The Brookhaven leader., 1891-08-27
MACHINE POLITICS.
HOW ALLIANCE CANDIDATES WERE
DowNED IN COPIAH.
\ Correspondent Lays Bare
Some Of the Tricks of the
Party Bosses.
The Chairman of the Executive Commit
tee Charged with Playing an Ug-
Nv Game of Dirt

| Editor EruOkhaycn LEADER:
Our election is over, and resulted
in our defeat as an Alliance. There
never was a closer fight, nor at the
same time one with the odds so much
against us. When we commenced
the fight | am satisfied that George
would have carried the county by at
least 800 or 600 majority. Had all of
like Harmony, Bcauregard, Hopewell
and Gallman, the day would have
been ours in spite of all the swindling
by some of the opposition.
They even went so far as to get out
u lot of circulars about one of our
candidates for the Legislature, stating
that he had slipped his name on the
ticket at the eleventh hour, when his
political record could not be ventilat-
ed : all of which was as base lie as
ever was gotten up. He knew moth
ing about his name being placed ON
the ticket. Steve Wiltshire and my
self were the ones that had it done
The only place where his name was
used was about the pay for his name
being placed on the ticket; all of
which was done without his knOwl-
edge or consent. In the morning of
the same day, }. ID. Miller, II member
of the Executive Committee, had or.
dered it placed on the ticket, but for
some reason it appears that it was not
placed on the ticket until the editor
of the Copiah Signal received the dis
patch from Wiltshire and myself to
put it on. Those circulars were sent
broad east to every voting place, and
some low down dirty fellow to spread
the news that he WAS a Radical aud
had voted Radical ticket; all of
which was base and infamous lie,
concocted to beat the Alliance candi-
date.
Again, DR.. Il. j. Scott was out for
Representative on the George ticket,
Il pure man and in every respect as
worthy and well qualified as any man
on the ticket. Now to beat our can
didate, on the morning of the election,
the chairman of the Executive Com
mittee started a report that DR.. Scott
had come down. In Hazlehurst, the
day of the election, young DR.. Char
ley Oats, being a Scott man, went to
the Chairman of the Executive Com
mittee and asked how he had gotten
the information that DR.. Scott was
down. The chairman told him that
he had received dispatch from w.
G. Wilkinson of Crystal Springs, stat
ing that DR.. Scott was down. DR..
Oats, not being satisfied, dispatched
to Wilkinson to know if DR.. Scott
was down. Wilkinson dispatched back
that he was not. SO you sec it was
all to beat the Alliance. DR. Scott is
a member of the Alliance.
On Monday morning, w. T. Me
Dade and myself carried the Gallman
box down to Hazlehurst. On our az
rival learned the fact from DR.. Oats
about what had taken place. 1t so in
censed me that | went to the chair
mans father and told him what had
learned about what his son had done
in the matter. | further stated to his
father that he had been Radical him
self and Kcithley had never voted for
Radical in his life and was Demo
crat. | also stated that the thing had
to be settled or some one would have
to swallow the lie. | suppose that he
told his son what had said, for after
dinner when we went back to the
court house, the chairman, seeing me
r when he came i'll, walked up to me
and said he wanted to see me private
ly. My answer was that | wanted to
see he him too.
; He told me what he heard about
what | had said. all of which | ac-
knowledged. | told him what had
heard from DR.. Oats. | told him that
he must go with me to DR.. Oats and
D., have the matter Strengthened up. He
first thought to bluff me, but when
. he found that game wouldn't work
} we started to see DR.. Oats. Then he
, owned to me that he had been to
Crystal Springs and the matter had
been fixed up there to circulate that
l DR.. Scott was down to beat Keithley
Now | ask all honest voters would
there be any breach of faith in oul
p voting for Scott or Keithly? We
signed pledge to support the nomi-
nees of the Democratic party. Now
who broke the pledge? Furthermore,
we kept our obligations as Prohibi-
tionists. We voted for no man who
: was accused of drinking whisky, OF
, in other words, did do it.
TO make the proof stronger that it
was trick to beat the Alliance, DR..
Scott told me himself that nephew
of his told him that two prominent
merchants had been heard to say that
they had DR.. Scott out to divide the
Alliance vote so as to beat the ALI
ance.
Had they kept within the pales of
truth to beat us. we never would have
complained. There is no power on
earth that can make me vote for Il man
that gets drunk. We have too many
sober men for me to throw my votes
away for drunkards. | am Metho-
dist in that sense of the word. A
man that has been in the habit of get
ting drunk cannot get my vote, be-
cause he says he has quit drinking.
He will have to go on probation not
less than four years before he can get
my vote. In fact, | would not vote
for any regular dram drinker be-
cause | never saw one that didn't get
drunk. JOHN w. MATHIS.