The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-23
TWO DAYS BEFORE ELECTION.
POLITICIANS sCHEMING TO CATCH
THE DOUBTFUL VOTE.

CoIOred Brother l. Up TO snuH,
Though - some Experiences the
Politicians Have Had in the Past.
If the politicians did not go to church
yesterday they kept very quiet. There
was no evidence that there was any po-
litical work going on.
The fact Is that pretty much all the
work has been done that can be done
by either side. with the exception. Of
course, Of corralling the slippery and
/ uncertain brother which will be attend
ed TO by the workers during the hours
Of darkness preceding the morning OF
| election.
Pretty much everybody has taken his
stand. one way or the other and there
is little to be done in the way of con-
version. The speakers at the three po-
litical meetings tomorrow night will
/ abuse their opponents to their hearts
content not with the expectation Of
/ making any votes but merely to enthuse
/ their own particular crowd The Har-
/ fridge people will have caucus at Ar
/ mory hall tonight Mr.. duBignon, it is
announced, will speak at the rally at odd
/ Fellows hall tomorrow night. 1t is sup
posed that the subject of his address
| will be organized democracy, in which
/ case he viii probably have something Of
I interest to say upon the position taken
/ by the speakers at the Hartridge meet
ing
The colored vote, or that part of
/ IL which Is purchasable, Is going TO
/ play a very important part in the election.
\ There are about 600 registered cOlored Vot-
I ers, enough to turn the TIDE IN favor OF
I the candidate who can capture them Both
I sides are al work to capture this vote. The
: plans are not discussed in the presence Of
| newspaper reporters, however; Money VIII
/ be used, of course. and money is now being
/ raised In fact has already been raised for
/ this purpose 1t Is not likely, however,
/ that votes will command the high prices
| which they have at some previous cleo
/ tons, as the interest is not so great ana
there is nothing at stake TO cause the
moneyed friends Of the candidates to chip
| in with any great liberality.
The price of votes will hardly run over
| s., and very likely not more than half that
I sum. The vote buyers no longer CONNIE
| their attention 70 colored voters, as 1t is
I well known that there are a large num-
/ Der of white voters who are open TO hnan-
/ cial influence. Vote buying has gone on
/ in Chatham county until II is regarded as
a matter Of course, and there seems to be
/ no disposition to enforce the laws against
| it, All sides are tarred with the same
| stick, and the condition Of affairs will not
be remedied until stringent measures are
/ taken.
The old politicians tell some good jokes
on each other in this connection. A
| prominent member of the successful fac
discussing these matters yesterday said;
"The men who sell their votes in this
county have gotten pretty we'll educated
on the subject now. You may organize
them and make speeches to them and
promise them everything, but when cleo
| ton day comes they want to see the color
of your money before they vote. We had
a colored club organized down here on
| the east side of town. We hired hall
| for them and for six weeks beforehand
We held meetings twice week and Turn
! ished beer and sandwiches at each meet
ing. We had a big layout the night be-
fore the election and kept the crowd there
/ all night. The next morning we took
| them down to the polls in hacks and not
/ a one of them would cast a vote until he
! had gone into the headquarters of the
\ other side and found out what they were
/ Offering"
Mai. Ryals told good joke on himself
| after one of the Hartridge meetings the
| other night. 1t was the time he was
/ running for county treasurer against Mr.
| Russell. He was invited to go out south
! of the city one night shortly before the
| election to one of the suburbs to address
1 a meeting He found a good crowd on
/ hand when he arrived and was given a
\ warm reception. lie made speech ana
/ was very much pleased with the attention
| given him. After the meeting an old un-
/ Gle came up and shook hands.
/ I'VE knew you was comm, major, he
\ said, land we just took de liberty to hire
/ de hall. The major took the hint and
| He had just concluded this transaction
| when another white-headed old fellow
/ came up and shook hands.
! Major, the boys is all for YOU" he said,
land l just took de liberty of pervidn'
| some beer and whisky to hold de crowd till
| you come"
Maj. Ryals handed out another 81 as the
/ price of the drinkables. Then another
| old fellow, delighted with such generos-
Major, you and de colonel was sho nice
gentlemens. Col. Russell, he was out here
/ last night and he speaks to de boys and
he pay for de hall. and he pay for de
whisky"
THE Joke was on me-" said Maj. Ry-
| ais, in telling the story, land consid-
| cred the experience cheap at the price"
Club members spent the day at their re-
| spective quarters yesterday, mostly in dis
| cussing the coming election. That seems
TO be the absorbing topic with them, as
| we'll as with every one else. With the club
| members as with others, public sentiment
is pretty well divided, and the vote will no
doubt be pretty badly split. 1t was an
easy matter to find two club members, one
| a supporter of Willink and the other of
/ Hartridge, discussing the merits of their
| respective candidates over a tempting
| glass. There has been little else to talk
about in Savannah for the last week, and
the takers have made the most of it.
THAT Citizens Club crowd tried to stir
up an awful rumpus over that Fourth dis
trict meeting" said a prominent leader of
the opposition in speaking of the report
made of the matter. why, it was moth
ing more than meeting of the voters of
| the Fourth district, white, as well as
colored A few we'll known colored men
were invited. 1t is true, and they may be
| republicans, but the meeting was demo.
cratic, and we asked them there in order
to give them our views, and if possible.
make democrats of them. The character
of the meeting, so far as that is concerned,
is shown by what Capt. Doyle said in
opening his remarks, to the effect that II
was the first time in a long time that he
had been in a democratic meeting.
why, the Citizens Club had that hall
engaged for two months, just before the
city election, and put it in charge of Supt
Lotion of the waterworks. 1t was engaged
and used for the purpose of holding negro
meetings regularly. and leading poll
ticians of the Citizens Club were there and
made speeches. Now they are
trying to make great hue and
cry because we held a meeting there at
which good number of the colored voters
of the Fourth district were present 1t an
pears to me rather inconsistent It's an
right when they do it, but when we do IT,
they try to make a campaign canard out
of 1t. They are scared, that's what's the
matter, and If l am any judge, their fears
will be realized after Wednesdays cleo
ton"
HOT WORDS, THEN a KNIFE.
George Thomas Slabs John Wood