Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-09-12
MISS DESHA'S APPEAL.
Col. Br~eckinridge's Successor Should
BE a Man of Pure and Noble
Character

Miss Mary Desha, of Washington.
sister of Col. w. C. P. BreckinridgeIs
second wife, has issued a vigorous APP
peal urging the defeat of Col. Breckin-
ridge. 1t is as follows:
To the men and women of the Blue.
grass: have hesitated for many days
before writing this letter, because l
know the prejudices of Kentucky men,
aud their opinion that if a woman lifts
her voice against "the established or
der of iniquity" she is outof her sphere.
But the occasion is SO grave that |
venture, even at the risk of shocking
my friends, to tell you some truths
which it is necessary for you to know,
knowing well you will never hear them
from Kentucky men who have been in
Washington. They are bound to keep
silence, either from the feeling of 10y
atty, which is much stronger in man
than in woman, or from "a fellow feel.
ing that makes them wondrous kind"
That Col, Breckenridge will be re-
turned to Congress has never for one
moment entered my mind. The very
thought of 1t is an insult to the State
whose boast has been that her ''men
were brave and her women virtuous."
By indorsing Col. Breckenridge you
would accept his and Gel. Thompson's
platform-that all men are libertines.
If all the men of the State are liber-
tines, the women can not be pure, and
your vote for him would be an an
nouncement to the world of the un-
chastity of your women.
| am not troubled about his reelec-
ton, but am afraid that the politi.
clans will send some one like unto him.
If they succeed in renominating him
or some other immoral man, will the
reputable portion of the community
unite on a man, regardless of politics,
who can lift her soiled banner, of the
Ashland District, cleanse its stains by
pure life, and bear it with such honor.
that we, who live in Washington, and
have been deeply Inundated, ma
again be able to say, with uplifted
heads, awe are Kentuckiansln
o.
The plain truth is that of all the i'm
moral delegations in Congress, that of
Kentucky has the reputation of being
the worst. With the Taulbeck and
Breckinridge scandals and the low OBJ
scenity of Thompson, you will not o
der at 1t. What we need from the
Ashland District is q clean, pure man.
with brains enough to know that it is
q mans actions and not his religious
twaddle that make for righteousness,
and not brains enough to fool a whole.
community for half a century into,
thinking he is a Christian and gentle.
man, when he-is directly the reverse.
See to it, if you must have ALTERATION
on your banners, that instead of
breckenridge and brains" you have a
name that will 60 well with morality.
To the women of the Bluegrass l give
my grateful thanks that they have
remembered my sister-her faithful,
beautiful life, and have shown by every
means in their power their apprecia-
ton of it, and their detestation of the
man who dishonored her while living,
who has deserted her memory and dis
graced her children.
To the Confederate veterans l would
say, living she never forgot you. In
persecution, in trial, in exile, her own
people were always remembered. You
passed resolutions of respect when she
died, and followed her to the grave
with almost the honors given to a SOL
dier-show that your protestations were
sincere by retiring to private life the
man who has committed the unpardon-
able sin against her and by sending to
Congress a respectable, reputable, hon
est man, to lift Kentucky, the State
she loved SO we'll, back to its proud
place among Its sister States.
With pride in Kentucky's past, with
shame and confusion that even one
man is left within her borders who is
willing to see her Inundated, with an
abiding trust in the final triumph of
Law and order, ~decency and mortality
in her midst. l am MARY DEsHA.
Miss Desha's letter caused much ex.
element. II is the talk of the town,
recalling to mind, as it does, the mem
Dry of the woman. who founded the
Kentucky Woman's Veteran Associa..
ton.
' ....". H."LF. r. ....