Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-04-08
ALL ELSE HAS FAILED-THEY
ARE WRITING LETTERS NOW.

AXE IEHS w W.
Milburnites plainly see the temple
which they reared out of nothing more
substantial than the stuff that dreams
are made of, tumbling into ruins. 1t is
10! here and 10! there, but no response
to their urgent cries for help. They are
begging, pleading, ~entreatIng, weeping
and praying, but it is all of no avail.
Their doom is marching IN with the
days, and the only way for them to es-
cape the landslide of the 18th is to COM
nit suicide or to HE themselves to the
mountains of Hepsidam where the CAD
dywumpus has his hole and "the wang
doodle mourneth for its t~irstborn."
In Washington County the Milburn-
ties are getting desperate. They met in
secret conclave, they cav, they cuss, and
then they caw-cuss, but nothing can be
accomplished to turn the adverse tide.
All their schemes have turned out to be
like webs of woven wind; their plans
have no more conference than grains of
sand. As the dernier resort they are be-
ginning to ply the voters with a regular
fusilade of letters, and Milburn, we sup
pose, pays the postage. One man selects
a list of voters that he imagines he IAN
control and to each one he writes the
same letter, filled with personal griev-
ances against Brownlow and always
winds up with Brownlow's browning in
famy-that nee upon atime he defeated
his nomination for office. And so they
all write to every voter that they sup
pose so stupid and ignorant as to allow
his vote to be controlled by a matter in
which he has not the slightest interest.
If all these heinous charges be true,
Brownlow has more power over the Re-
publican party than Napoleon had over
the armies of France, or the Russian
Gar now has over his subjects. If they
be true, for many years past he has held
every Republican convention in his grip
and no man could be nominated without
his express permission. If they be true,
the primary is n needless formality for
Brownlow has only to issue an ukase
declaring his nomination; resistance is
vain, for Brownlow is omnipotence itself.
Were Brownlow SO inclined he has too
much sense and judgement to attempt
to assume the role of a dictator. He
knows the popular resort against such
an imperial assumption would crush
any man.
In every single instance, these terrible
aggrieved Office seekers were defeated,
not through Brownlow's fiat, or through
tie influence of another single man, but
because they lacked the two grand es-
sentials to success-the confidence and
support of the people. Toward these
disappointed pot hunters the party had
a very stirred feeling" 1t was disguised
at their greed, vanity and pretensions.
Self was the boundary line of their pa
triotism and party loyalty. The time of
their retirement had come and the party
bid them go and not to stand upon the
order of going. And when they did go
they done everything in their power to
breed discussions, disrupt the party and
defeat the nominees. They failed then
most ing%loriously as they will likewise
fail low. They led some Republicans
astray, but they are back in the fold
now and are there to stay.
To prove the insincerity and double
dealing of this Disguised coterie we cite
the fact that, after the canvass began
they agreed to desert Milburn and go to
Anderson if the latter developed more
strength than the former, for as one Of
them at the time remarked, at must be
anything to defeat Brownlow; If he is
nominated ourdays are numbered."They
are impressed with the fact that they
are fighting against fate. They well
know that Brownlow is a worthy trus-
tee to whom the Republicans of this dis
trict can safely commit their fortunes:
that he will leave no word unsa!d ard
no act undone which will be for their
good and advancement; that he will
make a record upon which he can sue
cessfully stand, and "hence these tears"