Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-25
THE OKOLONA DODGE.
Something About the Ridiculous Rlssls-
sisslppi Imitation of Brick
PomerOy.

Will you permit stranger, whom
the exigencies of business have for
lew days made sojOurner in this
place-this pleasant but unpretentious
little town of Okolona, Miss. Ito give
to the world through the columns of
your widely-read paper few items of
information concerning the true status
OF that inconsequential and obscure
little sheet here published, and until
recently quite unknown to fame.
yclept the Southern States? Know
ing the wide circulation that is being
given to its idlOtic rawlings by the
gloating Republican press of the
North, and knowing also as one South
ern born and reared, and an humble
soldier OF the Lost Cause, whose in
tercourse with the people of the South
has been constant and unrestricted,
and who claims to know something ofI
true Southern sentiment, that the said
paper In its recent wild and senseless
rantlngs represents nothing and no.
body but itself, | have taken upon
myself to interview a number of the
leading citizens of Okolona on this
subject, and they assert without ex
ceptlon and without hesitation that
the States newspaper does not reflect
the sentiments of the people of this
town or this section, or of any other
section; In fact, has no following and
no influence here, and represents
nobody but its two editors, Harper
and Herman. Herman is a carpet
Dagger from somewhere in Ohio,
and when that is said the theme is
exhausted, as he and the people
the white people-of this bailiwick
don { amalgamate " extensively. so
to speak. Harper has always been
regarded as an eccentric, harmless,
windy old blatherskite, whose highest
aim and object, like his great proto
type, Brick Pomeroy, is notoriety. at
whatever cost Politically he has
long been in antagonism to the Demo
cratic party, in consequence of his
repeated failures to receive Office or
any sort Of recognition at their hands.
and he has been heard to say that he
would yet break the party up, which
accounts for the milk in his sicklv
little cocoanut. His affiliations and
associations are all with the "opposi-
ton IN this State, under whatever
name known, its present cognomen
being the "Greenback party with
which he is openly and closely
identified, the "Greenback" party in
the South being looked upon as iden-
tical with the Republican party in
the North. His paper, which is
one of the regulation Yahoo-swamp
patent-outsiders, has, | am further
assured, never received the support
Endorsement or official patronage of
the Democratic party of this county,
the Chlckasaw Messenger being the
official paper of the county and the
only recognized reflex here of Demo-
cratic sentiment. Each issue of this
delectable sheet (the States) is now
hlled with extracts culled from the
Republican papers of the North,
commenting in rapturOus terms upon
its silly efusiOns, and the editor | am
told, takes it around among his ac-
quaintances in the town, points to
these numerous highly-favored ex-
tracts with a grin and a chuckle
boasting the while of the rich rumpus
ne is kicking up and the big noise his
paper is making in the world. The
citizens of this town and county
wish 1t known that they would
before have taken steps to ex-
press in a public and unmistakable
way their emphatic reputation of the
States and all its belongings, but
knowing the utter insignifcance of
the paper at home they never supposed
that any Importance would be attached
to its utterances abroad. The refer
ence toit in some of the Northern
journals as "a leading and influential
paper of the South y is what Josh
Billings would call "sarkasm billed
down, But small matter that. The
farce will be kept up all the same, and
when the 0kolona whangdoodle again
litteth up his voice you will hear the
eagle scream. TRAVELLER.