Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-04-29
L%EAvENwoaTiH LETTER.

EDITOR lNTELLIGENCER: Since l
last wrote you the booni which gener-
ally comes with spring has reached
Leavenworth, and Is a great big one,
all the merchants doing o good business,
and the factories running their fullest
capacity, many Of them double time.
As we'll as q lively time in a business
sense, district court Is in session, ard
the town Is full OF country people and
persons from distant points. About the
courthouse and hotels the principa! sub
ject of discussion is state politics, and
Us time goes on apace the debate be-
come more animated. His excellency
of the large mOustache and bad gram
mar, John P. St. John. will, it is said,
be a candidate for reelection, making
The race tor the third term, with hopes
OF success. upon his reputation as q
PROHIBITION MAN.
Last fall in the county election Of this
county, the democrats elected five out OF
seven candidates. Their platform had
a plank which strongly denounced the
pruhibitory law, claiming that it was
fruitful only OF trouble and expense,
without tending to lessen the evils Of
lntemperance, and the result oil the CAM
paign showed pretty ~conclusively that
the voters of this county were of that
opinion. Only two OF the democrats
were defeated, and in n instance, that
OF sheriff. the republican candidates
majority was only nineteen. Since that
election, the republicans gathered in
convention to nominate candidates for
the city offices. I attended the conven-
tion to report 1t tor the Times, and
found it all harmony until one member,
Hon. John Scott, whose parliamentary
knowledge was gained by a term in
the legislature, gave the secreta-
ry a number of resolutions to read. The
resolutions were very bitter in their de-
nunciation OF Gov. st. John, applying
the epithet liar
A COUPLE OF DOZEN TIMES,
and vowing bitter warfare against his
election. Then there was a hubbub.
wanted to talk at once. The
set forth that the governor
had lied in that he has stated abroad
that the prohibitory law was a success
in Kansas. One OF the delegates SAID
that while 1t was true that the governor
had lied. it was rather IN bad taste for q
convention OF republicans to say as
much, and concluded his remarks by
that the resolutions sounded as
though
COPIED IRON THE DEMOCRATIC PLAT
FORM,
and it afterward transpired that they
were IN the handwriting OF q prominent
They we're voted down, but
q resolution stating that it was the sense
OF the convention that 1t vas opposed to
John was unanimously adopted.
At one time there was talk OF Capt.
Henry King rs a gubsrnatorial candi-
date, but that has died out, and the
military man is making a vigorous
Eight, seven days in the week. 10 the
capital, Tor St. John. Now, n John.
son, who resides at the capital, is at
present tho governors
MOST FORMIDABLE RIVAL,
and the race between John with the
prefix and John with the afix is going
to be a lively one, both gentlemen being
fiery prohibitionists, and whilst the race
is waxing warm the average citizen is
upon the number OF glasses
of Dock beer he will drink on the FIRST
of May, and the new saloon. opened
here only a fow days ago, already an
nounces that it Will have on hand an
unlimited quantity OF that exbilerating
beverage. At Topeka, the Capital and
Common wealth are running in bitter
AS to which OF them can say The
most and do the most TO
ADVANCE ST. JOHNS INTERESTS,
yet q number of the country papers
doubt the sincerity of the support given
the governor by these organs, claiming
that they have brought him out thus
early in the fight to insure his defeat.
which thew argue will be the result if
he enters the field now. The Gaylord
Herald says that st. John. if he does
become a-candidate. is a bigger fool
than the colt which swan the river to
get a drink. The Augusta Gazette is
''fornlst" the present incumbent OF the
executive chair. 1t accuses him, beside
a great many other things, of the crime,
by not enforcing the death penalty,
OF SHIELDING MURDERERs.
Capital punishment can hardly be
called one of the laws OF this state, as a
person seldom explates upon the gal
lows a crime for which capital punish
ment is q just punishment. If convict
ed of murder in the first degree they
are sentenced TO death, out are impris-
Oned in the penitentlary until the gov
ernOr issues the death warrant, which
he is not permitted to do until after one
years Imprisonment, aud then if it is
not issued the imprisonment continues
for life. There are q number OF persons
in the ~penitentiary under sentence OF
death, and as none of them have been
hanged, the Gazette argues that the
governor shields them. This, OF course,
is campaign thunder on the part of the
paper named. but 1t is reverberaiing
around about through various portions
Of the state.
Several months ago wrote you that
St. John would be o candidate ostensi-
bly, for the governorshlp, but that II a
Legislature friendly to him were elected,
he would make his Office q stepping
stone Tor the senate. 1t this be true or
not l cannot say, still there is a rumor
to that effect, aud it is daily growing,
too. that while St. John is grooming for
the governership he
REALLY AsPIREs TO THE SENATE,
and the republicans who oppose him are
urging this against him. claiming that
u they elect q man governor they want
him to remain governor. The fun, If
thare be any iqn in political campaigns,
will vol begin, and as we'll as | can
will l keep you advised OF the progress
the campaign makes; and while ac-
kncwlelging that I know but very little,
it anything at all, Of state politics in
Kansas, except that they are radically
radical, l believe | can safely predict
that Gov. St. John will be the mosl
badly beaten man who ever made the
race should he run for the third term.
To 90 back to the city election, tc
which have already alluded. l will say
that it resulted in a republican victory.
No fight was made by elthersparty, and
scarcely more than a thousand votes
were polled, which shows the lack OF in.
terest taken. One democrat was elected
justice OF tho peace, the incumbent 0I
the Office being u republican, who wa
q candidate Tor reelection. | mention
this Ease because it savors somewhat Of
THE TURNER.CLAGETT CASE.
The republican official refused to sur