“There is yet another subject I will speak on.  The two men who have figured so conspicuously in this case as the cause of this lady’s sufferings, cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed.  Mr. Elder is a well known gentleman of this city and has hitherto borne an irreproachable character.  Did he not stand silent when accused of inhuman conduct towards this lady, I should hesitate to believe him guilty of such an atrocity.  But as his silence is indicative of guilt, the horrible nature of his act comes before us with great force, and we shudder to think that any one wearing the form of humanity could so far debase the mind as to turn a helpless woman and dying child from a shelter because she had not the means of paying her debt.  In so doing, Mr. Elder has displayed the spirit of the extortioner, and must feel all the stings of conscience which haunt the mind of a murderer, should his heart be not too much hardened already.  He has acted a worse part than a murderer, for the assassin kills his victim through revenge, or at the worst, for pay.  Here, Mr. Elder—­a possessor of wealth and not needing the money—­turns a tenant from his roof because she is penniless.  I say nothing against him for doing so, for it was an indisputable right of his, but when we view the brutality of the act—­when we think of the hardness of the heart that could not commiserate with the situation of Mrs. Wentworth—­that was deaf to the appeals of a mother—­blind to the illness of her child—­the soul sickens with horror at the knowledge that a mortal so debased—­so utterly devoid of the instincts of humanity which govern a brute—­should exist on the earth.  But the mask of religion is now torn from his face, and we see his own lineaments.  Henceforth the scorn of all generous, minds will he receive, and turned from the respectable position he once held, must reflect on the inevitable exposure of the hypocrite some day, sooner or later.  I shall leave him to the scorn and indignation of all good men.  From them he will receive that punishment which his brutality, caused from his extorting spirit, deserves.

“And for Mr. Swartz, the accuser of this lady, I can see but little in extenuation of his conduct.  If his business is even illegitimate, there are so many speculators in the South that it should not cause surprise that his refusal to aid this woman necessitated her taking his money.  The speculator cannot be expected to have a heart tender enough to perform a charitable act.  The man who will speculate on the necessities of the people, is not likely to feed the hungry.  It is too true that many good men have been drawn into the vortex of speculation, but these are few in number and are isolated cases.