Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-08-10
MR. TAYLOR HITS BACK.
The Annapolis Correspondent of the
Baltimore "Sun" Replies to Or.
Owens.

Dr.. Jos. X. OWENS,
Hyattsvllle, Md.
DEAR SIR = Yours of the Sth instant
reached me last night. The Maryland
Republican had prepared me for It's
coming. Assuming that you have
motive in rushing into print, / shall
use the same channel. much To my re-
gret, pecumiary and otherwise,i ia answer
ing your esteemed favor.
AS your tirade seems to have been
directed more particularly at the cor
respondent, | shall endeavor To reply as
such, leaving out of the controversy the
j0urnalH have the honor to represent,
which | am sure cannot he interested in
matters of such minor importance. The
correctness of statements TO which You
object, leave to an impartial and un-
biased public, not politicians.
In my reply shall devote the greater
part of what have To say To the con-
versation in the CAPITAL office, To which
you refer in opening paragraph OF your
communication. | should have been
glad had you gone further into details,
especially as regards the conversation
to which the editor of the CAPITAL was
an attentive listener. Had you done SO
l should have been spared the pain us
well as the expense of entering into par
ticulars" which you have forced upon me
as a matter of self-defense. | trust i'm
this instance shall not misstdte facts.
If | am guilty of such indiscretion /
shall lie only too glad to make the neces-
sary apology as in justice To one for
whom l have heretofore entertained
profound personal and political regard.
The conversation that occurred in the
presence of Mr. Abbott was substantial
ly as follows: After the meeting l
asked you if you had interlined the reso-
luton which sought to censure the An
napolis correspondent. You replied that
you had. YOn then expressed some
friendship for me as you had done on
many former occasions, and continuing
said "Tom, / have really wept over
some of your articles on the political
situation i'm Anne Arundel county.
can . see how a good Democrat like you
could write articles condemning our
party DR.. Owens also referred TO the
fact that had received certain political
honOrs having been a deputy collec-
tor at Annapolis, delegate to the State
and congressional conventions, etc.
You said you regretted exceedingly
taking such course. l told you no
apology was necessary; that had made
it a rule never to permit politics To In
terfere with my duties as newspaper
man, and that l proposed in the future
to publish facts as had done all along.
When l mentioned to you my intention
to publish the names of ofiice-hoders
present you insisted that your Office was
not political and that you should not be
included in the list had prepared. Hav-
ing remembered quite distinctly the pO-
litical fight over your appointment /
could not do otherwise than include the
registrar and treasurer of the Maryland
Agricultural College in the category of
an oflice-holder. however Jealous might
have been to crafty an old friend like
yourself.
You seemed to be very bitter during
this conversation against the independ-
ents whom you claimed were ready To
disrupt the Democratic party. You
characterized some of the leaders as
"kickersn and Others with having no
influence at all. You mentioned among
others DIR. Thomas |. Franklin, one of
the independents, as man ''who could
not control a vote outside of his own, "
and referred to ex-Sheriff II. II. Sellman,
Judge lglehart, Benjamin Watkins and
Others as having little following in their
respective districts. Ghe movement you
ridiculed. You objected to The Sm'S
account of the meeting. | told you
WOtilU CO1iCCt dliy bthlClHCll III lClCl-
ence to the independent meeting which
you could prove to be false.
You were not prepared to do so, but
found fault with the headlines and the
resolution, with which, Of course, had
nothing to do, and finally concluded that
what | had said about DIR. Franklin as q
true Democrat was absolutely correct,
though few minutes before YOU had
stated in my presence and in the pres
enc e0f Mr.. Abbott, that DIR. Franklin
could not control Il vote outside his own.
| lay great stress upon the word scon-
troll, because you will remember / re-
marked to you the harshness of the ex-
preston and suggested Influence as
much better word to he used in connec-
tion with this venerable Democrat.
In den0uncing these "kickers" | am
led TO believe You forgot yourself, for
did you not "kick" vigorously during
the o. L. ID. movement? This thought
suggested itself when. in lecturing inde-
pendents and discOuraging kicking, you
stated that you had Rerer kRorn anu
Miag bat true DemOcrdcg. Several times
during our "talk" it had occurred to me
that the proper time had arrived To take
exceptions to your statement. and to IN
form you that had heard only that day
that during Republican meeting, com
posed largely of cOloTed people, some
years ago, you had made solemn VOW
never to again vote a Democratic ticket.
/ hope | have not miSStdted facts.
have known you TO have been a tax col
lector, chief of the Auditors Division
in Washington, in which You performed
valuable service, but | was not prepared
to learn from you that your present
Office is not political. l have met you
frequently in Annapolis when on busi-
ness with the Agricultural College. 1t
has So happened that ON many of these
visits democratic conference has teen
held here. This, however, may be
merely confidence.
You admitted to me, Doctor. that y0n
seldom visited the Eighth district winch
is your voting place. AS matter of
fact y0u reside in Prince Georges cOun-
ty. / claim, therefore. that you are not
sufficiently posted on the situation in
your own district to be able to give an
ssencouraging viewn such as was done
BY you Wednesday. 1t is quite the re-
verse from the reports / have received
from some of your personal and polifi-
cal friends. Assuring you of my con-
tinued friendship, remain your friend,
TH0s. /. TAYLOR
A Pink Tea.