Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-11-14
HENPllES APPEAL
TBURsDrv E0EyIvg: H. 1879.
rur RvALANcuE As A PRoFHEr.

ing 10 its oWu accOuntU IS q hlat-cio
forbune-teller-can take a survey of Il
political heavens, and presage what
going to transpire with unerring certain
fv Indeed. il It is 20 be believed, il
an fnfaIible oracle whose voice is a for'
rupuer. a precursor, a h~arbinger and th
herald Of what is coming. For the las
W. years u neighbor has been assert
ing that if the Democrats woul
cease TO be "Bourbons;" lift them
selves out Of old ~"grooves" an
.sruts," and take a "new departure" b.
supporting a Liberal Republican, Radi
calism would be swept from power. Tn
''new~ departure was taken, the adyic'
Of the Avalanche needed, and disaste
and defeat is the result. But our neigh
Dor blossoms out in all his glory as I
prophet when he mounts the tripod anC
tells all about the political situation il
this Congressional district. On th,
twenty-second Of October last, the prog
nosticator of the Avalanche foretold the
result in this Congressional district
thusly:
We recently pointed to cumulative
evidence that matters are not taking
shape in this Congressional district to
suit the newspaper supporters Of Hon.
LandOn G. Haynes. Yesterdays AP-
PEAL was ~lugubrious and pathetic In an
editorial article. reprinted elsewhere.
Persons who contrast the APPEALS
present with its past predictions as 10
~ha pwraszfnnal canvass ara 1aff Il,
doubt whether the editors Of that Jour
nal are utterly void Of judgment or are
governed by the belief that the end al
ways justifes the means. There is in
this Congressional district a clear anti
Radical majority Of from seventeen to
nineteen thousand. Official returns Of
elections for years past prove this be-
yOud doubt. Yet the APPEAL, which
has been seriously asking the public to
believe its assertion that Colonel Kellar
can obtain only one, two or three hun
dred votes in the entire district, now
expresses the fear that he viii prove
strong enough to elect Barbour Lewis.
Was there V e anything so absurd as
this attempt, in the face of official data
respecting previous elections, to hold
Lewis up as a hobgoblin to frighten the
friends Of Colonel Kellar and rally them
under Mr.. Haynes's standard? What
value can the public attach TO the
statements and assertions OF a jour
nal which cannot remain consistent
even q week, and which asks its read
els to accept the baldest absurdities
as facts? Judge Lewis has not the
slightest chance Of election. Even
General Grant, in 1865, with his great
popularity among the blacks, received
only 6705 votes in the four counties of
which this COngressionaldistrict is COM
posed. Since then the colOred voting
population has materially decreased,
having been drawn into the cotton-felds
Of Mississippi, Arkansas and North Ala
hama. No well informed man will deny
this. What do subsequent votes show
They show that in 1863 w. B. Stokes, |
Radical candidate for Governor, received
in these counties 5253 votes. In 1891
Mr.. Wisener, Radical nominee for Gov
ernOr, received 6lS7 votes. In 1870 w.
j. Smith anG Ed. Shaw were rival
Radical candidates for Congress in the
Eighth district, then containing,
besides the four counties now com
posing the Ninth district, HAYWOOD.
Madison and McNairy counties. Yet
the entire Radical vote in the District I
was only S636-5346 for Smith and 1890
for Shaw. 1t viii be borne in mind that
Haywood alone mot nOwin our DISTRICT
p0lled about 1900 Radical votes in that
election, thus reducing the Smith-Shaw
vote, without counting either Madison
or McNairy, to $500. This is not mere
assertion, but fact, as shown by the Off /
Cial records. Neither the APPEAL nor I
ledger will venture to disprove it. We ]
Judge the future by the past. We take
as the base of the most reliable approx :
mate estimates Of votes official data Of [
elections held in years Immediately !
preceding. Applied to the present :
Congressional contest, what do they :
-ibly, Barbour Lewis will poll one 4
fourth Of the vote of the district, leav- :
ing three-fOurths, or 5000 or $4,000, for !
division between Messrs. Haynes and y
Aellar. If the APPEAL and Ledger can I
make any other showing, let them do /
SD. We challenge either of them to u
make the attempt. But they will not #,
do so. They will not permit readers
see no other journals to know the Z
facts as shown by the official records. v
intelligent man in the district q
that Barbour Lewis runs with
out hope of success, and simply to MAIN 4
tain his position as leading Republican c
West Tennessee. This being the fact n
the official figures prove that Lewis I
no chance Of election-why does :
not the APPEAL ask votes for Mr.. y
on his merits, and not seek 70 2
larry him through by exciting ground "
fears? in
The above article establishes our
leighbor's equation as political proph- +
It. Buth seemed anxious to convince
he public that he knew all about it,
md on the twenty-fourth Of October al
ridiculing the APPEALS figures, g
he fOretold the future as follows: "a
Another table heretofore printed in Il
he AUdldnche shows that in 1858 Gen q,
raj Grant received in these four coun- 70
les only sos votes. Then the Radical =
-ote reached its highest point. General 1
rant was regarded by the blacks Il
IS the nan to whom they were in M
iebted for their freedom and citizen e.
hip. Then the leagues were IA full
IN every county, the members =
and every available voter was q
rrOught 20 the polls. Since, as the Al
.ficial figures show, the Radi- 81
al vote has steadily decreased. At no
ime has it ever reached 1000 votes. ~
he truth is, many OF the blacks now IN
#AAaAHAa q " 60 AAI A2AAIH AIE III D IN
red Of voting. Besides, large numbers in
ave gone 10 the cotton-felds IN ada
ent States. For three or four years ev- y
" labOrer who could be induced 10 20 tn
y offers Of remunerative wages, has or
one, and the number is VIGOROUSLY IN
cry large. And, as election returns -.
rove, a not small proportion Of the ~
lacks now vote the Conservative ticket Ina
18th their white neighbOrs. The above in
some Of the causes Of the great de- We
-ease in the Radical vote. What does
APPEAL mean by asserting that 81
acre are twelve or fifteen hundred de
-hite Radicals in this district?1 Nearly of
u the white Radical vote in ques- q,
on is in Shelby county; II IS
IS than three hundred, and small De
s it is, little Of it will be polled for It's
Judge Lewis. We have shown that, no DO
after what the contest, the Radical -,
Jte has never reached 1000. What is
.e total vote? Let US take Shelby Dr
TO illustrate: In 1870 the total th'
Jte In this county was only 1851. in on
ugust, 1872, il was about 1900. Here -,
an increase Of over 1900, but there has
-en no Radical increase in Proportion. III
a the contrary, the latter vote cOntfr- WI
s 70 decrease. The Conservative vote4ue
The other counties has also increased.
IT, az in Shelby, there is no increase on
e other side. What does all this prove2 OF
IMPLY that the Radical vote touched is ma
CHEST point in 1865, and then was only mo,
%. Suppose il be assumed, in illus -
iting, that the vote Of Tfptou. Ah
iyette and Hardeman in Novem. I
r viii remain at the figures on ses
70, aud that Shelby county will AN,
ia low estimate-only 14,OO0 votes. -
lis VIII show q total In the district Of INV
,ls3, taking the Brown isener vote Wol
the basis Of calculation. From this pre-
duct-though he cannot come within ter