Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-09-16
THE JEFFERSON COUNTY PRO-
TEST
Some Plain Facts About The sigueI.s 30
the Protest.


to notice in this mornings issue ofthe
Press and Herald, communication
headed d" The Republicans of jefferson
County Protest against the action of
the recent County Convention"
wish TO say a word concerning this
protest, through the columns of your
Republican paper. The two first lines
Of the communication brand the whole
as a barcfaced falsehood concbcted for
the purpose Of creating discord in the
Republican party of this county, as
will show you
The lines referred to read thus:
We, the undersigned delegates ap-
| pointed to attend the Convention at
/ Dandridge,n sc. Now [ have the hon
or to be Secretary Of the Rupub-
/ lean Central Executive Committee
of jefferson county, and l know that
two Of the signerJ to this protest, and
the identical two who originated it,
were not delegates to said convention.
f. One of them, a. L. Sawyers, is not and
has not been for some time recognized
as q Republican, and has not been
voting with the Republican party.
Besides this, he is an outspoken per-
sOndL enemy of Col. Thornburgh, as is
also the other of the two-Thos. North
ern. Further, l have authority for
saying that three other men whose
names appear to this protest have
never seen the original, and knew
nothing Of its existence until it was
published. The vote in the conven-
ton stood % for to IA against the reso-
lutions-or two to one. The pro
test has sixteen names to it,
two of which were not delegates, and
three of which are signed without
authority. Leaving the pitiful num-
Der of eleven names to protest against
the action of three delegates from each
civil District in the County, making
in all IS Delegates. The pretty protest
says further: After having fraudu>
lently passed Resolution, endorsing
Hon. j. NJ. Thornburgh, and instruct
ing said Delegates to cast the vote ef
Jefferson County for him. The
chairman Of the Convention is an
openly avowed Houk man. The Con-
ventiOn was largely attended, as they
don't deny. After the Resolutions
had been received and adopted,
and other business attend to,
and after HoUk's friends had
been to nearly every delegate
voting in the affirmative and tried to
get some one of them to make a mo-
ton to reconsider and failed, one of his
friends who was not Il delegate insis-
) ted on the right to move a recOnsidera-
ton, which was justly overruled,
showing cOnclusively that those voting
in the affirmative did not regret hav>
ing voted for the resolutions and had
no intention of reCOnsidering. And
/, further there were some delegates not
present, who are known to have since
expressed themselves for the resolu-
tons and would have voted for them
had they been present. There were
also two proxies one in the SJh District
, and one in the 9Th, legally authorized
to be cast for Thornburgh, both Of
which by neglect failed to be
counted, which, had they been
counted, would have made the vote
stand 81 for, 10 III against the ResUlu-
lions The whole fact is simply,
b Houk's few isolated friends in this
county are Il "HuTtiR.n They are sore,
and why should they not be, after
, they had made a grand rally of all
their forces, to end it in confusion
= without any definite action, retired in
q disorder, resolved to try to effect their
! originally intended plan, of disorgan-
: .izing the Republican party, by and
= through the bold and ready use of
, talsehood which they can command
readily, and in great abundance.
Maj. Derrick even made a Houkish
speech before the voting, advocating
l the Judges banking system, which
: all sensible people understood to be
9 done for influence and effect.
| wish to refer to letter in yester-
, days Press and Herald, in which it is
! insinuated that Col. MINIS, Il brother
= in-law of Col. ThOrnburgh, prepared
= the resolutions referred to in that
"a weak and one-eyed effort called a
"Protest.n
q | happened to be one Of the COM
g mittee of three on resolutions, ETC.,
. and | here positively assert that Col.
J. NJ. MINIS had nothing to do with
writing or debating either the language
or spirit of said resolutions, and
neither did DIR. j. Nat. Lyle, referred
TO as the ring manager" Of the
. ThOrnburgh delegation.
In conclusion, ! will add,
= that the convention passed
S Off tremendously as regards
wrangling, &c, Notwithstanding the
, wishes aud efforts of the HoulI men
to the contrary. / say futher, with.
e out fear of successful contradiction,
S that the resolutions are expressive of
f the sentiment of large majority-in
proportion to the rate for and against
the resOiutions-Of the Republicans of
this county, and We feel proud of them
as we do of the honorable J. VI. Thorn
burgh, for whose benefit they were
adopted
wish i5 to be distinctly under
stood that l write this letter with no
animosity, enmity or ill-feeiug to-
wards the signers of the protest. or
any Of Judge Houk's friends. | only
wish to relieve the good Republicans
of this county, who met here on the
occasion above referred to for the pur-
pose Of doing justice between man and
, man, from the embarrassment the cir
, cuatiOn OF such slanderous commu-
nication is calculated TO place them
under Respectfully,
IL. c. SHARP.
Secretary Central Republican EXecu-
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