fifty when the 'job' was done. That 'job!' Such a 'job' as that!
An assassin hired for the purpose, by villains blacker-hearted
than himself, to go in the middle of the night, armed with a
murderous weapon, to attack a defenceless and sleeping man, to
'do him up.' What does that mean? Who is initiated into the
mysteries of the language? Does it mean to disable him? or does
it mean to kill him? Who is safe in the discharge of his duty and
in the performance of the God-given work to which every Christian
man is called?

"If the law protects a rumseller who has a license in his
business of selling the liquid poison, should not that same law
protect a man who, residing in a town where the Scott Act is in
force, prosecutes liquor sellers who are dealing contrary to the
laws? Let us have fair play! If the law is like a game of
checkers, in which, not the best man, not the righteous cause
wins, but the party wins who makes the most dexterous move, then
the least we can ask is fair play.

"What have we seen in the courts during the past week? One man
arrested for stealing a dollar's worth of goods or so, and that
man jailed for fifteen months. In contrast to this case, we see
these men with their murderous schemes, deliberately planned,
attempted and partially executed, we see these men condemned to
one month's imprisonment with hard labor! What a farce is the
law! Is it any wonder that indignation is aroused in the hearts
of the conscientious and God-fearing members of the community,
and that men as they meet ask each other the question, 'Why is
this? Did the jury fear that they, too, might be exposed to a
sudden attack of lead pipe?'

"If it is cowardly to shirk an issue on a point between right and
wrong, then we certainly have moral cowards here, in the district
of Bedford. However, there is this to comfort the heart of the
right-minded citizen; punishment does not altogether consist in
the number of days spent in jail, but the disgrace to which these
men have been subjected can never be wiped out nor removed.

"The investigation of the case was thorough, and the crime proven
unmistakably against those four men. It will undoubtedly prove a
warning to others, and, we may say, to themselves also, in the
future."

Another letter, written