The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-02-09
HOW JIM WON OFFICE.
AN ELECTION FOa BAILIFg IN
MIDDLE GEORGIA.


other-A Stormy Election-The Per-
4dv of One Gives to the Other the
pswards of His Labor-A True Story
Told by an Old Georgian.
MIDDLE GEORGIA, Feb. IA long time
AGO each little district in neighborhood
had its bailif. He was the corrector of all
sbuses the highest official Of the section.
The ignorant ran from him when he made
his appearance, They regarded him as
.or,s terrlble man who had the power to
onon off their heads, or subject them to the
,,ost exquisite tortures His Office was an
.Isc,ive one, but it often did not require
more than handful of votes to put him in.
TVben he was installed he did as he pleased.
when the ordinary officially announced the
result Of the vote and declared who was
fairly elected the officer chucked his COM
mission in his pocket and galloped home tue
rroudest man in the world, his own master.
IF he grew tired OF his Office
hofore his term expired he consulted a
majority of the voters and turned the office
over to come one of his friends. 1t was
"nothing agin'" him, as his friends would
say. and If he ever afterward ran for office
he
II was a sort Of go-as-you-pleaSe way Of
doing. and it was satisfactory. Every
body liked it and they put up with it.
An election of the kind in which Jimmie
Johnson, as his friends called him, was the
principal. Is fresh in the minds of the older
citizens. aud will live as history in the
minds of the young.
Jim Johnsonl Everybody knew Jim.
great big brawny fellow, with a fat, red
Iohtad nv aiming fyrQV QVaS and
improved by brown, bristling mustache.
With arms as big as another mans thigh,
and physique to shame the most superb
athlete. That's Jim Johnson all overi He'd
fight at the drop of a hat, aud sometimes
he'd fight for less. Many was the insolent
youngster he tanned and subjected to de
cent manhood as he expressed it Jim
couldn't have told the many fights he had
had on other peoples account He'd tap
fellow as quick for imposing upon Others as
for insulting himself. And he just wouldn't
see child whipped.
GOOD FELLOW WAS jim JOHNSON.
A genial, good-natured fellow, il ever
there was one. He'd fight you one minute
and befriend you the next He'd lick the
lights out of fellow, and turn around and
give him money to get home on. That's
Jim, up and down. Jim was the ideal boy
of this neighborhood, and the old people
manhood.
1t is said that long before he was grown
his neighbors elected him bailiff, and he
held fast to the place. Year after year he
was reelected and made the best officer the
people ever had, they used to say. Somehow,
though, when Jim attained his majority he
lost his hold on the people. They didn't
seem to like him SO we'll. Why, do not
know, unless Jim had been a pet too long.
yha he ioH al 10
children, can be pstted too much. They
get too saucy. There's no doing anything
with them. They become unruly and
either the pet has to be regarded as master
or else he has to be kept in his place. Maybe
this was Jim's fix. Perhaps his old friends,
whom he counted by the score, thought to
teach him lesson.
But hereby hangs the tale. I'll tell it.
1t seemed to the voters that ever since
they could remember Jim had held the posi-
ton Of bailif, and, whether he did better
than any other man or not, they wanted a
change. Jim had held the place because his
friends would not allow him to be defeated.
He was well-to-do farmer, and had as
much as he could look after about home,
but he had fallen into the unlucky habit of
"otice holders" and he could not be con-
tent without an office. In the same neigh
borhood lived young man with yawning
ambition and his share Of haughtiness. He
was not grown, although everybody looked
upon him as Jim Johnson's peer and rival
Everybody dotted upon him, except Jim, and
everybody bus Jim thought him Johnson's
equal His name was RUDE Randolph.
Well, in the midst of this uncertain, I'M
satisfactory situation there approached an
election. Jim paid no more attention to il
than he had to former elections until one
day somebody told him that Rube was
against him.
II believed Jim laughed at first" said an
old man who was Jim's friend. "To think
of that fellow Rube Randolph's audacity
was amusing" he said.
JIM SURPRISED.
Jim went along, giving 1t as little thought
as he could, until the day before election.
be began then to circulate among his
friends, and, to his surprise, he found nearly
every body pledged to support RUDE.
Jm's big heart rose and fell-fred and
burned. Then it sank within him. He was
stunned, dazed, outgeneraled completely. Ii
was an afternoon when the neighbors had
gathered about to discuss the coming cleo
tion Jim couldn't stand the setback, and
~ jumped on his horse and gailoped home.
ne run furrow or two in the garden, he
turned the cows out Of the pasture, he drove
the, pigs out of the yard and led the mules
10 water. lie fumbled at q thousand
and one things to distract his mind out
In spite of him, he thought of the way he
was treated. He could not help from think
ing about it. He was too spirited not to
tnlpk or 1t. To tamely submit to defeat
without stretching out his hand to prevent
IL was not Jim Johnson's way. Not jim
at all. Nobody expected him to. They
an thought he would come against Rube
iGe oattering ram, aud so he did. He let
anars around the house go their own way
Cnat afternoon, and be saddled horse and
new through the district. Every time be
thought of the combine" against him, as
ne expressed 1t, he spurred ahead faster.
wen, ne got over the district and the
elecnon came. "a stormy time it was,
SAD The old man-Jim's friend. 'Rube
made the onslaught, which Jim sustained
seSdmlrably at first" Toward the close Of
Gne Day, however, be said, Jim began to
weaken, and he looked like a whipped
Clio lie hung around the polls without
SSny apparent business there, until some
pSody whispered to him: "Jim, you or.
beaten, Tor Gods sake go home"
Usplrlted, downcast, sidetracked. over
LtuaUcheo, the great brawny fellow hung hi
. nead ana walked out through the crowd
tsowafo nls house. AS the crowd swayec
U sspl 10 let him pass somebody groaneC
q Poor fellow"
w no said itl" demanded Jim, turning
son. "a A--A
oare you to speak" he said, after mo
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