The Story of a Dark Plot | Page 2

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,