Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-07-18
CAMPAIGN.
Senter and Stokes at the Dunn Park
Yesterday--LiVeIy Discussion.
The Bald Eagle PIucked.


people.
The place set for the discussion was
/ James Park, and the time three
/ O'Clock, but on going to that place at
/ the appointed hour, this reporter
found that the proprietor of the Park
/ positively refused to allow the affair
| to proceed on his grounds, and the
/ crowd had been compelled to adjourn
to the Dunn place, about two hun
bred yards further nom town, on
Vance street eXtended.)
Here at quarter past three O'Clock
| we found about one hundred and fifty
| persOnsassembled, mostly white men,
and among them some Of our best cit
| liens. A circular round Ofseats had
/ been prepared for about this number,
and a stand erected in the centre.
| The candidates and their friends We're
in an adjacent house waiting for the
crowd to assemble in greater force,
/ but when four O'Clock Games and there
was very slim prospect of further ac-
| cessiOns, it was determined TO pro-
| coed to business.
After much preliminary palaVer the
| two pugilists were brought out Of the
| house, their bOttle-hOlders, spOngers,
| ETC., following in Indian file. The
| crowd looked at them admiringly but
didn't cheer much-not being COM
posed of the material that cheered
that kind of cattle. Gen. Patterson,
who seemed to be ring master,
mounted the 4" rOstrum and an
nounced that the arrangements that
had been agreed upon between the
two candidates were that the "Bald
Eagle" should speak first for two
hours, SentertO follow for a like time,
Stokes to reply for half an hour and
Senter to make a like time-making
in all five hours-a pleasant prospect,
truly, for all hands.
We will not attempt to follow either
ISf the speakers through their remarks,
for they were simply a repetition Of
what they have said time and again
since the canvass commenced.
The Bald Eagle was first trOtted for
ward and put on the stand. He eX-
planned by way of preface that he was
a candidate for jubernatOrial hOnOrs,
and that his opponent, a very worthy
and distinguished man, the present
acting Governor, was his opponent.
He declared that he was the duly
nominated candidate of the Conven-
ton held in Nashville on the 22d of
May, and to prove it, read a letter
signed by Sugar Hamilton and Ed.
Shaw declaring him so. He informed
the assemblage that they were honor
able gentlemen-One piece of news
anyway.
After a little further and prelimi-
nary historical sparring, the Eagle
spread wide his piniOns and scared off
into the ethereal realms Of OraeOry,
recounting sereatim the various points
and phases of the contest up to the
present discussion.
Heirst took up the Chicago platform,
and maintained that he was . far and
squar" on it, and that his competitor
was not TO be found there, for there Is
nothing Of d" universal suffrage" in
that platform. He claimed the pater-
niy of the fifteenth amendment, and
showed most cOnclusively that the
only universal suffrage in it was
universal suffrage for the negro, but
not for the white man. Grant
was on this platform and Congress
was on it, and they were his friends,
and not Senter's.
His competitor, meanwhile, took
his seat at the foot Of the rostrum and
quietly listened to the excoriatiOn
which the Bald 'un commenced to
administer, and continued for tao
long hours.
The Eagle" then passed to the
question Of taxation and suffrage,
maintaining that the negroes now
having the privileges Of the white
man, should bear a portion Of his bur
thens. In this the hero was sound,
and elected the first applause, or ap-
preach to it, that had yet greeted him.
This, of course, proceeded from the
whites, and made the darkyS' jaws
drop. The clause in the Constitution
eXempting free c0lOred persons from
payment Of pOll-taX, etc, to be rem
dered null and void by the fourteenth
amendment.
This disposed of, thespeaker reached
the all absorbing and all important
questionable franchise. He took up
his own position first, and Senter's
afterward. As for himself he said, he
had always been liberal on this point.
had always voted for removing
the disabilities from all who came tor
ward and asked it. The audience had
heard a great deal he said about an
answer that he had made on the sub
ject of universal suffrage, when asked,
in the outset of the canvasS-that she
was not, never had been, and in all
probability never will be in favor of
it, When men become laW-abidIng, |
he might be, He had presented petit
tons from the humblest pTivates and
the highest officers for relief, and had
voted for them in every instance that
he was asked TO do so. In acting thus
he was the man who had made the
first move toward practically re-
moving the disabilities, and break the
chains of the DISTINGUISHED classes.
" And l was dOingthis," said the Bald
Eagle of the Mountains, "While my
competitor was for keeping them fast
bound. For four long years, as Speak
er of the House, President Of the Sem
ate and as Governor, he has held you
down, ana kept your shackles on you,
with BrOWnlow's militia to back him.
competitor is now being liOnized
by the disfranchised men. who but a
short time since be was menacing
with, and upon whom he had guar
tered the militia. He boasts that he
is Governor, and that his power is alb
If he was so great a friend
Of the disfranchised, why didn't
ae, when he was waited on by the
best men of Giles and Maury and
counties and petitiOned to re-
move the militia, when they urged
him that they were at peace, that
hey were law abiding citizens, why,I
didn't he remove the militia and
iisband them? What use were
This was a home thrust at Senter,
md bore considerable weight with it,
md the hero Of the Calf killer was not
low to perceive it. He went on.
. BE stood up in the right of the
hight Of the 10th of May, before he
lad his rebel friends around him. 1t
Tas before the convention, and he
was a candidate for nomination in the
convention. On this very subject
If enfranchising rebels, he said
he time might come. when
n his opinion the rebels might
)e trusted with the ballot, but the
ime was a long way of. To trust
hem with it now would be to break
ID and destroy the Republican party"
read this the next morning, and l
aid to myself, Senter's head is level.
t would break up the Republican
that had saved the country, On