Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-06-16

ssifSo bll tue. NoTtDil sHleN were
fully and promptly informed that
the meeting would be held ct the
sehoolhouse. and the best proof Of
this (outside of plenty of positive
evidence Of reputable Demoerats)
is that they went to the school
grounds and reached them at the
same time the Clark men did,"
"Did Mr.. Norton or his men ask
for Il division at the schoolhouse?''
eff that was done neither any of
my men nor myself heard it. It
was never DONE"
aDid Mr.. Norton ask you after
the mass meeting had adjourned to
get your men together and have a
eount?o
.Yes; about an hour after the adj
journment and after some 800 or
400 of my supporters had left town
and the others scattered all over
Cuba, he wanted a count. | told
him that the Democrats of Crawford
county had sense enough to conduct
their affairs in their own way, with
out any dietation from him or me;
that hundreds of my men had left
town and it was all tomfoolery to
to talk about counting that crowd at
that late hour, as they would never
all be together again this side the
judgment day.
"In all this | think | was right.
l would have been a pretty fool and
it would not have been fair to the
brave men who supported me to
have agreed to a count after nearly
half of them had left town. MI.
Norton's time to count was when his
supporters and mine were all togeth-
er on the schoolhouse grounds"
"What about Mr.. Norton's beg
ging for a count as your friends
were leaving the grounds?"
II never heard of that till | read
his interview in the Republic while
1 was counting my overwhelming
majority in Rails"
"How many supporters did you
have ON the grounds?"
"There are about 1880 Demo-
Gratis in Crawford. Lean prove be-
yond all controversy hat between
700 and 500 Democrats were there
voting for me, and they were Craw-
ford county Democrats at that-the
bone and sinew of the Crawford De-
mocraey. Four hundred and seven
ty Democrats came in on my special
train from -Steelville alone. One
hundred and twenty-five on the
special coach from the north and
nearly two hundred by actual count
were in Cuba before the trains az
rived. Any fair man who saw the
two professions will say | had a
clear majority"
"What about the S~teelville ring?"
"That's all bosh. All the ring
there was was this: Nearly every
body in Steelville and the surround
ing country was for me. The coun-
ty officers were for me. So were
nearly all the candidates for county
Offices; SO were most Of the voters.
If they constituted a ring it was all
most as large as Saturn's rings. AS
to Mr.. Norton's charging Captain
Ferguson with being a ringster, that
is preposterous. He is a man 60
years of age; has been Sheriff. and
has held other offices and stands
high as any man in that commune
ty.. 1t comes with poor grace
from MI. Norton to talk about
not being treated fairly when it was
his friends who. voted for the mass
E&
meeting instead of a primary. He
was hoisted with his own petard. My
friends and / wanted a primary, and
couldn't get it. Mr.. Norton and his
friends wanted a mass meeting, and
they got it. We fought them on
their own terms and on their own
field, and beat them squarely; and
that's all there is of it, except an af-
termath of newspaper controversy,
which he and his friends have in
augurated. Ii he is SO anxious
about a fair fight, perhaps by
sufficient solicitation he might
induce his Congressional Com
mittee to give me back my four
votes in Audrain, Pike and Rails
out of which they gouged me. In
that event | can go into the conven-
ton with a clear majority of the
whole convention from north of the
river and be nominated without
counting either my delegates or his
irregulars from Crawford. | dom
remember to have heard Mr.. Nor.
ton or his friends lifting up theil
voices in protest against the unjust
and unfair performance of violating
Democratic precedent and deprivins
me of four votes in the convention
They seemed dumb about tina
time.
sWha about his appealing to tht
State Committee?n
81 don't know. I haven't in
vestigated the matter; but I d,
| not believe that the State Contra
Committee, even if il has iurisdic
ltion. will endeayor to nominate Mr.