The below is from the publication Liberty, March 31, 1888. Advocating individualist anarchism, “Liberty” was published by Benjamin Ricketson Tucker from August 1881 to April 1908.
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LIBERTY
Not the Daughter But the Mother of Order
Boston, Mass., Saturday, March 31, 1888
Whole No. 121
Of recent conversions to Anarchy the most surprising to me is that of M. D. Leahy, who is at the head of the Freethought University in Liberal, Missouri. Until lately I had supposed him to be simply an Infidel of the ordinary type “playing second fiddle” to that founder of Liberal and hater of Liberty, G. H. Walser. And when he associated himself with C. M. Overton for the publication of the “American Idea,” he did not rise much higher in my opinion, for the character of that paper as it first appeared, with its Anarchistic opposition to prohibition, its Authoritarian opposition to free love, and its moral horror of Egoism, gave no evidence of power to intelligently follow a principle. But dissensions came, Overton went out, and now the paper appears under the management of M. D. Leahy and W. S. Allison. It is much reduced in size and is far from a model of elegant typography, but it has gained those immense virtues, — intelligence, manliness, and consistency. It is now a stanch and straight advocate of Anarchism, as is shown by the article elsewhere reproduced from its columns. To take such a step in the bigoted town of Liberal requires no small degree of courage, and I should much like to see Mr. Leahy encouraged in his course by generous subscriptions to his paper, which is issued weekly at one dollar a year. Address “American Idea, Liberal, Missouri.”
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