A Farce? — Of Course

New York, 1895

Vacheron's Back Down Brings Him Into Ridicule.

(From The Long Island City Herald, Republican.)

Several weeks have passed since the Assembly, at the request of Assemblyman Vacheron, by a unanimous vote adopted a resolution directing the Committee on Privileges and Elections to investigate the accusations made by the editor of the LONG ISLAND FARMER to the effect that Mr. Vacheron was not acting honestly by his constituents in the discharge of his duties as Assemblyman. If the committee found that the allegations were false the editor of the FARMER was to be brought before the Assembly and sentenced to jail, the term of imprisonment to last during the session of the Legislature.

The FARMER has vainly sought to have the investigation made and to that end he sent his counsel, Mr. F. H. Van Vechten, to Albany, but the latter could obtain no satisfaction.

After the bombastic announcement in Mr. Vacheron's organ, the Jamaica Standard, that the editor of the FARMER would be summarily dealt with and receive such punishment as the Assembly has power to inflict, it seems to us that Mr. Vacheron cannot afford to permit the investigation to be dropped. His personal honor is at stake, and if the investigation does not proceed the inference will be that he dare not prosecute the man who, he claims, has slandered him. If there is no investigation then we can come to only one conclusion — that the editor of the FARMER was brutally assaulted for uttering the truth.

Mr. Vacheron has more than his personal honor at stake. Having been elected to an office of honor and responsibility by the Republican party, he is in duty bound to prove that with him public office has really been a public trust.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 17, 1895, p. 8.

Note: 1895 was a big year for Eugene Vacheron, a New York assemblyman, a bad year in many ways. We're only up to May with these articles from The Long Island Farmer, but there's already been plenty of mention of him and plenty of criticism. Most of this can be found at antiquearchives.blogspot.com.