Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-31
The Facts.
rsrec,al relesrnm 70 the Post. !

i t.@
:, state that the forced construction placed b,
A the Fort Worth GAzErrg upon the casual a
lusion 10 the name OF the latter gentleman Il
i a telegram to the Post relative to the Flour
n rloy.News scheme against Governor Irelan,
is entirely unwsrrsnted- The Post telegram
made no attack upon Colonel Smith ant
most certainly did not intend any injustice
: to that gentleman. on the contrary, In re
: peatlng what had become current rumor
4, I the endeAvor was made to convey the i'm
preston that Colonel Smith was not aparty
, 10 the scheme, as the reading Of the telegram
will disclose. The charge that Governor Ire
land inspired the telegram is simply un true
lie never saw or heard Of until he saw IL il
print, nor did the governor or any one con-
nectei with his Office ever have any CONVEX
ssiion with the Post correspondent upon.
the subject pyior 10 the pub
lica1ion Of ihst telegram. The latter
Parsonage Is alsne responsible FOR the tele.
gram. and as bsfore stated 1t was founded
simply upon rumors current here In political
circles. 1t may be well in this connection to
state that these rumors antcdate the assem-
bling OF the legislature, there being gentle
men here who heard them elsewhere in the
| state weeks ago. The violent exhibition Of
temper on the part Of the GAZETTE was the
result, most probably, OF a Inisconstruction
of the language and intention Of the telegram
in the Post.-Houston Post.
In defense of its construction of
the Post telegram and denial of any
violent exhibition of temper" the
GAZETTE has word in conclusion of
the whole matter. The language of
the Post telegram was as follows:
The story goes that some weeks ago Col
Flournoy Hate of Texas, but now of Califor.
nia while visiting Texas, had some Very con.
| ndential interviews with the management of
the News. Col Flournoy is attorney for the
Huntingdon rail- Dad interests. and the be.
ginning OF this fight on the governor being
almost contemporaneous with Flournoy's
! visit, considered In connection with his re-
ported intimacy, during that visit, with the
management of tho News, lead philosophers
10 put this and that together, from which
the conclusion Is reached that the News was
"hNed.' AT least that Is the gossip here. II
| is reported that letter has been received
mere by prominent gentleman which
throws considerable light upon the subject
me programme was arranged that Col Peter
Smith OF Fort Worth was TO be carefully
groomei (Col. Smith being largely interested
In railroad property and be brought ont at
the proper time for the governorship; but
premature discussion of Smiths name lead
TO a newspaper interview containing ex-
pressions rom that gentleman placing him
seil out OF the reach of the campaiguers..
Our forced constructionn was based
on the above statements. No man
fails to understand the odium that at
taches to any "schemen of railroads to
interfere in political affairs and the
public condemnation of all who lend
themselves to such schemes. Col.
smith is alluded to as being
largely interested in railroad proper-
ty," and (therefore) as having been
carefully groomed" for the governor.
ship. The allusion to Col. Smith was
not as railroad man because he real.
lied the good of these potent agencies
In developing the country; but as in.
terested in railroads in such way as
to induce the managers of a railroad
political scheme to consider him n fiji
man ITO groom" for the governorsbin
Achlld would know that were the story
a TACT the managers of the ALLEGED
scheme would not have 'groomedu
Col smith without his consent. and
ms consent is irisinuated in the state-
ment that "a premature discussionn Of
ms name led Col. Smith to place him.
self out of reach. How could n man
OIL Peter Smiths sense be "groomedn
unless he were party toit? And no.
Where does the Post telegram absolve
COL smith from knowledge of the al
legged scheme. 1t was the 'premature
discusslon." If the Post knows any.
lhihg, 1t must know that the connee. I
tion oil any man with such "schemer I
Ia any way is calculated to injure
MIN. If the Post did not intend this
injury, why did it not say Col. Smith :
'eihSed to be party to it, instead of 1
saying he got out of the way because I
d "a premature discussion 20 The I
tAZErrE has no disposition to discuss e
ne matter, but If its construction il
forced and If to defend a private
;ltizen from public odium is "temper u
freely accepts all the consequences e
If both. e