The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-05-03
- LAST INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR
Z VANCE"

The Senator then Turned bis face
'ull upon H. sd a7ked How Is IN
Democracy n Nof'b Caro.ln./
Il repliet nat PollticnI matter.
s-T- more .r u.s.: gnse'fIsd with us.
eating IF D. lual acton Of con-
-ress upon Questions no" being de
cusaed
"rhe Senator lag perfectly till for
d few moments, @:.d ! could re that
his mind Was at work, preparing /
words for bio thoughts. Presently, /
raising both hands, and his eyes 10
mine at the sAme moment, he said:
The Democrat party l. lmmor- I.
tai. have not recently arrived at
This conclusion, but since | have
been living here Oil my bach ! have
thong ht profoundly Of many things, .
and among them this idea Of my ear
lest manhood has become stead
fast conviction. For thirty years OF
my life | fought, as Wing, The
Democratic party and sometimes
when it WAS Oycrw helmingly defeat
ed | thought it could rise no more,
but from It's wrecks and disasters i
would come forth more mighty than
ever before and sweep away all oppo-
sition. The word Democrat stands
for liberty and human freedom and
cannot die. The people believe in 1t
and when freedom Is mcuaCcd and
liberty jaopardIAed, at one blast OF
that magic name men will come from
the mountains and from the valleys
and place the Democratic party III
power.
"'In the ancient days the little
gladiator, with his simple shield ana
short sword would step in the arena
before the assembled thousands. The
fierce and ragiAg lion would be turn
ed in upon HIM. by his skill the
mighty brute would be slain. An
other monster would be turned in to
meet the same fate. Another and
another would follow only to 60
down beneath the apparently puny
strength Of the gladiator, until the
people would cry he is God, the
supernatural is with him. In some
sort this represents the idea the Am
erican people have of Democracy.
| There is attached 10 the name Il kind
Of supernatural power, and when all
else fails the people will turn to it
as an invincIble champion, and an
unfailing friend"
THE CAUCASIAN does not doubt
that Mr.. Kerr was in Washington
when Senator Vance died, we do not
doubt that he saw the Senator just
before his death, we do not even
doubt that he had talk with the
dying Senator, but there is some
room for doubt that the above is a
correct report of what the Senator
said, if, indeed, he said anything
like it. 1t is not like Senator Vance
to say that 1.-The 1cOrd Democrat
stands for human liberty and is i'm
mortal etc. Such talk smackS of
the machine, which puts the name
of a party above its principles. The
last public utterance that came from
Senator Vance was that he was fight
ing Simmons because he was opposed
to the machine. 1t is we'll known
that Senator Vance thought but lit
tie of party names and traditions.
lie believed in the broad principles
of Democracy and Republicanism
which meant the rule of the people.
Did he not say over his own sigma
ture in letter to the Mecklenburg
Alliance, that if the Democratic ma
chine continued to ignore the welfare
Of the people, that the rank and file
Of the party would walk out of itself
and leave nothing but a smell of
birthstone and Wall street behind !:
Was this not a declaration that the
Senator would under these condi-
tions walk out of the party and re-
pudiate the gang that held the name
of the party?
Beside, Mr.. Kerr is already i'm
peached before the people of North
Carolina as an infallible witness. He
is the man who published a libel in
his paper, the Asheyille Citizen,
against Capt. ". S. Barnes, the Sec
rotary of the State Alliance. The
court record shows that Mr.. Barnes
sued Mr.. Kerr and got Judgment.
THE CAUCASIAN believes that if
Senator Vance could rise from his
grave that he would greatly modify
that claimed interview, if he did
not repudiate it entirely, That in
terview sounds just like it was man
ufactured for the use of the Demo
cratic machine in North Carolina
it does not sound like Vance.
1t would be amusing if it were not