The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-10-28
the sfnysa b County aTeaf4ns--A Card.
MARION, SMITH cyusTY, VA.,l
- 0cfohers26. 1875.
.io.e IA Hsiehnlond Dtapatch ;

fAe MISUNDERSTANDING me6G1HS--A S1iAs
1rxRIos, SMITH CbusTY, Va,
UctoherS25. 1875.
no Es..ors of Richmond Dispatch;
5,.As,Ja writer, over the signature Of "'76,"
Inns. chosen forgive an account of the discus
Sim al this Mace sbetween Major James, G.
ravtor and Captain Blair on the one side,
and he.Hca, John Randolpb Tucker Oh tue,
other side, and as that. writer, whose ear
marks are quito plain, has chosen to use my
name very freely, 4 propose to make state
meI,t OF the case as it presented ITSELF 20 my
sfnind.a In the first place, those VINO are
STYLED By this writer the little consplra-
tors i'm Richmond" had nothing to 90 with
nsurping control OF the day. a notice mad
been posted on the COURTHOUSE that onn
ndoInh Thicker would address the people
,here,or the Goth Of October, and this notice,
was nosted there beforeiiany notice was
given by the Resdiusters that they
nronosed having speakers here on the
same day., But; be that as il may, 1t is not
.true that "a committee waited on the
enemy of the people," and Informed them
that they claimed the day. 1t would nave
sbeen well for the writer to have stated that.
committee of the Readtusters waited nrst
mon thejudge OF the County Court, ana re-
o1ested him to give them the use OF the.
court-house for O political meeting. That
might have furnished reason why the COM
mittee approached the "enemy of'the peo-
plen upon the subject, especially II 1t. De
stated. az truth demands it to be stated, That
This same Judge informed "the committee"
that the courthouse could only be USED for
n Joint discussion. It Is true that the open
Ing and close of the discussion were gwen
to the Readiusters, for they said that unless
This was conceded to them they proposed
to divide the crowd. Supposlng mat MT:
Thicker would be treated respectfully, anu
would be listened to by the Readlusters,
"the enemy Of the people" preferred TO
give them the advantage IN terms IN ORDER
that he might be heard. This committee were
not willing to make an equal division OF
time. They not only insisted upon the open
ing and conclusion OF the discussion, but
they first asked twice as much time as they
were willing to give Mr.. Tucker. This was
refused them, and after considerable talk
pro aud con. the terms were agreed upon as
stated by ",76"-to wit, that Major Tay-
lor should lead off in speech OF one ana
quarter hours, to be followed by Mr.. Tucker
in a speech OF one and a half hours, the dis
cusson to be closed By Captain Blair in
speech Of one hour. AS "Od Abe Fnlkcr-
son,n their "gallant standard-bearer," was
there, will "'76" please say why they de-
cIined the proposition that was made again
and again by "thc enemy OF the people"
TO have a Joint. fair discussion with John
Randolph Tucker and John A. Buchanan,
also gallant standard-bearer on the side OF
those who propose to accept the McCulioch
bill as a settlement OF the debt, and Major
TAYLOR and cold Abe" on the other side?
Perhaps they recoIeced the castlgatlon
that this same "Oid Abe" got at the hands
of Major Daniel a short time before. These
were the only terms the Read1Usters would
accept: Taylor one and quarter hours,
Tucker one and half hours, and Blair one
hour. The discussion was commenced by
Major Taylor, who presented his view OF
the question. He was listened 10 very at
tentiyely by the eutirc crowd. When he
had concluded I only proposed to intro
duce MIR. Tucker to the audience. That
was all that arose 10 d., and, ~" to the
contrary notwithstanding that l did. As
soon as arose these fair-minded men-or,
at least, portion Of them-commenced
hooting, halooing. and Kissing me. The
only reason that they could have for this
was because as 4 Rradiuster | had chosen
to accept the McCulloch bill as fair and
equitable reimbursement of the debt. 1t is
| true that I was a Readiuster, but was kc-
adjuster from principle, aud when the
| debt was readjusted accepted it rs fair re-
adjustment OF tie debt. | did not become
| a candidate for Commonwealth'S attorney
| as the Rcaiusters' candidate, or as the can
diduie Of any pdrty. for that question had
nothing whatever to do with my fitness for
the office, and it is well known at least by one
gentleman, who was spoken OF at one time
as an opposing candidate, that l declared
I would not mention that question in
the canvass il he desired to run
for the Office. It is not true, as
stated, that l, unexpectedly" to my
friends, voted for Mr.. Trigg in bis race
against Colonel Fulkerson. On the contra
~, it was aoeI knorn to all my friends, and
it was avowed openly by me, that intend
ed to vote for Mr.. Trigg. Whilst "76"
was giving an account OF my votes, he
might have stated that also voted against
him when he bolted the nomination OF the
Conservative party and ran against James
A. Walker for MISUNDERSTANDING. And
that suggests to my mind another i" scene"
which ne" witnessed at Harrlsonburg
that was, perhaps, almost equal to this,
with the exception that in the scene that
occurred here the other day no one was
bulldozed. Perhaps some one was at Har-
riSonburg. 1t is also true that [ intend to
| vote for John A. Buchanan against cold
Abe" and do this for two reasons first,
he Is in favor Of the McCulloch bill, which
believe to be fair and honest settlement
| Of orr State debt and, secondly, for his mo-
raj and mental worth, which have tested by
an acquaintance OF four long years Of our late
struggle, under circumstances which tried
mems souls and showed OF what stuff they
were made. am charitable enough to be-
| leve that the noise and confusion that were
made when [ introduced Mr.. Tucker-hot
| when l tried, as "'76" or "Big Ike !"
would have you believc-were mostly aimed
at me, and not at Mr.. Tucker; but how
does " Big Ike" account for the interrupt
tion O, Mr.. Tucker after l had taken my
seatp I certainly had nothing 10 do with
that. The truth is the conduct OF some
men on this occasion towards Mr: Iuchef
wa, so outrageous as to meet with the repro
baton of every decent Readl uster tnat
have met, and am fain to believe that even
those who were engaged in 1t are now, "nen
in their sober senses, ashamed OF it. hardly
think it becoming in I" Big Ike " or {" 10,
who il a third-rate politician, to speak OF
Dir. Tucker as the estate butfoon." he
| no more deserves that appellatlon than does
:. Biz Ike'' tie title of Colonel. DO not
| propose to say anything more OF Inc
discussion, except to say that every one
| who listened to Mr.. Tucker was satisfied
that his argument on the debt question was
q very able one, and that 1t was NOT an
swered by either OF his opponents. Ger
tajplv those who, like myself, are in favor
OF the McCulIoch bill as Il fair settlement OF
our debt were more than satisfied with MIR.