The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-09-16
The History Asked for Given.

2 | none. Ana WiIlSb we are on IHlS SUD
q iect let's talk little more. For sever
al months you have been fighting tho
railroad very bitterly, and especially the
rdead-head" feature. Annual passes
arc intended to bride.
They are corFupting They ought to
be prohibited by law. An editor who
receives them takes a bride, and barriers
away his journalistic independence.
This and hundred fold more have YOU
said in the last six or eight months.
Now tell your readers whether you en-
! tertaincd the same opinion about dead
henG bribery, when you presented your
self before Col McGhee, and as editor
Il of the MorristOwn GAZETTE demanded q
de9d head ticket! Tell them how it hap
pened that you never hncw how corrupt
ing atles,d heCtd pass was until you didn't
get one to corrupt yourself. The rail
road seemed To be a bully institution
until your application for dead head
pass was refused. Then your eyes were
SUDDENLY opened, and you saw that the
railroad was a monopoly, and annual
/ passes were brides. Because the Rail-
road did not do what you now say it
EstOuId not have done issue to you, at
your own request free pass-you COM
pletely changed your notions about the
propriety of issuing passes to editors.
EYour opposition to this peculiar kind of
~ tccIg SACAkAS ~ ssAOH OSt ~ Viz - aot1A
of the Board to put the bride into your
outstretched hand.
We do not know of our own knowl-
edge, that Mr.. Helms did either in per-
son, or by another, try to get for himself
a dedd head Ticket. We have been so in
| formed by good authority. NIr Helms
tknows, and will pleage say whether or
not It's so. If it is not true, then, of
| course, our remarks have no application
| to him. We would not do him injustice
land hope he will give the desired infor
NATION. If true, he is the last man to
| be delivering moral lectures about the
| sin of free passes.
| We have received annual passes and
| was neither bribed or corrupted for we
paid value received for them publishing
| the time tables and annual reports of the
| road, this being the consideration for
passes-this being the reason why the
directors of the road authorized the is
suance of such passes. - GFeenecStte Union.
The editor of the Union no doubt tells
the story of our interview with Vice
President McChee just as it was told to
him. He says he speaks from good au |
thority. Good authority" should be
an eye witness. Taking it for granted |
he was, we thank the Union for the OPP
portunity it gives us to recite just how
it came about that we demanded /
pass from Mr.. McGhee.
In negotiating for the GAZETTE, as
thorough information was obtained from
our predecessors about every thing con
nectcd with its management as men could
give or receive We found it the abso-
lutte property of its publishers and with
out an obligation, pecuniary, personal,
social or political, to hamper or annoy
new proprietor. Nothing was more
thoroughly sifted or cOnversed over than
the free pass held by the proprietors.
They assured US that the officers of the
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia
road had been instructed by the Board
of Directors to furnish an annual pass
to each newspaper on the line of the
road that would keep standing in its col ;
umns a timetable of the arrivals and
departures of the trains. And for the (
truth of this we were referred to Mr.. J.
H. Earnest, Of Rheatown, Director, J
who had assured them of the fact. We
accepted the situation as we found it I
md became owner of the office and t
manager of the paper The timetable l
vas kept standing at the head of the To- q
al column just as we found it; and sub \
when we applied to Capt. S
raqucs for a pass, we informed him it o
vas in the place Of the one granted the s.
Iessrs. Spcck, and on the same terms. h
On the Both or 31st December, 1873,
We were in Knoxville. Walking up h
lay street toward the depot we were Il
vertaken by Rev. r. N. Price, of the b
I0Lst01e Methodist, who accompanied us o
5 far as the telegraph Office at the dc T;
ot. Here he stopped us with an inquiry q
we had had our pass renewed for the b
nsuing year. We replied we had not. p
Te informed us that he was then on his ST
ray to the Office to see Capt. Jaqucs on al
he matter. We were in hurry to go 7
lrther, but it instantly occurred to us e.
nat we had u couple of accounts against W
ne office in our pocket, and although tt
hey had been presented once or twice OIL
efore, and we had been put off, we de- A
srmined in our mind to make another L
fort for the mrney before we left the ju
ity One Of these accounts was for an al
lvertisement announcing a meeting of IT
he Stockholders, and was handed to us eC
Y Dir. L. P. Spcck, with the informa- m
on that he had always been paid the ID
ash for their publication. The other ro
as claim for So paid fare on the Rog. nj
-sville and Jefferson road, holding that {.
lr pass should cover any of the compa- cd
VS. branch roads. Thinking of our last st.
sits on these matters, we replied to in
r. Price that we had no doubt the pass ii;
ould be renewed, but we had not time TN
len to accompany him, and even if we A
I'd we had about made up our mind not tn
apply for renewal-that If the Off =.
RS of the road saw fit to send us one,
I right, if not, we would not ask for it.
few days afterwards we met Mr. p. i'm do
orristown and he informed us that
apt. Jacques stated that the passes for
e new year had not yet been delivered
: the printer, but would be soon when
ey would be distributed as usual. eel
While on our way to Knoxville some
ecks afterwards, Capt Elmore, con-
lctor i'm charge, informed us that he
ii instructions to take up the pass and
llect full fare from the holder, but that
would give us an order on the office ON
ID our money would be refunded and a ge
w pass issued to us at Knoxville. We to
piled that we were going directly from t tie
e cars to the Captains office, and the no
after could be just as satisfactorily ar tai
nged without the appearance of so tn
UGH red tape. He replied he was act J"
q under Instructions, and his instrue- 6
ms we knew. We paid him 81 70 and =
gave us an order on the office for it.