Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-01-11

NhAt0 Asu4lE0A
invited to participate. Our reporter va
in attendance at s o'clock and found bu
about fifty persons present. By 3 o'clocI
some two hundred negroes and about ont
hundred whites gathered together. Mr.
| NJ Hill, Barbour Lewis and Ed Shsv
held q caucus as to what to do. The
speakers invited to attend failed to put
IN an appearance, or having looked in
left in disgust. Mr.. Kortrecht was moi
present; Mr.. W. N. Randolph looked in
aud left in hot haste; Hon. Emerson
Etheridge was not in the city; Nj. A. ].
White was out attending to some other
BUSINESS Mr.. Daniels did not put in his
claims Mr.. f. s. Davis gave the meeting
the cold shoulder; Recorder Pat Winters
kept in the background; Mayor League
took a seat behind a stove and bid him.
self; Vim. &. Moore was absent in Der.
son, but wac present By lettez. How to
organize tho meeting was the question.
In vain did Barbour Lewis and ]. N. Hill
traverse the hall searching for the ora.
tors; they were non est.
CONF TO ORDER.
at last Barbour Lewis, l. NJ. Hill and
Ed Shaw mounted the stage. Mr.. Hill
waE made chairman by previous arrange
nent, and by way of a jest Mulroy Of
the Avalanche, Johnston of the Appeal,
and oar man Of the LEDGER we're selected
as secretaries, as they sat OF the report
ers' table. Another secretary was added,
a negro named James Locke, and he
took a seat at a table at the opposite
side OF the speakers stand. By this
time the four hundred white and black
people gathered up near the foot-lights.
The vice-preSidents we're called for in
vain, as follows: Messrs. A. Woodruff.
Charles Kortrecht, William N. Randolph,
Pat Winters, Joe Gronauer, W. R.
Moore, j. A. Thompson. Not a man Of
them answered TO their names or vent
up on the stand. This was a dampes at
the outset, but their places we're supplied
BY Ed Shaw and one or two other black
men. Chairman l. NJ. Hill made the
frat talk in favor Of the election of John
Losgne as Mayor. he preferred League
to FlipPin, and read some report OF Gg.
ures to show hat League was a great
h%uancier. He talked in q tiresome and
rambling ws5 for half an hour, but yet
In quite q mild style. without making
any particular point except to express
his preference for League over FIippin.
Mr.. Hill vas dressed in q black suit; has
rather an uagainly appearance, is no
orator, his gestures we're awkward, and
his English at times was not as pure and
grammatical as it might be. Our reporter
ia OF the opinion that the counting-room
Is his place, as on the rostrum he was
the wrsng mau in the wrong place. Az
a politician be will never be q success.
During his rambling speech Barbour
Lewis sat back in a chair looking ss oily
and uuctious ss ever. His bootheels
we're stuck into the floor, his limbs being
stretched to their full length, his arms
we're folded across his radical bosom, his
hat sat perched on the back Of his head
and his Falststiau model was displayed
to advantage.
THE EPIsTLE OF wN. X. MOORE.
When Mr.. Hill closed, Barbour arose
and drank some water, then dancing
over the stage to the foot-lights, he gazed
around with a leering look, struck an at
titude and produced a roll of paper. 1t
proved to be a materialized epistolsry
production from the pen Of that self.
conceited and gifted statesman, William
R. Moore, who, while sitting in his count
ing-room, indited six pages Of a letter
to the meeting, Our reporter could al
most fancy that he could then, in bis
" minds eye, Horatie," see the pale and
intellectual brow Of Moore working spas
medically as the burning thoughts
evolving from his brain tumbled down his
dexter arm and along the metallic pen
the paper. Barbour read the letter in
q dramatic style worthy of.s lead.
Ing artist in a variety show. The docu.
was a ponderous affair; a state let
ter full Of threadbare phrases; old
thoughts %rsmodeled; new thoughts imper.
iectly developed, and adorned with g
shower of bad aud turgid rhetoric about
charter, the veto power aud John
He referred to the ~aapdoodle
gushing Of the newspapers" and deyel-
oped his original but idiotic ideas in
words that ssvored Of the London Cab
market or the classic shades Of a 9Th
class bar-room. Our reporter was aston
ished at tho production Of this much
Over-rated hn~en-draper and politicis5,
as he had imsgined that Moore could at
least write q letter suitable to the occa-
sion and one devoid Of low and vulgss
phrases, such IS are heard from
the mouths Of pot-house patriots,
BARBOUR LEWIS HowJs.
The document concluded Bafboav
Lewis commenced bis GRAFTON, going
over the same ground. IS that cultivated
by Mr.. Hill, His antics we're equal to
those Of q clown at a pansomime, or tho
Sud aAD Of 3 niger" show. Be
arnnnd tina ataoe mndn o.-;,.o...