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trial, however, in the Court of Common Pleas, a Whig judge ruled that what they had done was not an indictable offence, and took the case from the jury.
In such a contest as I have described, the continuity of which I have not cared to break by giving unimportant incidents, it may well be believed that I did not escape unscathed although I came out uninjured.
For weeks the opposition newspaper of
Lowell said everything of me that could be devised by the vilest and most unprincipled editor who was ever allowed to besmirch with printer's ink the columns of what had been a clean newspaper.
As to the contumely heaped upon me, I could give examples, which, if they were not quotations, would hardly be credited.
To show the accusations made against me, as well as the character and importance of the contest, I give some extracts from the Lowell
Courier.
The first was published November 11, 1851, the morning after the first election:--
The entire vote of the city is a tremendous one, being 3,964 for Governor, there being only about fifty who were not at the polls.
The Whig vote is increased one hundred and fifty over last year.
The Free-Soil vote has fallen off and the Democratic has largely increased.
This increase is attributable to the ten-hour ticket, and Boutwell may thank this and nothing else for his increased vote.
This shows that the result of the election depended on the ten-hour ticket.
I purposely omit that which cannot be put here, if this book is to be read by decent people, but one specimen may do:--
[Lowell Courier, November 19, 1851.]
Errata: Yesterday the compositors made the Courier say, “By the use of gloves well scented with cologne, or some disinfectant, and a pair of tongues, it may become a duty to handle such a putrid carcass as that labelled B. F. Butler.”
Of course for “pair of tongues” read “pair of tongs.”
The next extract will be instructive, as a report of my speech:--
[Lowell Courier, November 19, 1851.]
voters of Lowell, remember
That B. F. Butler has publicly declared that his great object is to depreciate the stock of the corporations in this city; that to do this he is willing to see the city sunk in ruins, and when he has got them
