Produced by Fox in the Stars, Christine P. Travers and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
other inconsistencies are as in the original. Author's spelling has
been maintained.]
THE
STORY OF A DARK PLOT;
OR,
TYRANNY ON THE FRONTIER.
By A. L. O. C.
BOSTON:
THE WARREN PRESS,
160 WARREN STREET,
1903.
Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and ninety-eight, by W. W. SMITH in the Office of the Minister
of Agriculture and Statistics at Ottawa.
[Illustration: W. W. Smith, Sutton, P. Q.]
PREFACE.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon
line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.--(Isa. xxviii.
10.)
This is a divinely appointed rule to which we will do well if we take
heed, as it will save from many disappointments and discouragements.
The writer of "The Story of a Dark Plot" has no hope by this work of
revolutionizing society or even working any very marked reforms. Books
and essays on temperance topics are numerous, and this is but one
among many. However, it is hoped that this may prove one of the lines
and precepts that are of some service to the cause. There is always
need for those who are on the right side of any important question to
unfurl their banners and show their colors bravely, but just now, in
connection with the temperance movement in our Dominion, there is a
very special call for action presented by the Plebiscite.
We sometimes read on the pages of fiction exciting and blood-curdling
tales of deep laid plots for murder and other crimes, but just when
our feelings are being aroused to the highest pitch, we pause and
comfort ourselves with the thought that after all this is only
imaginary.
Or perchance, we may read the truthful details of a more or less
successful attempt to end the life of a fellow being, but if we are
unacquainted with the persons concerned in the affair and the
circumstances which led to it, and especially if it happened some
distance from us, we feel but little interest in it.
Again we find in the records of the past that thousands have suffered
and many died in a really good cause,--the victims of depraved and
brutish persecutors who hated what was good. We cannot doubt the truth
of the statements nor the innocence of the sufferers, but we may be
tempted to complacently remark "the martyr age is past." But if we
look about us with unprejudiced eyes, we must see that the sufferers
for conscience sake are still not a few.
The details of the dark plot as given in these pages are all matters
of fact, and perhaps if all the particulars could be known, it might
seem blacker even than now. Moreover, it happened in an old and
progressive county of Eastern Canada, just across the border from New
England, and Mr. Smith had incurred the anger of his persecutors only
by trying to enforce law and order and working for the protection and
uplifting of his fellow-men.
In view of such facts, let the voters of our Dominion pause ere they
give their sanction to a system which throws around the makers and
venders of alcoholic liquors the protection of the strong arm of the
law.
That this volume, by showing the liquor party in its true light, and
thus warning our countrymen of their position and danger, may be the
means of arousing some who, though temperance people at heart, are
sleeping on guard, and of adding a few to the ranks of active workers
for the cause of right, is the earnest prayer of
THE AUTHOR.
INTRODUCTION.
The publication of this book has been with the approval of some of the
best thinkers on the temperance question, and we doubt not that its
_careful_ perusal by all who read it will prove a stimulus in
connection with the cause of temperance, and if they are timid or
hesitating will cause them to become decisive in the noble work for
humanity. It is a well-known fact that the grand old County of Brome
is one of the banner counties in every thing which is helpful to the
cause of morality, and we hereby offer a fraternal hand to all our
co-workers in the Dominion, and pray God's blessing may rest on every
effort put forth that, whatever may be the private opinion they may
entertain respecting the course pursued by the government, in order to
ascertain the minds of the people on the prohibition question, they
may not only pray right, but when the time presents itself may vote
right. Notwithstanding the fact that a majority of the inhabitants of
our county are true to prohibition principles, yet a minority would
not hesitate, if possible, to repeal the Scott Act, as was evidenced
in the dark plot which was enacted in our midst, but which could not
be carried out until a rough from another country was hired to commit
the murderous assault, which was made on Mr. W. W. Smith, one of the
most earnest temperance workers in the Province of Quebec, President
of the Brome County Alliance for five terms in succession, and who is
actively engaged in sustaining the Scott Act in our county, and saving
from the sad consequences of the traffic the tempted and the fallen.
J. H. F.,
SUTTON.
THE STORY OF A DARK PLOT;
OR,
TYRANNY ON THE FRONTIER.
CHAPTER I.
PREVIOUS EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE ASSAULT.
There are few communities, however small, that have not been aroused
and stirred into action, by some uncommon event, or where opposing
parties have never rejoiced, and mourned over a triumph of one at the
other's expense, and often have men and women, unappreciated by the
many, bravely suffered for their fidelity to a good and beloved cause.
Thus the little County of Brome has been stirred to the depths of its
soul by the actions of contending parties, and especially by a
deliberate attempt to hinder the work and destroy the life of a
law-abiding citizen. Mr. William W. Smith, the hero of this dark
plot, was a native of the county which had always been his home, and
had been during about fifteen years the Agent of the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company at Sutton Junction. During those years, he had been a
man of the world, fond of pleasure, and not objecting to a social
glass, and it is not surprising that, amid all the temptations of
railroad life, he had already felt the awful power of an appetite for
strong drink. But he was led to see his danger and to flee from it,
largely through the influence of his beloved companion, a faithful
Christian, who rests from her labor, and her works do follow her.
Breaking his bonds by the power of God, he became not only a
temperance man, but a Christian, and in his great joy and gratitude
for his own salvation was filled with a desire to warn and rescue
others, whose feet were treading the same slippery paths. He then
began holding Gospel Temperance Meetings, as he had opportunity in
many places mostly within the County of Brome. This county has long
held an honored position as being one of the leading temperance
counties in the Dominion of Canada, because during many years no
license to sell intoxicating liquor as a beverage has been granted
within its borders, and a temperance law known as the Scott Act had
been in force for eight years previous to 1893, when the second
attempt was made by the liquor party to obtain its repeal. Like the
serpent in the Garden of Eden, the liquor sellers of the present day
are remarkable for their subtility, and many are the innocent victims
entangled in the meshes of the net woven by their deceptive tongues;
therefore, it need not seem strange that they should display great
power and influence, even in a so-called temperance community. In the
spring of 1893, the liquor party in Brome, having decided that they
had been troubled by an anti-license act quite long enough, sent out
their agents to various parts of the county with innocent looking
papers to which they wished to obtain signatures. They called upon all
the known supporters of their party, and also upon that doubtful class
of persons which sometimes proves to be among their best helpers,
although counted as temperance people. To this doubtful class they
carefully explained that the petition they bore did not ask for the
repeal of the Scott Act, but only requested that an election be held
for the purpose of bringing the matter before the people, and
determining their minds upon the subject. Therefore, they were told
the signing of this petition was in no way equivalent to voting
against the Scott Act, nor would they be bound to vote against that
Act if an election was brought about. Many names were appended to the
petition, the desired election took place, and very hard did the
liquor men work to obtain a result that should favor their cause.
However, not all the faithful work was on their side. A few temperance
speakers came from distant places, and held many interesting meetings
in different parts of the county, but perhaps the most efficient work
was done by people living in the county, who in many cases seemed to
possess greater influence than strangers could exert. Mr. J. W.
Alexander, at that time Principal of the Sutton Model School, added
more recruits to the ranks of earnest workers by organizing a number
of his pupils with a few other young people into a band which, under
the name of the "Young People's Temperance Crusaders," did good work
during the ensuing weeks. Older workers were admitted into the society
as honorary members, and the officers were chosen from among these.
One of the honorary members was Mr. W. W. Smith, who was also one of
the Committee appointed to accompany the younger members and aid them
in their meetings, and no one worked harder to retain the Scott Act
than he. He took an active part in nearly every Crusade meeting, and
on evenings, when the Crusaders were not thus employed, held other
temperance meetings, thus occupying nearly every night during three or
four weeks in the heat of the campaign. Not content with this, he
worked and argued by day as well, and, associating his work with
prayer, did not cease from his efforts until, on June 16th, 1893, the
polls were closed and the victory for God and the temperance cause was
won. The hotel-keepers and their confederates had gained that for
which their petition has asked, but plainly they were far from
satisfied with the result of the contest, and many were the curses
pronounced upon Mr. Smith as one of the most active opposers of their
cherished plans. Now the vote against them was greater than ever
before, yet they were not content to abide by the voice of the people
which they had seemed so anxious to obtain, but practiced the illegal
sale of alcoholic drinks until nearly, if not quite, every
hotel-keeper in the County of Brome was known to be boldly and
frequently breaking the law. A great cry of the liquor men while
attempting to repeal this law had been "The Scott Act is all right if
you would only enforce it; we don't want a law which is not carried
out," and it was now the wish of those who had sustained the Act to
prevent any further complaints like this. Therefore, on the evening
of Feb. 26th, 1894, a public meeting was held in Sutton to discuss the
circumstances and form plans for work, and at the close a society was
organized to secure the enforcement of the Scott Act in the township
of Sutton. Mr. Smith, who had been instrumental in bringing about this
conference, was a member of the Executive Committee of the Society.
One of the leading temperance organizations of Canada is that known as
the Dominion Alliance, which is divided and sub-divided into
provincial and county branches. When, on April 25, 1894, the Brome
County Branch of the Alliance held its annual meeting for the election
of officers, Mr. Smith was chosen its President for the ensuing year.
Here was field for increased usefulness, and he took up his work with
a zeal that soon won the disapproval both of the liquor party and a
certain class of so-called temperance people whose principal work for
the cause usually lies in criticism of the work of others.
Soon a public meeting of the Alliance was announced by the new
President to be held at Sutton, and a large number of people gathered
in the hall on the evening appointed. Many speakers addressed the
audience, and told in no uncertain words that the law must be enforced
and offenders must be punished. It had not been deemed best to
prosecute the liquor sellers without first giving them a fair and
public warning, and therefore this meeting had been called; but now
that they were notified of the intentions of the temperance people, if
detected in dealing out the liquid poison, they had only themselves to
blame. True to these announcements, Mr. Smith and others proceeded at
once to obtain satisfactory evidence of the traffic in strong drink
which was known to be taking place in the various hotels. This was by
no means a slight task, for though the liquor sellers were not willing
to keep the law, they were entirely willing to preserve the appearance
of so doing, and very loath to sell liquor in the presence of a
stranger, while the testimony of their regular customers could not be
relied on. However, the task was done, and the evidence gathered was
sufficient to condemn nearly every hotel-keeper in the county to
imprisonment or a fine. On June 6th, these cases were considered in
the District court, at Sweetsburg, Quebec, and punishment was meted
out to the offenders. In some instances where the offences merited
imprisonment a fine was allowed instead, and this was accepted by the
Alliance President, who believed that justice should be tempered with
mercy. This bit of leniency, however, was not taken into account by
the liquor sellers in considering his treatment of them. They appeared
to have altered their opinions as to the enforcement of the law, and
their anger waxed hot, while many, often ranked with the temperance
people, were in sympathy with them. Divisions occurred in temperance
societies, because some of the members had friends who were made to
suffer by the imposing of fines on the lawbreakers, and members of
secret brotherhoods, who felt it their duty to uphold their brethren
in good or evil, complained of the injustice of thus depriving the
hotel-keepers of the property they had earned; some even declaring
such transactions to be on a par with the meanest theft. Meanwhile the
liquor sellers and their allies, who had already by the recent trials
been shown to be a company of lawbreakers, seemed to be forming plans
of their own. Many dark whispers floated through the county to the
effect that W. W. Smith had better look out for his personal safety,
and some declared with an air of wisdom that they would not like to be
in his position, while a suspicious looking stranger, said to be a
horse buyer, was noticed by some to be frequenting the hotels at
Sutton and Abercorn, and attending the horse races in the vicinity.
However, Mr. Smith had not the spirit of fear, and believing, as he
said, that "the Lord will take care of his own," he continued as usual
to go from place to place on errands of temperance, or any other work
which he felt claimed his attention.