he has never crossed the threshold of any man's home and left shame and sorrow and ruin behind him like the slime of a viper. Whatever he may have been the world takes him as it finds him--not as he was. There are few men who do not look back with regret to the errors of youth, but fewer that profit by the retrospect, and take a "new departure," as it is possible Mr. Turner has done, and although the doctrine is quite distasteful to his detractor, we advise him to try it. This controversy has been forced upon us--we have not sought it; so let the Times do its worst, and in the language of its friend, Giles Wells, "lay on Macduff." Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
December 16, 1871, page 2
THE
PERJURY CASE.A BASE CREATURE.--We are credibly informed by a gentleman of this city that the wretch who was last week horsewhipped at Jacksonville by Miss Hannah Ralls, for slander, was several years ago arrested in Polk County for horse stealing, and only escaped the penitentiary by turning state's evidence against his companions in thievery. He is just the creature for so base a use as that to which he was put in Jacksonville.--State Rights Democrat. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, December 16, 1871, page 2 HELD TO ANSWER.--George Tribble, who was arrested last week on a charge of perjury, was examined on Wednesday before Judge Kahler. The evidence being strong against him, he was held to answer to the charge at the next term of the Circuit Court for Jackson County under a bond of five hundred dollars. It will be remembered that he was one of Fay's witnesses that carried him through that two days' "thorough examination" before the grand jury, for which friendly services rendered he is in a fair way to have an opportunity of learning a trade at the expense of the state. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, December 16, 1871, page 3
On last Friday morning, a week ago,
George W. Tribble was arrested
under a warrant issued by Justice Kahler, of Grants Pass, on a charge
of perjury, preferred by Valentine S. Ralls. The crime was alleged to
have been committed before the grand jury on the 21st of November,
1871. Since that date Mr. Tribble has been all the time in
Jacksonville, and every day in sight. Why the charge was not made
before a justice prior to the time it was brought before Kahler does
not plainly appear. Justice Wade's court in Jacksonville is much more
convenient to the parties and their witnesses than is Kahler's.
Mr. Rockfellow, one of the witnesses for the prosecution, resides at Ashland, 18 miles from Jacksonville, and 45 miles from Grants Pass. Mr. Haymond resides 14 miles from Jacksonville, and 18 miles from Kahler's. Ralls' daughter and T. L. Beck, two other witnesses for the state, reside within 8 miles of Jacksonville, and over 30 from Kahler's. Cardwell, the other witness examined, resides in Jacksonville. So that, so far as the convenience of witnesses and parties [was] concerned, the advantages were all in favor of an examination in this town. If objections were made to Wade's court, the County Court was open to the prosecutor. If this did not suit, the court of Justice Gall at Rock Point was infinitely more convenient than that of Kahler's, who resides within half a mile of the northern line of the county. The arrest of the defendant, therefore, by a warrant of Kahler's, attracted unusual surprise, until it was known that his son, C. W. Kahler, was retained on the part of the State. This explained matters. Since the adjournment of the circuit court the Ralls family were beginning to be forgotten. There was nothing to bring them prominently before the public, and the unenviable notoriety they have enjoyed during the last nine months, and which they seem to have gloried in, was about to lapse into obscurity. Something must be done to keep them in the public view: hence this prosecution, and hence the way in which it was commenced. They undoubtedly thought, and as the sequel showed, with good reason, that with the sire as the justice and the son as the lawyer in the prosecution, the chances that the prisoner would be bound over were certain. The prisoner appeared on Wednesday and it soon became apparent that so far as any defense was concerned, the defendant had no rights recognized by that court. It was emphatically a court "organized to convict." Messrs. Haymond and Rockfellow, members of the late grand jury, were examined, and then the girl, Hannah Ralls, was put upon the stand. Her evidence, in substance, was that she came to Jacksonville with Tribble on the 10th of May, that she looked through the buggy window ten times between Willow Springs and Jacksonville, and saw T. L. Beck each time at a distance from 50 to 200 yards behind Tribble and herself; that she did not have to turn round to see through the back window. It did not appear what caused her to look just ten times through that window at Beck; and it certainty appears to be an unusual proceeding that a young woman should be looking ten times out of the back window of a buggy to see how far a young man in another buggy was behind. She denied that she would have to turn around to perform this feat, although the window was at her back. She was subjected to a rigid cross-examination, until the Justice, who had shown the most undisguised partiality in favor of the State, interfered most unjustifiably and stopped the examination. T. L. Beck was then called on the stand, and his evidence, in substance, was this: That he left Rock Point on the 11th of May, in company with Tribble, the Ralls girl and others; that he stopped at Swinden's, and they passed him; that he stopped at his cabin some time and that Tribble and his partner passed in the meantime; that he has no recollection of seeing Tribble's buggy until he overtook Tribble in front of Plymale & Manning's stable; that at the points designated in Hannah Ralls' testimony, a buggy could be seen ahead of his from fifty yards to a mile. Then James A. Cardwell was placed on the stand, and swore to a conversation between himself and Tribble on the 22nd of November, 1871, in which he stated to Tribble that a grand juror was not bound to keep the deliberations of that body secret. On cross-examination he was asked if he had ever been a grand juror; he replied in the affirmative, whereupon the examining counsel read the grand juror's oath, in which this language occurs: "That the proceedings before you, the counsel of the State, your, our counsel and that of your fellows, you will keep secret," and asked him if he had taken that oath, and he could not tell whether he had or not. The Court again unjustifiably interfered, and prevented an examination conducted for the purpose of testing the credibility of the witness. Cardwell was a grand juror on at least one occasion, that is at the June term, 1860; and we submit to a candid public if a witness who pays so little regard to the oath as a grand juror as not to know what he is swearing to, by his own confession, or willfully misrepresents the terms of that oath to another, is not a singularly unfortunate witness for the prosecution in a perjury case? To reader the case more striking, it is rumored that Cardwell is a volunteer witness. He admitted that he tried to persuade or intimidate Tribble to leave the country. So farcical became the proceedings, so plain was the bias of the justice in favor of bonding over the prisoner, so plain the influence which the son had over the sire, the counsel over the Court, that the defense refused to introduce a witness or to go through the farce of arguing the case before a court so plainly prejudiced. Justice Kahler, in obedience to the instructions of his son, held Tribble to answer in the sum of $500, which bail he gave with some of our most respected citizens upon his bond, as soon as he reached town. To prove the prejudice existing to Kahler's mind, we will state an incident which transpired in his court a few days previous to Tribble's trial. A man ran away from Polk County with another man's wife and child and a span of horses and some thousand dollars' worth of household goods. Old man Kahler's son was telegraphed to to defend, but as he could not go he sent a substitute. The case was so plain that the Justice was obliged to hold him over, which he did in bonds of one hundred and fifty dollars! It is not recorded that he would have held him at all, if "Wes" had gone down instead of Neil. In old man Kahler's court, the side that has "Wes" has the winning hand. Now the statute requires the testimony of two witnesses, in case of perjury, or the testimony of one with corroborating circumstances. In this case the Justice overrode the law, for the case stood upon the testimony of the girl Ralls alone. Beck, instead of corroborating, contradicted her, and her testimony should, for obvious reasons, have less weight than an ordinary witness. We believe the arrest was made, after this long delay and under the circumstances, simply to manufacture public opinion. We do not believe the prosecution have any hope that a grand jury will regard the case at all, and we believe it was brought before Kahler with a full knowledge of these facts, and with this belief; simply because he is the only justice in the county weak and prejudiced enough to have prostituted his court in a case like this. Democratic Times, Jacksonville, December 16, 1871, page 2 TRIBBLE, the young man who was cow-hided by the Ralls girls, at Jacksonville, recently, has been arrested for perjury, and was brought back from Northern Oregon last week, by the Sheriff, to stand trial.--Yreka Journal. Tribble was not arrested in "Northern Oregon" and "brought back by the Sheriff." The editor of the Journal seems to have as much regard for the truth as his "friend Turner," and no more. Democratic Times, Jacksonville, December 16, 1871, page 2 Geo. Tribble, who was cowhided by the Misses Ralls, in Jacksonville, has been arrested for perjury and bound over in the sum of $500, at the instance of Miss Hannah Ralls, whom he is said to have slandered. "Pacific Coasters," Albany Democrat, December 22, 1871, page 2 The Honorable (?) James D. Fay.
Last week's Times
asks us why we attack Senator Fay in defending another individual. Here
is the reason. James D. Fay, the senator from this county, is the
editor of the Times. It
is he who speaks of the Honorable
James D. Fay. It is he who beslobbers himself with
maudlin praise through its filthy columns. It is he who slanders
and vilifies decent men. It is he
who sneaks behind its editorial chair and denounces the mother of his
illegitimate child as a harlot and a perjured woman. Senator Fay thinks
to evade public contempt by raising a hue and cry about another person,
but Mr. Fay, we beg to assure you that the dodge won't win. It is not
the telegrapher here, who did his duty, that is attracting attention,
it is you
that is being
pilloried before the people of this state. You are charged with an
infamous crime. How do you disprove it? By claiming that it is a
"monstrous absurdity" that a man of Senator Fay's political,
professional and social position should be guilty. What is your political
position? In this county, with three hundred Democratic majority, you
were elected by eleven votes.
You went to Salem and you sold your party to the Republicans. You broke
your pledges and helped to rob the settlers at Klamath Lake of their
homes. You sold your friends
in
the Humboldt Branch R.R. Co. Have you any social position? Do you
deserve any? Let us see. Call James T. Glenn, Jacob Ish, David
Linn--men whose characters you
dare
not impeach. What do they say? They say that when you and V. S. Ralls
were bound over, you, Senator Fay, held up your hand and pledged your sacred honor never
to appear against Ralls, and if necessary that you would leave the
county. How did you keep your word, Honorable Senator?
By prosecuting Ralls with all the malignity of your vindictive nature.
Call the next witness--Wm. Bybee answers. He is truth and uprightness
itself. You confronted him with your usual impudence and asked him if
he had ever said that he would not believe you under oath--Bybee
replied that in regard to the charge of seduction he would not believe
you on a stack of Bibles as high as the sky. Did you strike him? No!
Did you shoot him? No, sir! You turned on your heels and sneaked off
satisfied. You sat on the edge of a gutter in this town, verging on
delirium tremens, Senator Fay, and when a friend would have raised you
up, you drew your derringer and shot at him. You sneaked to the back
window of a poor widow's house in this town--she gave you two minutes to
leave; you only required one. You went to the house of another widow
here at two o'clock in the morning with your lascivious advances, but
you were baffled and lurked about her house till daylight drove you
away.
You used language at the German Festival to a lady such as any other man but you would be ashamed of. We congratulate you, Honorable Senator, on your social and political standing. How about the charge of seduction? Hannah Ralls makes oath before God that you seduced her under promise of marriage. The people of this county, irrespective of party or sex, believe her. How do you refute it? By your own denial and the evidence of a horse thief! How much is either worth? Senator Fay, clear your skirts of that damning accusation. Come out and tell the people what your intentions were when Thomas G. Reames saw you stealing along on the track of that unfortunate girl, who fortunately was not first found by you. Call your "personal friend" John B. Wrisley, grand juror. He says that he and five other grand jurors were willing to swear that they believed the child was yours. But fortunately you had a defender in the public prosecutor, who prevented an indictment. You know yourself that it is yours, and more proof than the word of such a man as you will be required to rebut the oath of your victim. Senator Fay, the honorable man, dares us to cowhide him. Brave man--that strikes and defames the mother of his child from the covert of an editorial sanctum--that is a woman's job! Hannah Ralls is man enough for you; although you did swear before the grand jury that you did not know whether she was a man or a woman. If she is too busy taking care of your child, call on her father. We would have raised you up, vile man, by silence and forbearance, but you would not be raised. Stay then where we place you before the people of this state, as a seducer, a slanderer, a public servant without scruple or honesty, a betrayer of his friends, a libertine, a citizen whose word is not worth a straw, a disgrace to journalism and to humanity, a loathsome thing without shame and a man without a spark of manhood. Wince if you will; cry persecution, slander, calumny, falsehood--anything--your tongue is no longer a scandal--but never think to escape the popular verdict of the people of this county, or take yourself down from the gibbet on which we have placed you. Could we paint black enough we would show you in your true colors; but go. We have done with you and leave you to the tortures of conscience, for bad as you are, with worse than the brand of Cain on you, and your face stamped with the hoof of sin, your looks show that there is a demon within you that gives you little rest. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, December 30, 1871, page 2
"Another Lie
Nailed."
A few
days ago a drunken scalawag affirmed
on the streets of this town that
Fay, the editor of the Times,
was a
gentleman. We
here emphatically deny
the truth of that statement. In fact
we denounce it as a "malicious falsehood,"
a "shameless," a "stupendous"
and an "overwhelming" LIE, and "brand
the brazen brows" of theworthless wretch who uttered it as an "infamous" slanderer. The editor of the Times is only a seducer, a public disturber and a pest to society. Thus the public will perceive that "another lie has been nailed." Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, January 27, 1872, page 3 A Coward, Liar and a Villain.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville,
March 9, 1872, page 2
The nondescript which slinks around the editorial sanctum of the
Democratic slander mill has again sent forth his feeble, dying moan,
imploring the public to turn their attention from his crime-stained
character, and see if they could not find something wrong in my
official acts to engage their attention for a while, and thus give him
a little rest. He has so far tacitly admitted the charges I made
against him two weeks ago to be true. In last week's Times this bisulcous
vituperator pours forth an amount of billingsgate sufficient to warrant
the belief that he thinks he controls the whole stock on the market,
and the persistency with which he bawls forth his wares would seem to
qualify him for a first-rate vendor of charcoal, in which occupation
the blackness of his complexion would beautifully harmonize with the
blackness of his character and his dark deeds.
He publishes from the county records a bill presented and certified to by me, for the expenses of a road survey from Bybee's ferry to Ft. Klamath, thence to Link River, and costing the county about five hundred dollars altogether, and if paid for at the rates allowed by the government for their land surveys would have cost the county twelve hundred dollars, but the principal item to which he takes exceptions, and to which he has devoted a column and a half to prove the enormity of the swindle, was the fact that I brought in a bill for 62½ cents a day per man for provisions furnished for the board of the men employed upon said survey, which the philanthropic commissioners cut down to 37½ cents per day, and which this dishonorable candle-holder Fay virtually says is too much food for a laboring man who works from ten to fifteen hours in a July sun. Yes, men of Jackson County, who earn your bread by the sweat of your brow, this man J. D. Fay, whom you elected to make your laws, would cut your rations down to nearly one-third prison fare. Yes, the culprits in our jail are allowed six dollars worth of board per week, yet this soft, white-handed, soft-headed Hon. (?) Senator considers three bits worth of board per day as too good and too much for a man that earns his bread by the sweat of his brow. We do not understand why this great reformer does not go after the County Commissioners for their extravagance in allowing the Sheriff six dollars per week for boarding the criminals in our jail, unless there is a sympathetic feeling between himself and all other villains, and perhaps, with an eye to the future, he does not want to see prison fare reduced. This living proof of Darwin's theory, that man sprang from a baboon, this thing in the image of man and with the instincts of a brute, imagines he can make and remake men; he also thinks he owns the original Democratic Party in this county, and in this opinion he is joined by a small ring of his strikers in and near town, who think that by his trickery and chicanery they can foist themselves upon the party and secure the county offices. They expect to go to Fay when they die, and they nightly pray in this style: Now
I lay me down to sleep,
All good Democrats who did not subscribe to this change in the litany
two years ago must repent and confess their past sins to this great
high priest Fay, do penance and take back seats, and not be admitted to
full communion for the next two years. All who do not subscribe to
this programme are to be consigned to Fay's Democratic
purgatory, there
to remain until the candle-snuffers of this high priest Fay are paid
enough to pray them out. All who do not champion this man Fay are alike
subject to his maledictions, and he tries to turn every man out of his
means of making a livelihood who does not worship this brazen serpent.Please J. D. Fay my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, Please J. D. Fay my soul to take. Because Mr. Turner telegraphed some very unpleasant truths in his news dispatches about this man, he tried by every foul and false means to turn him out of his office, but failed most signally; then, as Mr. Turner and myself were associated together in a surveying contract, and because he knew that I dislike him as sincerely as Turner did, he started in on me with his vile falsehoods, but he has started in on the wrong man, as I don't propose to turn out as pliantly as man might suppose. I have many things in my favor which this man Fay never possessed and never will possess. I have brain and muscle, a trade and profession, and friends who I have never betrayed, and I expect to live here and make a comfortable living for myself and family for a long time to come, in spite of this man Fay and his minions. Yes, Mr. Fay, I laugh to scorn all your vile attempts to deprive me of the means of making a livelihood. This bovine specimen with his suspension canine phiz does not need any more showing up; we will therefore close with this little hymn: Poor
Jimmy Fay, you've had your day,
Your tricks are aus gespielt, You jumped up a man the other day And got your peepers peeled. You stormed about the courthouse, And made yourself an ass, You run against an honest hand And straightway went to grass. The laboring man you would cut down To three bits worth of food, But for jailbirds' fare you do declare, That a dollar is none too good. You think you can make and remake men, And your friends may think so maybe, But your greatest effort in that line Was one very small gal baby. Now Jimmy go and bag your head, And say your name ain't Fay, And we'll put you in your little bed, And there we'll let you stay. One Geo. W. Tribble, who was supposed to have gone mysteriously dead in Jackson County last fall, has recently turned up as a marrying man in Missouri. Well, not much difference after all, and the mourners may as well keep their crepe on. "State News," Weekly Oregon Statesman, Salem, April 3, 1872, page 2 The Lafayette Courier is one of the best Democratic papers in this state. Is editor is a representative man in his party and, with his graceful yet trenchant pen wields an influence which distinguishes him at once as the terror of his enemies and the envy and admiration of his friends. Therefore when the Courier directs its attention to the demolition of any individual the friends of that individual, if he has any, ought in common prudence to stand from under, so that the inevitable blow will fall upon the doomed alone. The last issue of the Courier contains the political death warrant of James D. Fay. That unlucky gentleman is thereby driven from the ranks of the Democracy, and consigned to the outer darkness of the unfaithful. Aside, good friends, and let the convict pass! Henceforth he is a Republican, a conservative--anything in fact to which obloquy properly attaches, but never again a time-honored and unterrified Democrat. Weekly Oregon Statesman, Salem, May 1, 1872, page 1 SILAS J. DAY'S CERTIFICATE.
In January 1868, when Fay's pet, Klippel, was a candidate for sheriff
against Thomas G. Reames, Silas J. Day heard a conversation between
James D. Fay and John S. Miller, and as Mr. Day was then bitterly
opposed to the Fay clique on account of their drunkenness and
immorality, he
gave the following certificate in his own handwriting. "This is to
certify that on or about the thirtieth of January last, in a
conversation between John S. Miller and James D. Fay, in the post
office at Jacksonville, Oregon, I, the undersigned, heard James D. Fay
make use of the following language or the substance of it, to wit:
'That if his (James D. Fay's) candidate (Klippel) had to be sacrificed
he would be damned if there should not be a good many go to his
funeral; and further, that he would sow dissension in the Democratic
Party and that he could do as much as anybody in effecting that
object." This is about the substance of the remarks made by Mr. Fay to
Mr. Miller in my hearing at the time above mentioned.(Signed)
SILAS J. DAY."
Democratic Review, Jacksonville,
May 25, 1872, page 1 Researchers
should not fail to review this four-page anti-Fay campaign newspaper
preserved
at the Southern Oregon Research Library, M67B #4.Jacksonville, April 1868. \ T. B. Kent and Jas. A. Miller have purchased the Jacksonville Times, and Hon. J. D. Fay retires from its editorial tripod. The Times announces that it will support the nominee of the Baltimore Convention, whoever he may be. We extend our hand to the new engineers of the Times and wish them abundant fortune in their enterprise. Albany Democrat, July 12, 1872, page 2 SALEM,
OCT. 10.
A personal rencontre occurred on the street in this city last night,
and excited considerable interest. From what I can learn it appears
that Eugene Semple, State Printer, and J. H. Lappens, Chief of Portland
Police, met on the corner near the Chemeketa House, angry words
followed, when Lappens struck Semple with his cane. The latter drew a
pistol but being in too close quarters to shoot he used it as a club
and knocked Lappens down with it. At this juncture Hon. J. D. Fay,
President of the Senate, rushed into the arena and began striking
Semple over the head with his cane. Semple gave Fay a blow which sent
him to grass, and before hostilities could be resumed parties stepped
forward and separated the belligerents. Many rumors are afloat as to
the cause of this disgraceful affair, but as I can give no authentic
information upon the subject I shall not attempt to repeat the idle
rumors here. It is feared that the difficulty is not yet ended, as much
bad blood has been engendered among the friends of both parties.--Mr.
Semple has the unqualified sympathy of all disinterested parties, as
the attack upon him is looked upon as having been unfair and
unjustifiable. M.V.B.
Albany Democrat, October
11, 1872, page 2COWARDLY ASSAULT.--We take following in relation to an affray which took place in Salem last Wednesday evening from the Mercury of yesterday: "Last evening between six and seven o'clock, a most dastardly attack was made upon Mr. Eugene Semple, State Printer. The affair occurred as follows, so far as we are able to obtain the facts: James D. Fay had some words with a gentleman from Portland of an unfriendly character, but they were separated by bystanders and each went his way. Shortly afterward some person went into the dining room of the Chemeketa Hotel and informed some persons seated at a table that a person outside was making use [of] language derogatory to the character of Mr. Fay. James H. Lappens, Chief of Police of Portland, immediately announced his determination to stop the mouth of the individual who was bold enough to say aught of Mr. Fay, and immediately started out of the hotel. On the opposite corner from the hotel, in front of the Magnolia Saloon, he met Mr. Semple, who had taken no part in the previous controversy [and] made some remark to him of which we are not informed, and struck him with his cane, forcing Mr. Semple into the saloon. Mr. S. had, however, apparently got the better of the Chief and would probably have given him more than he anticipated, when Fay and Trevitt, a resident of Wasco County, appeared and commenced an assault upon Mr. Semple. Semple then quit Lappens and went after Fay, but the odds were too much for him, and parties interfering ended the affair. There can be no doubt that the attack was prearranged, as the two accomplices of Lappens were inside the saloon almost immediately upon the attack, and used their weapons vigorously until prevented by bystanders." The only comment we shall make at present is that when men are compelled to descend to the degrading alternative of resorting to a cowardly attack upon a person--and that, too, with the odds of three to one--who may be opposed to them upon certain measures, it is evident that their projects must be in a desperate condition, and unworthy of the support of honorable men. Oregon City Enterprise, October 11, 1872, page 3 SHOOTING AFFRAY.--About three o'clock yesterday a serious shooting affray occurred in front of White & Martin's store. James D. Fay shot Horace Ish through the side of the head, and the latter is supposed to be mortally wounded. We abstain from attempting to give any particulars until the facts in the case can be reliably learned. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, March 8, 1873, page 3 Letter from
Jacksonville.
Jacksonville, March
9, 1873.
To the Editor of the Oregonian:On Friday, the 7th inst., our city assumed the appearance of the good old days of '52-3, when revolvers, derringers, knives and twenty-dollar pieces were as plenty as redskins in the lava bed. The cause which produced his unusual display of weapons was an altercation between J. D. Fay and H. Ish. Not being an eyewitness to the bloody conflict, I am therefore compelled to accept the statements of others, although in many respects they conflict. It is the general opinion, however, that Ish became offended at some remarks made by Fay in court, reflecting upon the veracity of the Ish family. William Ish is a party to a suit now in court. H. Ish, meeting Fay on the pavement opposite White & Martin's store, approached him and spat in his face, at the same time drawing his knife. I shall now give Ish's statement: He says as soon as he spat in Fay's face, Fay stepped back, drew his pistol and asked what he meant. He still continued spitting, and Fay backing: He then came to the conclusion that Fay was not going to resent the insult, and was in the act of putting up his knife when Fay fired at him, the ball ranging too high and missed him. He then made for Fay, who was backing, and fell, but instantly raised his pistol and again fired, the ball passing between Ish's thumb and first finger and taking effect in the jaw, glancing downward and lodged in the neck, causing a dangerous wound, but [it] is not considered mortal. The ball has not yet been extracted, but quite a number of broken bones have. William Ish, who was standing some distance off, ran up and is charged with firing one shot at Fay, the ball striking a memorandum book and glancing off, demoralizing the book, but not doing any injury to Fay. Mr. H. Ish, upon receiving the shot in the jaw, fell across Fay, and they were instantly separated. The above is as near the facts as I can get at this time. I understand the matter will be investigated by the authorities, when the facts in the case will be fully developed. Oregonian, Portland, March 12, 1873, page 2 Jim Fay's pocketbook is an eminent life preserver. The Times tells us that an affray occurred in Jacksonville last Friday, between James D. Fay and Wm. K. Ish and Horace Ish, which resulted in the shooting of Horace Ish in the cheek by Fay, and the narrow escape of Fay from a bullet fired by Wm. K. Ish, which lodged in Fay's pocketbook, breaking the force of and diverting the ball, which would probably otherwise have pierced his heart. Ish is seriously, if not mortally, wounded. Albany Democrat, March 14, 1873, page 2. Note that Fay's pocketbook also saved his life in 1871. SHOOTING SCRAPE IN OREGON.--A shooting affray took place in Jacksonville, Oregon, on March 8th, between James D. Fay, William K. Ish and Horace Ish, resulting in the latter being dangerously wounded. Fay and Horace Ish had some trouble over a lawsuit, and, meeting in the street, the latter spit in the former's face, whereupon Fay drew his pistol and shot Ish twice, one ball taking effect in his head. William K. Ish then shot at Fay, the ball passing through a pocketbook in the latter' pocket, but doing him no injury. Idaho World, Idaho City, March 20, 1873, page 2 Mr. H. Ish, who was wounded in the jaw by J. D. Fay a few weeks ago, is doing well and will be out in a short time. "Letter from Jacksonville," Oregonian, Portland, March 22, 1873, page 1 Hon. James D. Fay, of Jackson County, will soon leave for San Francisco, where he intends taking up his permanent residence. "Summary of State News Items," Oregon City Enterprise, November 28, 1873, page 2 ON THE STUMP.--Hon. James D. Fay has taken the stump for Tilden and Hendricks in California, and is announced to speak in several principal points in that state. He is a first-class and effective speaker and will do good work for the Democratic cause. Eugene City Guard, October 14, 1876, page 3 Hon. James D. Fay is finishing up his labors on the State Land Commission, of which he is a member. The duties incumbent thereon occupy a great portion of his time and necessitate his almost constant presence at Sacramento. He has an office on California Street, above Montgomery. "Southern Oregonians in San Francisco," Democratic Times, July 14, 1877, page 2 The Oregon Statesman, published at Salem, says: Hon. James D. Fay, who has been in San Francisco practicing law, intends returning to this city and resume his profession. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, February 5, 1879, page 2 ERRONEOUS.--The rumor that Hon. James D. Fay, of San Francisco, would remove to Salem for the practice of his profession turns out to be unfounded. From a card received by Judge Hanna we learn that he has formed a co-partnership with Eugene N. Deuprey and H. W. Kind, two prominent San Francisco attorneys, under the firm name of Fay, Deuprey & Kind, with office at 214 Sansome Street. Democratic Times, Jacksonville, February 7, 1879, page 3 LAWYER J. D. FAY ON HIS MUSCLE.
A lively pugilistic encounter took place in the city criminal court at
San Francisco on the 21st ult. during the progress of the
now-celebrated criminal case of Dr. W. F. Smith and Annie Carpenter.
Numerous parties have been drawn into the case, including a number of
parties well known in Oregon. On the above morning James D. Fay, the
well-known attorney, until recently a resident of Southern Oregon,
played a somewhat unexpected part in the case, which is thus described
in the San Francisco
Chronicle:
As Mr. Levy, the prosecuting attorney, commenced his opening speech, James D. Fay entered the court room and, thinking all the chairs occupied, he asked the bailiff to procure him a seat, as he desired to hear the statement of the case. Just as the bailiff was about to get him one, Mr. Fay perceived a chair near Mr. Levy unoccupied, which he moved among those occupied by other attorneys and sat upon it. As Mr. Levy closed, Mr. Neilson came in. Going up to Mr. Fay, he said, "That is my chair and I want it." Mr. Fay--I am a lawyer and entitled to a seat here, and do not know of any private property in the chairs. If you want a seat, speak to the bailiff and he will procure you one. Mr. Neilson--Well, that is a very ungentlemanly proceeding. Mr. Fay (raising his forearm with the back of his hand outward)--Please repeat that sentence. Mr. Neilson--I say that is a very ungentlemanly proceeding. Mr. Fay imparted a swift and graceful motion to his arm, the back of his hand impinged with much vim on the full front of Mr. Neilson's face, and there was a resonant smack. There was a profound sensation in the court. Mr. Neilson looked astonished, Mr. Fay looked unconcerned, and the court said quietly: "Mr. Bailiff, you will see that nothing of that kind occurs again, and as soon as the matter can be inquired into, full inquiry will be made." The bailiff started for the scene of hostilities, and Neilson squared off at the impassive attorney. Fay instantly leaped to his feet, and before the bailiff could interpose made some very clever shoulder blows at the prosecuting witness, but which the latter artistically avoided by a hasty retreat over the corns of the front row of the jury's feet. Mr. Fay then reseated himself, and Mr. Neilson, with face flaming, seized his hat and started for the door. Mr. Levy said, "If your honor please, the prosecuting witness is about to leave the courtroom, and I would like to have this little matter inquired into right away, as he will be of great assistance to me." However, Neilson soon returned. His face still betokened that his feelings were not healed, but the indications and general supposition were that he had gone out that he himself might become so. Having secured a seat about midway between Mr. Levy and Mr. Fay, he said, apparently to the former, but so as to be heard by the latter, "Well, I went out and he dared not follow me." Fay stooped over to him and said, "I am ready to meet you at any time, night or day, in any place." Neilson suddenly changed his tactics and appealed to the prosecuting attorney for protection, alleging that Fay was trying to intimidate him. Then Mr. Fay again whispered to him the compliment in the short-syllabled Saxon language that he had not stated the fact, and left the courtroom. Oregonian, Portland, April 1, 1879, page 3 JAMES D. FAY.
His Suicide at Coos Bay, Oregon, on Friday Morning.
James Denis Fay, a well-known attorney of this city and a member of the
law firm of Fay, Deuprey & Kind, killed himself at Marshfield,
Coos
Bay, Oregon, yesterday morning, for reasons which are at present
unknown. He went to Coos Bay a few weeks ago to settle a claim of the
widow of James Flannagan against the Coos Bay Coal Company, and to
attend to other legal business for the firm, and had finished his work
and expected to return to this city on the next steamer. Mr. Fay was a
native of South Carolina, 42 years of age, and located in Jackson
County, Oregon, in early days, where he studied law under the late
Judge Thayer, living in Corvallis. He took a prominent part in politics
and was Prosecuting Attorney of the First Judicial District, member of
the Assembly, and State Senator from Jackson County. In 1866 he ran for
Congress on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated. From 1870 to 1874
he was President of the Oregon State Senate, and in 1872 received the
nomination for the United States Senate, and came within a very few
votes of election. In 1874 he came to this city, where he resumed the
practice of law, which he has actively engaged in ever since. He was
Assistant District Attorney of this city and county under T. P. Ryan,
and at one time was special attorney of the city for the collection of
delinquent taxes and the prosecution of forfeited bonds. In the
campaign of 1876 he assisted the Democracy by canvassing a portion of
the state. He was, at the time of his death, a vice president of the
United Bar Association of this city, a member of Spartan Lodge, No. 36,
A.O.U.W., and also of Dorie Lodge, F. and A.M., which latter has
telegraphed to the order at Coos Bay to take charge of the remains. In
1864 Mr. Fay married Gertrude, a daughter of Hon. Jesse Applegate of
Yoncalla. She died about ten years ago, leaving a son, who is now with
Mr. Applegate. It is probable that the remains will be interred in
Jackson County. Mr. Fay leaves a large circle of friends in this city,
with whom he was quite popular.
THE LATE JAMES D. FAY.San Francisco Chronicle, May 31, 1879, page 2
The statement that James D. Fay was unmarried is incorrect. He was
twice married. His first wife was a daughter of Jesse Applegate. She
died some years ago, leaving one child. His second wife, who survives
him, was a Miss Rosa Young of Jacksonville. She is now at that place,
having come with him to Empire City, and thence to Jacksonville. By the
second marriage there is a daughter three years of age. It may also be
stated that Fay did not read law with David Logan, as heretofore
stated, but began with A. A. Skinner and completed with Judge Thayer at
Corvallis.
DEATH
OF JAMES D. FAY.A gentleman, who has just arrived here from Empire City, gives us the following additional particulars concerning the tragic end of poor Fay: For several days before the rash and awful deed was committed, Mr. Fay had been drinking very hard. He was intoxicated the day before he shot himself, and had to be put to bed Thursday night in an almost helpless condition of inebriation. Friday morning he rose, dressed himself, and soon after went into the Star Saloon. After taking a drink, [he] sat down and picking up a paper began to read. There was nothing either in his manner or looks to excite particular attention. The proprietor, having occasion to step outside of the saloon, left Fay alone. He was leaning back in his chair at the time, reading, or pretending to read, the paper, with his feet resting on the iron fender which surrounded the stove. Only a few minutes elapsed after the proprietor stepped out, until he heard the sharp report of a pistol in the saloon. He ran in and was horrified to find Fay dead. He had not moved from the position he assumed when he proprietor went out. His feet still rested on the fender; his body rather thrown back; both hands were resting in his lap, and his head had fallen forward on his breast. A large hole was seen in the right temple, from which the purple flood of life was seen flowing profusely. The weapon with which the fatal deed had been accomplished lay in his lap where it had fallen from his nerveless grasp as the deadly missile went crashing through his brains. Death must have resulted instantaneously. Fay seemed to be in full possession of all his faculties up to the moment when he was left alone, and the insane impulse must have taken instant and complete control of him, causing him to snatch the pistol from his pocket and in a second launch his soul into eternity. Oregonian, Portland, June 4, 1879, page 3
Telegraphic intelligence of the tragic death of Mr. Fay was received
here on Friday morning last, the particulars of which we glean from the
Douglas Independent, which,
however, should state that the rash act was committed at 7:30 a.m. on
Friday:
DEATH
OF JAMES D. FAY.EMPIRE CITY, May 30.--The people of this place were startled this morning by the report that James D. Fay had killed himself. It soon became known that this was the sad fact, and a coroner's inquest over the body of the deceased resulted in the finding of the following verdict: We, the jury summoned to inquire into the cause of the death of Jas. D. Fay, do find that deceased came to his death by a pistol shot fired from a pistol held in his own hands. The facts developed by the evidence before the jury were that the night previous he had retired in company with L. F. Lane about 12 o'clock. After that time he took two or three drinks, but not sufficient, as Mr. Lane testified, to produce delirium tremens. Mr. Lane then left him, and Mr. Fay went to the Star saloon, and was sitting by the stove, reading a newspaper when Mr. E. W. Sprague and A. W. Sprague, his brother--keepers of the saloon--went out and left him sitting there. They shortly afterwards heard the report of a pistol, and ran back to the saloon, where they found Mr. Fay still seated in the chair, with his head bent forward, the blood flowing freely from his head and his pistol lying in his lap. Dr. Mackey testified that death had resulted almost instantaneously with the shot. Mrs. Fay, with one child, was on a visit in this city with her parents, and the shock to her was most distressing. The body was taken in charge by the Masons of Marshfield, Mr. Fay being a member of that fraternity, and interred with Masonic honors on Sunday last. Mr. Fay was a native of South Carolina, about 40 years of age, a man of extraordinary force of character and far more than average ability, which unfortunately was too often misdirected. He at one time was representative in the legislative assembly from this county, and was afterwards president of the senate, having been elected to that body also from this county. We would be the last to say an unkind word of the deceased. Let the grave that swallows up all human enmities--all earthly [illegible] faults and let us remember [illegible] that which was worthy and good of the dead. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 4, 1879, page 3 SUICIDED.--James D. Fay, a lawyer, formerly a resident of Jacksonville, Southern Oregon, but more recently of San Francisco, suicided by shooting himself, while intoxicated, in Sprague's saloon at Empire City, Coos County, Oregon, on the 29th of May. Mr. Fay was at Empire City attending to business he had in court. He was always supposed, by those who knew him, to be at times a little lunatic, and when we heard that he had done away with himself we were not surprised at it. He was married to a daughter of Honorable Jesse Applegate, who has been dead a number of years. We know nothing that we can say good of the man. Weekly Mountaineer, The Dalles, June 5, 1879 Particulars which have been received in this city relative to the death of James D. Fay at Empire City, Oregon, state that he was in Sprague's saloon at the time of the suicide, Mr. Sprague leaving Mr. Fay sitting alone in the saloon. Shortly after going out, Mr. Sprague heard a pistol-shot in the saloon, and running in found Mr. Fay still sitting in the chair, with his head bent forward and blood flowing freely from a wound in his right temple, a pistol lying in his lap with two chambers empty. He did not speak or move after Mr. Sprague reached him. Dr. Mackey testified at the inquest that death resulted almost instantaneously. His friends in the city are inclined to disbelieve the story of suicide, but rather think that he was the victim of foul play. Eugene Deuprey, his partner, received a letter from Mr. Fay yesterday morning, in which he related in a very cheerful manner that his work was finished and he expected to return immediately to this city, and in all the letter there is no indication of the despondency which generally precedes suicide. His friends furnish the information that he had very bitter enemies in Oregon, owing to his connection with certain lawsuits, and state that several years ago he was ambushed and nearly killed by two brothers of the name of Ish, one of whom he shot at and dangerously wounded, and that since then numerous threats against his life have been made. They believe that if he had shot himself in the temple the revolver would have fallen to the floor, and consider its being found in his lap a very suspicious circumstance, which gives color to the belief that he was murdered and the pistol placed where it was found. The remains will be buried at Marshfield today by the Masons. The coroner's jury have since rendered a verdict of suicide. "James D. Fay's Suicide: Another Version," Ventura Signal, San Buenaventura, California, June 7, 1879, page 1 Maddened by Strong Drink, He Shoots Himself Through the Head with a Pistol while Sitting in a Saloon at Empire City.
The startling news reached this city Saturday evening that Mr. James D.
Fay, a gentleman whose name has been so prominently identified with the
politics of Oregon for the past ten years, had committed suicide at
Empire City, in Coos County, on Friday. Many were inclined to doubt the
truth of the report, until a dispatch was received here which confirmed
the sad intelligence.
Under date of May 30th, the Douglas County Independent received the following dispatch from Empire City furnishing the particulars: The people of this place were startled this morning by the report that James D. Fay had killed himself. It soon became known that this was the sad fact, and a coroner's inquest over the body of the deceased resulted in the finding of the following verdict: "We, the jury summoned to inquire into the cause of the death of James D. Fay, do find that deceased came to his death by a wound inflicted by a pistol shot fired from a pistol held in his own hands." The facts developed by the testimony given before the jury were that the night previous he had retired in company with L. F. Lane, about 12 o'clock. After that time he took two or three drinks, but not sufficient, as Mr. Lane testified, to produce delirium tremens. Mr. Lane then left him, and Mr. Fay went to the Star Saloon, and was sitting by the stove reading a newspaper when Mr. E. W. Sprague and A. W. Sprague, his brother, keeper of the saloon, went out and left him sitting there. They shortly afterwards heard the report of a pistol and ran back to the saloon, where they found Mr. Fay still seated in the chair with head bent forward with the blood flowing freely from his head and his pistol lying in his lap. Dr. Mackey testified that death had resulted almost instantly with the shot. Mr. Fay came here from San Francisco and was attending to business he had in court. He had made many friends, and his sudden and tragic death has cast gloom over the entire community. James D. Fay is well known to the people of this state, he having in years past figured prominently in politics. He has resided in various portions of the state during the past twenty years. Mr. Fay was reared by Mr. Jefferies, formerly of Portland, but now at Astoria. He read law with the late David Logan. After being admitted to the bar, he removed to Corvallis and practiced his profession for several years. In 1861, Mr. Fay removed to Josephine County, where he was elected to the legislature in 1862. He was reelected in 1864, and in 1866 he was nominated in Portland as the Democratic candidate for Congress, and in 1868 he was elected from Jackson County to the state senate and was chosen president of that body for that year and 1872. About the year 1875 he removed to San Francisco where he has since resided. At the time of his death he was visiting Coos Bay on business. His exact age is not known, but he is supposed to have been about 43 years. Mr. Fay was unmarried. From the following dispatch to the Oregonian from San Francisco, it would seem that Fay's friends there doubt the truth of the report that he committed suicide and are inclined to credit a theory that he was murdered: SAN
FRANCISCO, May 31st.
Regarding the recent supposed suicide of James D. Fay at Empire City,
Ogn., the friends of [the] deceased in this city are loath to believe
that he died by his own hand. They state that Mr. Fay had made some
bitter enemies in Oregon by his participation in certain litigation and
that some few years ago he was waylaid and nearly killed by two
brothers named Ish, one of whom he shot and dangerously wounded. Since
then threats have repeatedly been made against his life. A telegram has
been sent requesting that the pistol be retained as evidence. The
surroundings are so peculiar that it is proposed to institute a
thorough examination.--Oregonian.
Lewiston Teller, Lewiston, Idaho, June 13, 1879, page 1 Mrs. James D. Fay, wife of the noted politician who committed suicide at Empire City a few days since, is with friends in Jackson County. She accompanied her husband to this state from San Francisco and was visiting friends in Jackson County at the time the terrible deed was committed. "Willamette Valley," Willamette Farmer, Salem, June 13, 1879, page 3 (From
the Jacksonville Times.)
RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT.
The following resolutions on the death of Hon. James D. Fay, adopted by
the members of the Jackson County Bar Association, were presented in
the circuit court on Monday by Hon. A. C. Jones and ordered spread on
the journal:
Resolved, That it is with pain and sorrow that we learn that Hon. James D. Fay has departed this life. Resolved, That in view of his former long residence in our community, his connection with our Bar and the various positions he filled while an honored citizen of our state, we recognize in the deceased an able, devoted and learned lawyer and patriotic statesman. Resolved, That we feel that a sad breach has been made by the loss of one who so long filled a place at this Bar and whose professional standing was eminent throughout the state. Resolved, That we heartily tender our sympathy and condolence to his afflicted family and that a copy of these resolutions, under seal of this court, be transmitted to his bereaved widow. Resolved, That the Hon. Judge of the circuit court of this county be requested to direct the Clerk to place those resolutions upon the records of this court to [serve] as a permanent testimonial, and that the court be further requested to adjourn until Tuesday morning, June 10, 1879, in honor of the deceased. His honor granted the requests made by the Bar Association and the court adjourned until the following morning, though not before eloquent and fitting tributes had been paid to the memory of the deceased by Judge Hanna, and Messrs. Jones, Gazley, Autenreith, Kelsay and others. State Rights Democrat, Albany, Oregon, June 20, 1879, page 2
Henry C. Kind, law
partner of the late James D. Fay, committed suicide in San Francisco on
the 8th. Cause--squandered his wife's estate.
"Brief Mention," Eugene City Guard, August 16, 1879, page 3
James D. Fay, Jr., is
studying law in Portland.
DID MAYOR HOWSER
DREAM"Local Items," Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, October 13, 1883, page 3 WITHOUT FOUNDATION.--The body of Miss Rosa Ralls was exhumed this week and an inquest held over her and the newborn babe. Several days were consumed in the investigation, a thorough medical examination having also been made by Dr. Aiken, but no trace could be found other than that mother and babe came to their death by natural causes. The jury consisted of W. J. Plymale, M. Caton, A. M. Berry, M. Mensor, David Cronemiller and James Elliott, who returned the following verdict. We, the jury empaneled by the Coroner for the purpose of inquiring into the cause of the death of Rosa E. Ralls and her infant child, and a true verdict rendered according to law and evidence, find after a careful examination of the bodies of the deceased and each of them, and after a patient and exhaustive hearing of the testimony of a number of witnesses, that while there was more or less conflict in the testimony, and some circumstances surrounding the case which were not fully explained to our satisfaction, yet we have been unable to develop in the case anything which would criminally implicate anyone in procuring the death of deceased or either of them, and we therefore find that Rosa E. Ralls and her infant child came to their death on the night of March 12th, 1884, from natural causes or causes other than criminal. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, March 29, 1884, page 3 J. D. Fay, under whom J. R. Neil read law, often told the following: "Jim made a business of reading so many pages every day, always marking the place carefully when his day's work was over. After he had gone out of the office I changed his mark back to where he commenced, and for six consecutive days I kept him reading those same pages over and over. Finally Saturday evening I said: 'Jim, how do you like law by this time?' 'Well,' says Jim, 'I like it very well, but it seems to me there is a kind of d----d sameness about it.'"--Medford Monitor. "Local Items," Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, May 22, 1886, page 3 James D. Fay, a former student in the state university, is now learning the printer's trade on the Klamath Star. "Brevities," Eugene City Guard, March 2, 1889, page 5 In the course of time the numerous reports that had reached the settlements regarding the "Great Sunken Lake," and its lonely island crater on which the foot of man had never trod, had so excited that love of adventure and exploration which is ever present in the colonizing and energetic races, and particularly in evidence in frontier life, that in July, 1869, a party was formed in Jacksonville consisting of J. B. Coats, James D. Fay, Miss Annie Fay, David Linn and family, Miss Fannie Ralls, James M. Sutton and family, and John Sutton, under the leadership of James M. Sutton. They left Jacksonville on July 27, via the Rogue River road, and on reaching its junction with the road to Fort Klamath, blazed and opened a wagon road to the rim of the lake, where they were joined by Col. J. E. Ross, Lieut. S. B. Thoburn and Mr. Ish. They had brought with them a wooden boat, knocked-down, which they put together at the lake, and with infinite labor and care to protect it from the rocks they succeeded in lowering it to the water, and on August 4, in this frail craft J. B. Coats, James D. Fay, David Linn, James M. Sutton and Lieut S. B. Thoburn visited Wizard Island, which was, with appropriate ceremonies, so christened by James M. Sutton. They were thus the first human beings to set foot on its virgin soil, and climbing its steep slopes they entered the tiny crater, which is such a duplicate in miniature of the great caldera which contains the lake itself. W. W. Gorman, "The Discovery and Early History of Crater Lake," Mazama, October 1897, pages 150-161
Editor Medford Mail:
In a report to game warden Quimby published in the Portland
Telegram of Dec. 31st, and republished in The
Mail, Mayor Howser, who is a deputy game warden, narrates
some of his thrilling adventures while pursuing the festive deer
skinner in his native wilds. Mr. H. reports that during the last week
of August, 1900, he found two camps of deerslayers, both of which had
hides and dried venison in plain sight for the edification of any
passerby. At another place in September, he found the carcasses of
twenty-five or thirty deer, from which only the hides had been removed,
campfires burning, etc., showing a hasty departure on the [part of the]
violators of the law, doubtless alarmed at the approach of the valiant
deputy. It is only fair to state that Mr. H. tried to arrest the first
two parties he found, but they simply laughed at him, and it was
doubtless from a disinclination to further wound his feelings that the
last party did not await his arrival. These scenes were located in the
northern and northeastern section of Jackson County--no more definite
idea of the exact locality being given. The story reminds one of a
former romance indulged in by Mr. H. which made him more or less famous
throughout the state and gained for him the sobriquet of "the $10,000
beauty" from a local newspaper. As a matter of fact it is not the
custom of violators of the game law to have such prime facie evidence
of their guilt as pelts and dried venison in plain sight, nor is it the
usual rule for them to carry a whole deer to the camp for the single
purpose of removing the hide. Then again, the whole region where the
gallant deputy found this state of affairs is patrolled by forest
rangers, and the most diligent inquiry among them fails to reveal any
such condition of affairs. These rangers go into every nook and corner
of the country and no party of any size can remain any length of time
without their knowledge. The forest rangers were appointed deputy game
wardens by Mr. Quimby last year, but most of them failed to qualify,
owing to the fact that the game warden had failed to pay postage on the
appointments by about fourteen cents, and that they were expected to
pay for the acknowledgment of their oath of office, and then serve
without remuneration. The thrifty way in which the game warden conducts
his office was too much for them. Mr. H. also discovered and
extinguished twelve campfires during his travels, which is a remarkable
showing, as the annual report of the forest supervisor shows that this
was more fires than were extinguished by his whole force of fourteen
rangers during the thirteen and one-half months they were in the field.
Possibly, the mayor meant his own campfires. If he put out his own
fires, it is as much as could be expected of him, and the rangers
should feel duly grateful.
In conclusion I will say that the story published in the Telegram cannot possibly be true because I, as well as other rangers, have personal knowledge to the contrary. In this the majority of the people of this section, who know anything of the matter, concur and the object in answering the article is to disabuse the minds of the people abroad of a false idea of the condition of affairs here. Mr. H.'s report was not made for three months after the alleged occurrences, and was timed just right to refresh the minds of the members of the legislature as to the eminent services of his chief, Mr. Quimby, and we are reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he has been indulging in a pipe dream, similar to the one he had in Salem in the winter of '97. J.
D. FAY, Forest
Ranger.
Medford Mail, January
18, 1901, page 6
JAMES D. FAY.
One of the leading lawyers in Southern Oregon for many years was Hon.
James D. Fay. He was one of the picturesque characters of the
early settlement of Southern Oregon. Our attention was attracted to him
when a boy when he was the representative in the legislature from
Jackson and Josephine counties, and afterwards when a senator from
Jackson County. We had a boy's personal acquaintance with him that he
probably did not recollect in after years.
A Tribute to a
Pioneer Lawyer.His was a nature that made warm friends and bitter enemies. We distinctly remember when he led a forlorn hope as a candidate for Congress. He was no hypocrite or dissimulator. A man of courage and determination, of a bright and social disposition, the temptations of this life seemed to require all his self-control to master. Open and frank in manner, his frailties were plainly in evidence, while the cautious man is able to conceal them. When Representative Rader, of Jackson County, died at Salem in 1870, during the session of the Legislature, from that dreaded and malignant disease, smallpox, it was difficult to find persons who would assist in his burial. We remember that James D. Fay was one of those who assisted in burying the body of his friend and fellow legislator. He was true in case of necessity when a friend was needed: Whatever faults he may have had they were greatly outnumbered and softened by the many good qualities which commended him to men who prefer honorable endeavor and a manly fighter to the skulking sneak who covers up his tracks and pretends friendship when nothing but malice and envy permeates his whole existence. It is with much pleasure we place this stone upon the cairn of one who fell untimely in life's battle. Oregon Law School Journal, November 1902, page 50
In the March number of the Oregon
Law School Journal,
published at Salem, appears the following tribute to the memory of Hon.
James D. Fay, who was one of the prominent attorneys of Southern Oregon
in the early days. This tribute will be appreciated in this part of the
state, where Mr. Fay spent most of his career in Oregon, and where
today when a law case involving complicated law points comes up in
court the old pioneers will still inform you how the case would have
been conducted by James D. Fay:
"One of the leading lawyers in Southern Oregon for many years was Hon. James D. Fay. He was one of the picturesque characters of the early settlement of Southern Oregon. Our attention was attracted to him when a boy when he was the representative in the legislature from Jackson and Josephine counties, and afterwards when a senator from Jackson County. We had a boy's personal acquaintance with him that he probably did not recollect in after years. "His was a nature that made warm friends and bitter enemies. We distinctly remember when he led a forlorn hope as a candidate for Congress. He was no hypocrite or dissimulator. A man of courage and determination, of a bright and social disposition, the temptations of this life seemed to require all his self-control to master. Open and frank in manner, his frailties were plainly in evidence while the cautious man is able to conceal them. When Representative Rader, of Jackson County, died at Salem in 1870, during the session of the legislature, from that dreaded and malignant disease, smallpox, it was difficult to find persons who would assist in his burial. We remember that James D. Fay was one of those who assisted in burying the body of his friend and fellow legislator. He was true in case of necessity when a friend was needed. Whatever faults he may have had, they were greatly outnumbered and softened by the many good qualities which commended him to men who prefer honorable endeavor and a manly fighter to the skulking sneak who covers up his tracks and pretends friendship when nothing but envy and malice permeates his whole existence. "It is with pleasure we place this stone upon the cairn of one who fell untimely in life's battle." Medford Mail, April
3, 1903, page 3
Jas. D. Fay is no longer connected with the Daily Tribune in
any capacity.
Medford Daily Tribune, March 30, 1907, page 4 J. D. Fay and wife of Medford were in town Thursday. Mr. Fay has for a number of years been foreman of the Medford Mail composing room. Rogue River Courier, Grants Pass, February 12, 1909, page 8 FAY MOVES.
Early in April, James D. Fay will assume full editorial and managerial
charge of the Gold Hill
News. At the present time Mr. Fay has the job office of
the Morning Mail. Mr.
Fay is a live one and will make things hum, even in that lively little
city of Gold Hill.
Medford Mail, March 26, 1909, page 5 The Gold Hill News has changed hands again, J. D. Fay, who has been publishing it for the past five months, having decided to retire from the business. Mr. Fay gave Gold Hill the best paper that town ever had, but he couldn't seem to make the venture a financial success. Medford Mail, September 17, 1909, page 1 MAIL TRIBUNE BOYS AT BANQUET BOARD
Elaborate Menu Discussed at Christmas Dinner Given by the Management to Employees.
A special edition of Christmas good cheer was issued last evening when
the employees of the Medford
Mail Tribune gathered
at the banquet board as the guests of the management of the paper.
Barring French words the "copy" was easy to read and the compositors,
as is their custom, verily "ate it up." For two hours editors, copy
boys, reporters, compositors, pressmen and others labored before the
last form was locked and run off.
During the course of the evening brief remarks were made in which the growth of the Mail Tribune, from a little six-column, four-page daily, with patent insides, to its present size--eight pages, seven columns, every evening with from 16 to 28 pages Sunday, was discussed. The transformation, in two years, is truly marvelous. The boys were the guests of G. Putnam, publisher and proprietor of the Mail Tribune, and that they appreciated it goes without saying. Nothing to be desired was neglected. He was thanked in a few words by Harry H. Hicks on behalf of the boys. Those present were: George Putnam, publisher and proprietor; L. E. Whiting, superintendent of the mechanical department; A. E. Powell, foreman of the composing room; L. E. McDaniels, advertising manager; H. N. Sloane, foreman of the press room; Harry H. Hicks, managing editor; James D. Fay, city editor; H. A. McLellan, Earl Ralston, A. F. Stennett, W. C. Moore, C. H. Lawson, Harry Childs, Paul Schuler and Edwin D. Root. Medford Mail Tribune, December 26, 1909, page 3 The residence on the corner of C and Sixth, occupied by Mrs. Fay as a private boarding house, is to be removed to a location on North Central to make room for the new Medford Furniture Company-Nicholson Hardware Company building. "Social and Personal," Medford Mail Tribune, July 26, 1910, page 5 WANTED--To rent, a nine- to twelve-room house, close in, suitable for use as a private boarding and rooming house. Address or call on Fay, this office.. Medford Mail Tribune, July 29, 1910, page 7 Mrs. J. D. Fay is moving today, to the corner of Holly and Sixth streets, where she will be prepared in a few days to accommodate her former boarders. "Social and Personal," Medford Mail Tribune, July 29, 1910, page 16 Mrs. J. D. Fay has reopened her boarding house at 310 North Bartlett and will be pleased to see old and new customers. "Local News," Medford Mail Tribune, October 7, 1910, page 9
Mrs. James D. Fay and
daughter, Miss
Gertrude, have left for Klamath Falls, where they expect to make their
future home.
"Local and Personal," Medford Mail Tribune, June 6, 1912, page 3 Old Printer Dead. News from Gold Beach, Curry County, tells of the death there a few days ago, aged 65 years, of James D. Fay, veteran printer and newspaperman of Southern Oregon. Fay was the son of James D. Fay, Sr., conspicuous as a lawyer and newspaperman in the earlier pioneer history of Jackson County. "Young Jimmy," as he was called, was raised in a print shop at Jacksonville and later worked in the mechanical and editorial departments of various papers in this county, including the Tidings. For 20 years past he has lived at Gold Beach, where he was in the newspaper business for a time, also serving as postmaster at that place until a year or so ago.--Ashland Tidings. Medford Mail Tribune, January 22, 1930, page 2 Charles
Springer
Charles Springer, son of Mrs. Gertrude
Springer and
grandson of Mrs. James D. Fay, formerly of this city, arrived last
evening from Portland to spend two weeks as guest of Mr. and Mrs. J.
Sanford Richardson of Beall Lane, and of Henry Maury and Miss Mary
Maury of the Westside district. He will be joined here later by his
grandmother and little sister, Patsy Springer.Guest of Richardsons He made the trip south by motor with Misses Frances Green and Ida Noffsinger, who left for San Francisco this morning. Medford Mail Tribune, August 12, 1931, page 3 Last
revised May 20, 2024
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