FANCIERS' JOURNAL 



481 



F363 



BIRD 



AND 



POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



Vol. I. 



PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 23, 1874. 



No. 17. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



CHURCHMAN, SWEET, ET AL. vs. HALSTED. 



" HEAR ALL SIDES AND THEN DECIDE." 



[ We do not wish to be understood as indorsing all that 

 our correspondents may have to say and do not hold our- 

 selves responsible for their opinions. 



By a vote of the Convention, we were requested to publish 

 its report in which the account of the expulsion of our cor- 

 respondent appears, and as he was not heard before the Con- 

 vention, we cheerfully grant him the use of our columns for 

 that purpose, which are open for the free discussion of all 

 subjects pertaining to the interests of fanciers. — Ed.] 



This was an action brought by the plaintiffs from malice 

 and jealousy against the defendant, upon a trumped-up 

 charge, in which the case was tried without any notice 

 whatever being given to defendant; without any copy of 

 complaint being served upon defendant, as is required by 

 law ; in fact, without any knowledge whatever on the part 

 of the defendant of any complaint or action against him. 

 The case was tried without judge, jury, or witnesses, and 

 decided entirely upon the false testimony of the complain- 

 ants ; the defendant being tried, found guilty, and sentenced 

 without a hearing, and without any knowledge of any 

 action against him. The cause of action was an assumed 

 one ; one of which, had the defendant been guilty, it would 

 have been impossible for the complainants to take legal cog- 

 nizance of: First, because the laws (Constitution and By- 

 Laws) recognize no sucb offence and prescribe no punish- 

 ment ; second, because the defendant being a delegate, 

 action must be taken against the Society he represents, and 

 not against the individual ; and third, because the assumed 

 offence was committed (if committed at all) before the 

 defendant became a member of the Association — therefore 

 had there been any by-laws to govern action in such cases, 

 he was not amenable to them. The whole case is analogous 

 to the star-chamber . inquisitorial cases which hold so in- 

 famous a place in history. 



I would willingly leave this case with the above record, 

 but the great number of letters, as well as personal inquiries 

 for my statement of the case, warrant me in giving publicity 

 to some facts which both the above-mentioned "complain- 

 ants" repressed. 



If my readers will refer to the Poultry World for Jan- 

 uary, 1874, page 7, they will find an article headed ^'Repre- 

 sentation of State Societies at Buffalo." This article origi- 

 nated with me, and was sent by me to H. H. Stoddard, after 

 consultation with him at the Hartford show, to be mailed in 

 the form of a printed slip to all our prominent poultry 

 breeders. Five days after this slip was disseminated the 

 President of the American Poultry Association sent out an 



On the same page of the Poultry World for January, the 

 reader will find another article, headed "The Standard," 

 and signed "Veteran." This also was written by me. The 

 fears I then and there expressed have since been proved to 

 be well founded. My only regret in regard to the article is 

 that I made its application so general. This (as did the 

 former article) brought out a verbose and bombastic reply, 

 immediately upon the opening of the Convention, from both 

 the above-mentioned parties, and from no one else, proving, 

 as Mr. Stoddard himself remarked to me, that " both shots 

 struck home." Some time during the Convention Mr. Stod- 

 dard was induced to break faith with me and disclose who 

 wrote the obnoxious articles. It was doubtless a case of 

 " Tickle me, Toney, tickle me, do; you tickle me and I'll tickle 

 you." And then commenced the plotting which terminated 

 with the infamous resolution passed at Boston on February 

 5th. Unfortunately (or probably fortunately, as the end is 

 not yet) I was obliged to leave the Convention at the close 

 of the second day, being called home by telegram, on 

 account of sickness in my family. 



These honorable and high-toned complainants speedily took 

 advantage of my absence. First they circulated the report 

 that I had come to the Convention to copyright the doings 

 of the meeting for my own personal benefit. Knowing 

 that I had at one time owned the copyright of " The 

 American Standard of Excellence," and supposing that I still 

 owned it, and knowing also that by this Convention they 

 were appropriating the individual property of the owner of 

 that copyright, they doubtless felt " uneasy in their shoes." 

 A month or more before the meeting the President of the 

 Association had authorized a party to try and buy my copy- 

 right, but, as I had already sold it to another party, I could 

 not treat with him. 



After I left they said, "See how quickly he left after we 

 passed the. resolution prohibiting any minutes being taken 

 except by the Secretary of the Association. He had no 

 news from home ; that was only a sham." When I received 

 the telegram in question I was sitting at a table, writing up 

 my report as chairman of the Committee on Crevecosurs, 

 &c. Mr. George W. White, I think it was, was sitting 

 opposite. The messenger handed the telegram to him, and 

 he passed it across to me. I have no doubt but Mr. White 

 will certify to the correctness of this statement. 



The next move was the Willis affair, which I have 

 already answered in my protest to the Association. There 

 is, however, something yet in this matter which the public 

 does not know, and which I propose to ventilate. The 

 members of the Association were told (by the same parties) 

 that if any proofs were needed of my culpability in the 

 affair, the register of the Bloomer House bore witness of my 

 guilt ; that I had there entered the names of Mr. Estes, Mr. 



invitation to the State Societies to send delegates,. t^.J t ha,|^&iU injutnd myself, and that alone was enough to convict 

 Convention. This was on or abettt-iJaliTiary 1st. 

 before the proposed meeting. ^tf^SXV* 



me. Mr. Churchman cannot plead ignorance of Mr. 

 ade's handwriting; and Mr. Wade will certify that he 



M 'I 4 200! ) 



*~ /IDDAR\ES 



