Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1894-03-27
shepherdstown Election.


Mr.. Editor Allow me again to
tresspass on your space and patience
TO reply to an editorial in the Shep-
herdstown Register. In the com
munication published in you paper,
we endeavored to give a plain state
ment of the facts connected with our
municipal election, which the editor
of the Register attempts to answer by
tnuendo, and by lodging the ques-
ton at issue.
He attempts to reflect upon the
manner in which the Peoples ticket
was gotten up, thereby either show
ing gross ignorance of the late cleo
tion law, or with the direct intention
of misleading the public.
He fails entirely to say how he
voted and worked when Mr.. Higgin-
botham was candidate against Mr..
Beckwith. There is but one infer
ence to be drawn, that is, that he
voted for Mr., Higginbotham to go to
the Legislature to help TO frame laws
in the interest of the Republican
party, also to cast his vote for Re
publican u. S. Senator. Now when
he has private prejudice TO crafty,
and personal ends to subserve, he
cries out pitiously in behalf of De-
mOcracy. This kind of Democracy
does not go down with the rank and
file, as the result shows. The masses
of the people are generally the arbi-
tiers of such cases.
He also failed to say one word in
behalf of our worthy statesman, VIM.
l.. Wilson, man whom every Jeff
erson county man, be he Democrat
or Republican, should be proud.
He said the convention was called
to order by member of the County
Executive Committee. That did not
make it legal. No one bat the chair
man has authority to issue calls for
Democratic conventions, either county
or corporation, and then only after
legal notice. The call for this conven-
ton was an anonymous poster, issued
only six or eight hours in advance
of the convention. This fact alone
shows how the wouId-be Democratic
leaders perverted the party cry to
their own selfish ends.
The Australian ballot law laws
down methods of selecting corpora
ton tickets-one by convention, the
other by having the tickets endorsed
by fifty qualified voters. The Peoples
ticket was selected by the latter
method, and was signed by about
one hundred voters, many of them
quite as intelligent and respectable
and much more CONSTANT in their
Democratic principles than the edi-
tor of the Register.
He said he made no comment after
the election because he did not want
n breach in the party. How unfor-
tunate that lie was not equally as
considerate of the party when Mr..
Higginbotham was a candidate, if
lie had heen, possibly we might have
been saved the notifying spectacle
of strong Democratic precinct like
this one giving large majority for
a Republican nominee.
Among the prominent Democrats
he mentions as being in the conven-
ton, are some to our personal knowl-
edge who voted the Peoples ticket,
others who split their tickets, and
some who were only there as specta-
tors. 1t has never been our inten-
ton TO question the Democracy of
these gentlemen he mentions, or the
candidates upon the Democratic
ticket; we only refer to the wouId-be
leaders who wear the cloak of
| Democracy TO cover their own SIMS
ter purposes, and when it suits them,
thow it off and vote for Republican
nominees. He dares true Democrats
to let the people know who they are.
We dare him and some more of the
would-be Democratic leaders to let
the public know how they voted when
Mr.. Higginbotham was a candidate
for the House of Delegates against
Mr.. Beckwith.
We put the direct question to the
editor of the Register-Did you, or
did you not vote and use your in
fluence for Mr.. Higginbotham Come
out like n man, do not evade the
question, especially since you hold
up you hands in holy horror at the
idea of correspondent using a nom
de plume. In conclusion allow me
to say that every Democrat on the
Peoples ticket, and we believe every
one who voted tue ticket, (and they
are not few are enthusiastic Cleve-
land and Wilson men, and when they
are called upon to express their SEN
timents at the polls will not give out
any uncertain sound.
TRUE DEMOCRATS.