The Brookhaven leader., 1891-09-10
COPIAH POLITICS.
CHAIRMAN WILLING EN-
PLAINS HIS POSITION.
\ Manly and straightforward
NindicatiOn OF His Action
in the Late Campaign.
Mr.. eIathiS WithdrawS and
Amends Portions of His
First Letter.

In your paper of the 9th of August
appeared an article over the signature
of Mr.. John W. Mathis which might
bc construed to reflect upon me as
Chairman of the Democratic EXccu.
tive Committee of this county. | do
not intend To engage in IL newspaper
controversy, but simply desire to make
a brief statement III order to set my
self right before the public. The first
charge in said letter is that lot of
anonymous circulars were distributed,
rejecting seriously upon the Banks
/ dale candidate for the legislature, Mr..
/ w. VI. Kcithlcy. While said charge,
! aS appears from the disclaimer of Mr..
| Mathis, has no reference to me, | de
| sire to state that some one sent me II
! bundle of said circulars 10y mail,
which | refused to circulate and
promptly suppressed, dccming it I'M
! fair to make an anonymous attack
I HIIOH any Ollt. L Ilt NCNbilNl NiI'tl ~ 10
that it was very difficult to get the
name of Mr.. kcithlcy on the ticket.
On this point | submit that the follow
ing are the facts: BY the order of
the Executive Committee, published
in the county papers for two consccu-
tive weeks, all candidates were re-
quircd to hand in their names by the
18th day of July. Mr.. kcithlcy was
not announced as IL candidate and it
was not known that he would be in
! the race until the Bird day of August,
five days after the tickets had all been
printed. As soon as the telegram was
received from the friends of Mr..
keithley, in order to get his name on
the ticket as we'll as the name of some
beat officers which had been inadvert-
emily omitted, | promptly destroyed
all of the old tickets and had printed
an entirely new set with the name of
Mr.. keithley on the same. Now as to
the charge that started il report that
DR.. Scott was down and that | con-
fessed to him that it had been fixed up
in Crystal Springs to circulate that
Scott was down in order to beat Keith
ley, | submit that the following are
the facts, which are corrobOratcd by
the corrections which the enclosed let
ter from Mr.. Mathis authorizes you to
make in his article Of the 10Th ult.:
DR.. Scott, Miller and Catchings were
candidates for the legislature on the
George and anti-Sub-TrcaSury plat
form kcithley was for Barksdalc and
the SubTrcasury. Guyues had been
declared the nominee in the LIST pri-
mary and only two more could be
elected. There was IL rumor ahoat
that certain BarkSdale strongholds
were preparing to ''single shot Keith
ley. Two George votes divided
among three George men meant their
inevitable defeat and Keithley'S GER
tain victory. Happening to be in
Crystal Springs lDr. SCOTS strong
hold in the first primary, on strictly
professional business, the evening be
fore the election, some of SCOTS
friends, among the leading citizens of
Crystal Springs, announced to me
their intention to abandon Scott, as
he had developed the least strength
in the first primary, and to centre up
OH Miller and CatchingS in order to
beat keithlcy, the Bmksdale candi-
date. These men, as well as myself,
had been warm supporters of Dir.
Scott i'll the first race. While DR..
Scott was a member of the Alliance,
he was not the Alliance candidate,
but on the contrary he was being
fought by them because of his views
on the Sub Tseasury This is clearly
demonstrated by the meagcr vote cast
for him i'll the Barksdalo strongholds.
| cite only one instance, the vote at
Gallman. | select this precinct be-
cause it is the box where your CORES
pendent votes. In the first primary,
out of 3l4 votes cast for representa-
tivcs, Scott received Z. In the 2nd
primary out of III votes, Scott re-
ceived only 5. In HazlehurSt, on the
morning of the election | told several
friends that some of SCOTS friends in
Crystal Springs were going to ADAM
don him (ScotD and vote soldly for
Miller and Catchings in order to beat
keithley, and | advised them to do
the same. When approached by your
correspondent on the subject, | de-
tailed to him what had TRANSFERRED at
Crystal Springs and what | had told
in llazlehurst, substantially as above.
| am not Il bully and did not attempt
to bluff yonr correspondent. | did
not tell him that had circulated the !
report that Scott was down, which |
would have been falsehood, but |
did tell him that some OF Scott's
friends in Crystal Springs had agreed |
to abandon him and vote sOlidly for |
Miller and Catchings in order to beat |
keithley. His article, us amended,
agrees substantially with my state
ment.
| am authorized by DR.. Charley |
Oats to state that he did not tell Mr..
Mathis that | told him (Oatis) that
had received ii dispatch from w. c.
Wilkinson, stating that DR.. Scott was
down. SO your correspondent must
be mistaken as to his conversation
with DR.. Oats. DR.. Oats, however,
says that he inferred from my CONVEX
satiOn that the friends of Dir. Scott in
CRYSTAL Springs had Withdrawn him.