Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
December 25, 1893
The Morning News
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia
What is this article about?
In December 1893, an anonymous letter warns Dublin, Georgia's city marshal F.J. Hattaway of imminent danger and urges him to resign to save his life. Hattaway publicly replies, denouncing the writer as a cowardly villain and vowing to remain in his duty with community support.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
An anonymous letter writer is trying to drive the city marshal of Dublin out of town. The following correspondence from the Dublin Post is self-explanatory.
Country Home, Dec. 18, 1893.-
Mr. Hattaway-
I feel a delicacy in writing to you, but I think it my duty to write to inform you that your life is in danger every hour you are in Dublin. I heard a man from Dublin say yesterday that if you lived through Christmas you would do well. If you want to save your life, resign and leave. I am a lady, and I write as a friend. We are not acquainted, but I feel it my duty to do it. I will not sign my name. I don't want to know of a man being killed by such a crowd as lives in that place. I remain as an unknown friend and ask you to leave.
A Friend.
The marshal's reply is as follows:
"Editor Post: Inclosed you will find a letter purporting to be from a lady. There is no particular place given in the letter, but it was mailed at Stephensville a day or two ago and I deem it proper to give publication to it. I desire to say to this 'goat in sheep's clothing' that no lady wrote it. It was none other than a degraded scoundrel whose cowardly heart advises him to hide behind a nom de plume in the shape of purity. If he will come out like a man and give me his advice, face to face, I will express to him then what I do now—that he is as low and cowardly a villain as ever threw a dynamite bomb; a midnight assassin: a loathsome creature on the face of the earth, and I would die in the city of Dublin in the discharge of my duty before I would run from all the anonymous letter writers and dynamite throwers—the cowardly set that they are—that could congregate in the town. But I will state just here that I have the backing of every honest thinking man in the town and county, and by a pledge from an institution inferior to none on the globe to avenge the wrong done me by a coward or set of cowards who bear the stamp of such infamy on their faces or on their black and treacherous hearts.
F. J. Hattaway, chief marshal, Dublin, Ga."
Country Home, Dec. 18, 1893.-
Mr. Hattaway-
I feel a delicacy in writing to you, but I think it my duty to write to inform you that your life is in danger every hour you are in Dublin. I heard a man from Dublin say yesterday that if you lived through Christmas you would do well. If you want to save your life, resign and leave. I am a lady, and I write as a friend. We are not acquainted, but I feel it my duty to do it. I will not sign my name. I don't want to know of a man being killed by such a crowd as lives in that place. I remain as an unknown friend and ask you to leave.
A Friend.
The marshal's reply is as follows:
"Editor Post: Inclosed you will find a letter purporting to be from a lady. There is no particular place given in the letter, but it was mailed at Stephensville a day or two ago and I deem it proper to give publication to it. I desire to say to this 'goat in sheep's clothing' that no lady wrote it. It was none other than a degraded scoundrel whose cowardly heart advises him to hide behind a nom de plume in the shape of purity. If he will come out like a man and give me his advice, face to face, I will express to him then what I do now—that he is as low and cowardly a villain as ever threw a dynamite bomb; a midnight assassin: a loathsome creature on the face of the earth, and I would die in the city of Dublin in the discharge of my duty before I would run from all the anonymous letter writers and dynamite throwers—the cowardly set that they are—that could congregate in the town. But I will state just here that I have the backing of every honest thinking man in the town and county, and by a pledge from an institution inferior to none on the globe to avenge the wrong done me by a coward or set of cowards who bear the stamp of such infamy on their faces or on their black and treacherous hearts.
F. J. Hattaway, chief marshal, Dublin, Ga."
What sub-type of article is it?
Crime Story
Deception Fraud
Heroic Act
What themes does it cover?
Bravery Heroism
Deception
Justice
What keywords are associated?
Anonymous Letter
Death Threat
City Marshal
Dublin Georgia
Cowardly Villain
Public Reply
What entities or persons were involved?
F. J. Hattaway
Where did it happen?
Dublin, Ga.
Story Details
Key Persons
F. J. Hattaway
Location
Dublin, Ga.
Event Date
Dec. 18, 1893
Story Details
An anonymous letter falsely claiming to be from a lady warns Marshal Hattaway of death threats in Dublin and urges resignation. Hattaway publishes it and retorts that the writer is a cowardly scoundrel, vowing to stay and fight, backed by the community.