An Accuser Comes Forward

Now this is getting interesting! As I mentioned previously, the newspapers had not named the person(s) who had gone to the Lake County Council of Defense accusing B.W. Strattan of unpatriotic conduct. But after B.W. had the Hobart News reprint the Council's letter of exoneration, an accuser came forward and named herself. Just a week later, the News printed the statement of Margaret Newman (wife of Paul, the hardware-store owner) telling her side of the story:

Following is the exact conversation that took place between Benjamin W. Strattan and myself in Edward Batterman's blacksmith shop where I had gone as a lieutenant to sell Fourth Liberty Bonds. I had failed to sell Mr. Batterman a bond. Mr. Strattan came in at that time and I said, "Mr. Strattan, won't you help me sell Mr. Batterman a bond?" Mr. Strattan said, "When me and my family have what we need and I have my bills paid and I have a surplus I might donate to the Red Cross or buy Liberty Bonds, but until we have what we need and I have my bills paid and I have a surplus I'll not donate to the Red Cross or any other damn thing."

I did not have Mr. Strattan cited on account of him not buying bonds. I had him cited on account of the language and the statements he made to me. Did I do right or did I do wrong? I am willing the people of Hobart should decide.

I suppose the small-town rumor mill was already bandying her name about, so she had little to lose by coming forward; and perhaps stung by the respectful, even apologetic, tone of the Council's letter to B.W., she wanted to make clear what she thought his offense had been.

I don't know how B.W. proved to the Council that his wartime behavior had been (in the Council's words) "not only commendable, but extremely patriotic" — he might have shown them receipts for all his Liberty Bond subscriptions and Red Cross donations.

Margaret may have overreacted by denouncing B.W. to the Council of Defense instead of chalking the episode up to an old man's crankiness, but at the time her only son, Everett, was in harm's way in France, so who can blame her if her nerves were on edge?

And if you're a member of Council of Defense in 1918, and you're faced with a Liberty Bond volunteer, the mother of a soldier, accusing someone of swearing at her in the course of her patriotic work — well, you have to do something, don't you?

All at once I have much more sympathy for everyone involved in this mess.


Source: "Mrs. Paul Newman Makes Answer to B.W. Strattan." Hobart News 24 Oct. 1918.