The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-03
WILL SEEK a MANDATE
PoPULIsT MATHEWS SAYS ELECTO-
RAJ TICKET MUST BE CERTIFIED.
His Excoriation of the
Committed of Thfrteen-His Re-
spects to the LocnI Gang.

"a 1ODui15LS DdkG AdiiGi ~ lSbNAAio
right merrily among themselves over the
fusion deal fixed up last Tuesday. This
weeks issue of the American Nonconform-
list, the Populist organ, condemns the deal
in unmeasured terms and devotes a good
deal Of space to denunciation Of what it
terms the Indianapolis gang" who went
over to the Democracy right after the Chi
cage convention, and have since had the
effrontery to endeavor to dictate Populist
policies.
Charles X. Mathews, editor of the Nom
conformist, declared yesterday that he
would ask for a mandate to compel the
qualification to the election board of the
Populist electoral ticket put up by the
committee of thirteen at its session Sept.
II. He holds that the action Of the com
mittee on that day was in effect the action
of the convention, and after it had been
done, nothing could undo it. He declares
that this was the agent of the
State convention for the performance of a
specific act, and that act was performed
on Sept. II, and the authority of the com
mittee thereby exhausted.
The Nonconformist in it's editorial col
umns has some very salty things to say
about the deal made last Tuesday. Here
are samples: After the Populist committee
crawled on its belly and begged the Dem
ocratic managers for hours to be allowed
the privilege of voting their ticket, they
were rejected with scorn and treated with
contempt. In other words, they Inundated
themselves in vain. One of the reasons for
this action of the Democrats is because
they have been constantly told by the In
dianapolis gang of suckers and sellouts
that all the Populists were going to vote
for Bryan and Sewall anyhow. and that
81 - :.
straight Populist ticket in the field. AS
these gutter snipes and sewer rats haG
gone over and crawled in the mud, they
presumed to speak for the decent Populists
of the State and say that they also had
debauched themselves.
Rankin and Washburn, of the Populist
national committee, came here this week
with a lie on their lips. They declared that
Tom Watson told them in St. Louis last
week that he wanted and demanded
a fusion electoral ticket in Indiana.
This lie was e~ffectually contradicted by Mr..
Watson's telegram to the editor of the
Nonconformist. Still these fellows insisted
on their fusion deal, which vas directly in
the teeth of Mr.. Watson's desires and an
insult to that noble and gallant leader of
the Populist party"
The Nonconformist pays it's respects to
Shepard. "Talky Bill Patterson Ogborn,
Atkinson, the Schofields and other Marion
county Populists in this fashion:
Readers of the Nonconformist know that
this paper does not indulge in personal at
tacks. When it criticises individuals it
does SO in connection with matters of bust
ness and policy. Mere abuse of individuals,
aside from questions of public concern. is
opposed to the policy OF this paper. We
feel above it. We also feel that such mat
newspaper. But we feel compelled to de-
part from our usual policy this week to
the extent Of saying something about what
is known as the Indianapolis gang This
coterie is small, but it is noisy. It's in
fiuence and standing are in adverse ratio
to the racket it makes. In other words,
both ends of the proposition reach what
the scientists pronounce zero. During
the recent controversy over the electoral
ticket, the editor of the NonconformiSt has
been highly honored by the abuse of this
gang. The only way they could help him
was to abuse him, and this they have done
without stint. The favorite charge OF this
crowd of deadbeats and degenerates is that
the editor of the Nonconformist has been
bought by the Republicans, In their slang
phraseoiogy, he has been seen In other
words, the Nonconformist has been bought
to do what it has always done, what it de-
SireS still to do, and what 1t could not eS-
cape doing without running itself. 1t has
always been a straight Populist paper. 1t
has ever, in season and out of season, in
siS1 ed on strict adherence to PopulIst prin-
cipSes, Populist candidates and Populist
platforms. Yet now, when it continues to
do this. and could not do otherwise without
DISQUALIFICATION. it has been bought
And who is it that makes these charges
against the Nonconformist? Mostly a set
of deadbeats and ignoramuses, who are as
ignorant of decent action as they are of
politics, and as bankrupt financially as they
are in morals.
"One of these creatures had the impu-
dence to come to the editor of the Nom
conformist last week and noisily notify him
that if he carried through his deal for a
straight POnlllSt ticket we VIII Withdraw
our patronage and boycott you The we
in this instance is interesting. For curtos-
ity we had the mailing clerk to look over
the lists and see how many of this precious
gang were patronizing the paper. 1t was
to Withdraw his patronage was not now
and never had been q patron of the Nom
conformist. In other words. he has never
paid a cent to the support of the paper
since it has been in this city. OF the
others, not over three were found to be
paving yin suhs ser T Se a6baad or t ho1 o are
have they paid nothing, but they have re-
celved the paper as a gift from the office.
The withdrawal of this crowds patronage
would be a great calamity indeed. It
would injure us at least to the extent of
So a year. but this would be amply COM
pensated by being relieved of them en-
tirely. If they will agree to quit. and stay
quit, the Nonconf )rniSt viii try and strug-
gle along without them, consoled by the
reflection that it had got rid of a lot of
Now. as to the political status of this
tolllStlptlDtS EdAI5 / ilCS a. IL oNti "
the Democratic party three months ago,
and have been its servile tools ever since.
Hardly had the Democratic convention adj
iourned until they were throwing up their
hats for Bryan and Sewall and declaring
that they did not care what the Populists
did. They had jumped into the Democratic
band wagon. They could not even wait for
the Populist convention to act. They did
not give it a chance even to ratify the
Democratic ticket. They were loud and
boisterous in support of Democracy, and
equally loud and boisterous in abuse of all
Populists who refused to do the same.
Yet. this unprincipled set of impostors and
frauds have the ~impudence to appear at
Populist headquarters in Populist meet
ings and in Populist committees, claiming
the right to run things and dictate to
everybody. They were on hands last week
and this. bossing the job of selling out the
Populist party. despite the fact that every
one of them had come out publicly for
Bryan and Sewail. and proposed to vote
that ticket regardless of what the Populist
committee did. They all abuse Tom Wat
son and denounce him as a disorganizer.
They abuse the Nonconformist. not be-
cause it won't do right. but because it
won't do wrong. They would have is be-
come as debased and unprincipled as them
selves. While charging others with being
corrupted, it is well known that this gang
10. ,-.Y,,t 20 +IA lost IcC,-nG Tho nreTx- roo