Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-10
A Pitiable Spectacle.

The spectacle of seeing white men,
men with straight hair and blue eyes,
dickering with the sons of Ham at the
recent republican-populite convention in
Montgomery, was one of the most revolt
ing scenes that has passed before the
eyes of the people of Alabama since the
dark days of reconstruction. 1t was
more revolving, If possible, for in those
days only few carpetbaggers from New
England, and now and then depraved,
avaricious scalawag would consort with
negroes and seek to ride into Office by
the votes of the black horde set free by
federal bayonets.
What did you witness at the recent
meeting in Montgomery? Mr.. Shugart,
one of the delegates to the populite con-
vention from Jefferson, can tell the story
better than we, for he was one of the
straight-haired Caucasians who sat up
late to wait for the convention of Ala
bama coons to tell him what to do. Here
is what he said in speech before that
body:
when got up to the convention and
saw one of Hams sons, a negro, in the
chair, and found out that 1 had to tell
my wife when 1 went home that stald
up in Montgomery until o'clock to ask
a negro whether could go to bed or not
my fellow countrymen, you don't need
1t. All you want Is backbone. I have a
wife and five blessed children of the An
| 6iO-OdAOn race, dllu dOu lOTDiu tudI
shall stay up another night until o'clock
to ask a negro what we shall do"
And yet Mr. Shugart was sat down up
on. Many of the men who voted Shugart
down were boys who had worn the gray
men who had followed Lee in Virginia
and faced Grant before the trenches at
Vicksburg. If any man had told them
five years ago that they would have sat
UP in the city of Montgomery, in the good
year of our Lord 1896, and waited for
negro convention to tell them what course
to pursue. the strong right arms of these
same men would have shot out straight
from manly breasts, and he who dared
tell them that such a scene would have
been enacted, and that they would have
been participants therein, would have
measured his length ON the ground and
would have arisen therefrom wiser, If
sadder beings.
The scene that Shugart has described
has taken place. Every drop of his eau
casian blood boiled and seethed and
Kissed at the very thought. Fiery words
from an impetuous southerner appealed
to these men to call halt. The most sar
cred of all ties-that of the wife and little
children-was alluded to in the hope Of
checking the mad step that Kolb and
Bowman were about to make the conven-
ton take; but to no avail.
Two places on the populite ticket were
left vacant. They were left vacant for
purpose. There was an express agree
ment between the Caucasian convention
on the one hand and the odoriferous as
semblage of Ham on the other whereby a
ticket was to be put out, and white men
were expected-yea, pledged by their &C
tions-to vote for the men that were
named by the negro convention.
If we were one of the white men who
expected to vote that ticket, we had rath-
er vote for the blacklist, sleekest negro
who chops cotton and plows corn In the
black belt than to vote for the men that
the negro convention named. In other
words, we have more respect for the me-
gro guided by prejudice and controlled
by money than for the men who would
seek to ride into office on his vote.
This Is a white mans country; the ne
gro was a yankee importation from the
jungles of Africa. He Is now the arbiter
of the destinies of the white man in Ala
bama. If Mr.. Shugart is an honest man,
if he is manly man. II he has Cauca-
sian blood coursing through his veins
| that he pretends to have, he will de-
nounce the proceedings as infamous and
will forever turn his back on party that
would try to force the negro, directly or
| indirectly, on the white people of Ala
| bama.
| And there are thousands of true. but
| misguided, men who will turn their backs
| forever on the house of Ham and will re-
| pent In sackcloth and ashes that they
| ever allowed themselves to be fooled into
| such a conglomerate mass, where the
| black almost obscured the Caucasian
| face Right here In Dallas there are
| many who will not swallow the ticket.