Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-08-29
BOBTAYLOR'S FIRST RACE
Truth About His Celebrated Bout
With Pettibone.
Defeat Of His Brother Alf for the Re.
publican Nomination for Con.
gress Led Him TO Make
the Race.

AiOh Lay Vohi III ldeb Duuuuy 1ll0cb,
purporting to give an accurate account
of ex-Gov. Taylor's race for Congress
against Pettibone in 1878, is such a
caricature on both Mr.. Taylor and the
people of East Tennessee, such a broad
burlesquo on the truth of history, an
article so entirely devoid of everything
aiken to truth, that your correspondent
feels called upon to give what he
knows to be truthful account of that
historic campaign; because, as these
newspaper. articles pass into history
and become part of the history of our
State and its public men, it is very i'm
portant that thing should be corrected.
Your correspondent certainly feels
competent for the task he has under.
taken from the fact that he was then,
as now, living here in Jonesboro where
both the Republican and Democratic
conventions of that year were held
was himself one of the ALI Taylor Re-
publicans that urged Bob to make the
race, and was present at Bristol when
Bob and Pettibone opened the canvass
was well posted as to the progress of
the fight from start to finish. 1t is en-.
tirely unnecessary to add to the length
OF this article by saying that the peo-
pie of this section do not all live in
log cabins, laid with puncheon floors;
that our women folks do not all go
barefooted; that neither are the Demo
Gratis nor the Republicans so poor nor
miserly that their candidates for Con
gress have to walk and beg their way.
Neither are the members of either party
80 devoid of principle that they can be
severed from their party fealty by a
fellow going about the country saving
on an old fiddle.
We will proceed at once with our
story. In 1876 Pettibone seemed to
have cinch on the Republican nomi-
nation for Congress, but was somehow
knocked out on the home stretch and
Judge Randolph was nominated, and
was elected over Hon. VIM. Mcfarland.
Pettibone was made State Elector on
the hayes and Wheeler ticket, and
although well posted and man with
plenty of CAB, he failed to meet the ex-
pectations of his friends; he was too
easily riled, and allowed Ebb James to
wear him to frazzle.
Alf Taylor was made district elec-
tor, and he made very thorough
canvass of the entire district with
Maj. Ingersoll, coming out of it en-
tirely solid with the "boys" who were
determined to send him to Congress
next term. So 1878 opened out with
three aspirants for the Republican
nomination.: Randolph, who claimed
that he had redeemed the district from
Democratic rule by defeating McFar-
land in 1875; Pettibone, who had been
an aspirant for the place for years and
years, and who stood in with the ina.
chine, and Alf Taylor, who seemed to
be favorite with all, especially the
young men. But as Randolph had
failed to even attend Hayes Inaugural
ton so as to get any place for the men
who had elected him, he was the hinder
most horse in the convention. Mr..
Taylor made the mistake of fighting
both Randolph and Pettibone SO that
by com bining their strength they beat
him. Then again location had much
to do with Mr. Taylor's defeat. He
was then Carter County man, and as
II. G. Smith, of Carter, had been cleo
ted Chancellor in 1867, 1870 and again
in 1878, just a week or so before the
Republican convention was held, this
gave Carter County the Chancellor for
some nineteen years. johnson County
had also been well provided for by
Judge Butler being Judge and Con-
gresham for some ten years. John H..
Fain, of Sullivan County, had just
been elected Attorney General, which
put Sullivan in the swim for eight
years, while Hon. N. Hacker, of Wash
ington, had been elected Attorney
General in 1870 and Circuit Judge in
1868, thus giving that &C unity two good
fat places lasting sixteen years. Thus
with all the counties forming the ex-
treme upper end of the district so we'll
provided for, it was but natural that
the counties in the lower end should
feel like combining against loyal
Carter when she, through Alf Taylor,
passed her plate for more. But the
nomination of Pcttibone and the de-
feat OF ALT Taylor did not suit the
"plain people," They felt that great
outrage had been committed in swind-
ling them out of their favorite, and
they determined to have revenge, and
have it they did.
The Republican convention met Au-
gust 10, 1878, here in Jonesboro and the
Democratic convention met here lust
one week later. Bob Taylor had been
living here for more than year, per-
haps, and was great favorite with all
the Alf Taylor Republicans because he
was Alf's brother and took such an
interest in Alf's canvass for the nomi-
nati"n. So when Alf was defeated
Bob was as blue and as mad as any of
the Republicans. Just after the con-
vention,. Bob was sitting on a stone
"upping block" on Main Street, and
few of Alf's friends gathered around