The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-19

WHICH ne knew WOulQ Dc IOuRnG Dy
them to the bitter end, and they were,
and, what is more, Tillman was beaten
on them and WASH It bit pleased about
it either 1t is this conscientiousness that
has given him greater influence with the
masses than was ever possessed by any
citizen of South Carolina at any time.
Another respect in which Tillman
differs from the ordinary demagogue is
that, whereas the usual specimen of that
species is constantly engrossed in the
occupation of holding up flag to catch
the direction of the wind of public opin-
ion, Ti1lman doesn It care continental
about its probable trend, and he has
more often created opinion than follow
ed it.
When we dislike man, we are apt to
credit him with less ability than is
really his, and during the campaign of
1890, which resulted in making Tillman
governor of South Carolina, I often
heard it asserted that Tillman was a
man of no force of character, creature
of circumstances certain to sink into OBJ
livion within two or three years through
the waters Of mental mediocrity.
His Physical Courage.
During that same campaign, too, it
was often said that Ti1lman was phys
ical coward that he skulked when men
were needed to fight for the south. and
that as soon as he might be put to the
test he would be found to be a craven.
Tillman was not in the Confederate
army, it is true. He was mere boy at
the time. Still he probably would have
enlisted had it not been for serious ILL
ness which laid him up for many
months and which resulted in the loss
of one eye. I have seen him when he
was stumping the state in his first can
vass for governor face an angry crowd
which acted as though it intended to do
him serious bodily harm without SO
much as a culver of the eye or quaver
of the voice. On one of these occasions,
when the opposing candidate, Joseph 81.
Earle, now a judge, was really alarmed
for Tillman's personal safety, and had,
after much trouble and aided by the ap-
peals of others, succeeded in soothing
the maddened mob of several thousands
of his supporters. Tillman, who had
stood erect throughout the confusion,
looking down, apparently unconcerned
at the sea of angry faces distorted by
passion, proceeded to score the hostile
mass of humanity before him until it
appeared as though the trouble must
But it didn't. There were the usual pre-
monitory rumblings that presage the
storm, the uneasy moving toward the
stand, and then-comparative quiet.
The courage of the man who had dared
to attack them after an exhibition on
their part which would have struck ter
ror to the stoutest hearted among them
awed the Infatuated citizens into con-
dition bordering on respectful attention.
AS far as moral courage is concerned
Tillman has that to such degree that
his enemies declare that he doesn't
know what shame is. So that, all
things considered, hardly think that
the "czar of South Carolina" can justly
be called coward.
His Phenomenal Rise In Public Life.
Tillman's rise in public life is more
remarkable to those who thoroughly IN
derstand the methods adopted to insure
it and the circumstances leading up to it
than il is to those who simply know
that he suddenly eEaS92eG from obscure
ty to prominence. have every reason
to believe that as far back as 1886 this
remarkable man had made up his mind