PREVIOUS EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE ASSAULT.
T
here 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 andwomen, 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 con-
tending 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 Cana-
dian 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
3 A.L.O.C.
not only a temperance man, but a Christian, and in his great joy and grati-
tude 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 posi-
tion 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 re-
markable 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
