Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-08-19

OF responsibility by his fIlenos' nc So
lantly takes the lead and makes the pest
| fight possible. Thus far In MS CAREER
he has always been winner.
With the end OF the war came the
question to him: "What shall l doY'
The matter of food and raiment was 10
the fore. But he owned line estate.
IT is not hard TO make living In tne
far South. But tickle the eartn with
steel. and II laughs with harvest 80
Mr.. Jones set his neighbors the proper
example In ono OF HIS social position
In going into the field IN person. Like
! Cincinnatus, he has walked many mile
! behind his sturdy mules. between the
! handles OF his cotton pillow. AZ nlshts
| and on odd days he reread some OF MS
| old law course and resumed his heslod
and Homer, and conned over the gems OF
| =. Horatlus. Flaccus. and the choicest
satres OF the first Of Latin poets, Juve-
nal
Arkansas. Louisiana. and South Caro-
lima were the last States to get from be-
| tween upper and neither millstones OF re-
construction. Though Mr.. Jsnes was
busy man with cotton and corn on ms
estate, II was impossible for him to hold
himself aloof from public affairs when
battle for political existence was beins
fought. The conditions were fast resolV-
ing themselves into one in which the END
was possible civil war. 1t happened In
Arkansas, as IT did in other States south,
that I'm the dominant party there were
too many men for the places to be filled.
"A quarrel ensued over the division OF
the spoils. The Brooks-Baxter war, and
other events involving much killing and
general lawlessness ensUed. This gave
the property owning Arkansan his
chance The natives whites were united.
NhaNr al nrFln
and carpetbagism was broken for good
and all.
In this fight James x. Jones was n
leader. by natural selection. His county,
Hampstead, had been a large slave-hold-
ing county before the war, and contain
ed a great negro population. Jones was
nominated for the State Senate. 1t SEEM
ed forlorn hooe TO carry IT for the
Democratic ticket, for the negroes were
about five to one. But the indomtable
courage that had characterized Mr.. Jones
when lead and steel were being used
stood him well in hand then, and after
such campaign has has seldom been
known I'm that State he won handsomely.
The next year a constitutional convention
was held. Here again. Jones, of Hemp
stead.' was leading figure, and became
known throughout the State as an advisor
and speaker. When the new State Senate
convened Jones was elected President
without opposition, and thus became
fairly launched into public life, without
his own consent. His people called upon
him to serve them, and he answered their
call SO much for his earlier political
career.
There Is q quality very highly valued
in the South and farther West. but al
most uhollv iopnrad 81 MiggiS-
sipp! river. 1t may be characterized
rather awkwardly as being dead game"
In the South, when the personal quail
ties of n man most worthy OF commenda-
ton are described, there Is usually one
mentioned that is rarely spoken Of in the
North. II is his physical courage. Just
why this is so il is difficult TO say. But,
had a man the eloquence OF the orators
that have lived from Demosthenes down,
with the wisdom OF Solomon. ana lacked |
in the quality OF physical courage. his
career as a public man south OF the Poto-
mac or the Ohio would be irremediaby |
marred. All gentlemen South are pre-
sumed to be brave, as all women are |
supposed 10 possess the jewel that most |
adorns the sex.
In the matter OF being a dead game" |
there is no sort of question about James |
Kimbrough Jones IL has been proved, |
where lead and steel were in evidence, in |
a very deadly fashion. No man with such |
a face as his, the square lower Jaw" |
that always marks the fighting man, was |
ever daunted by an adversary or cowd |
by misfortune. He never commenced a |
ROW" I'm his life, and never ran away |
from one. Mr. Jones is no bully. He |
simply does not know how it feels to be |
afraid.
II he owes his political success to any |
one thing, it is his personal honesty ana |
a habit of telling the exact truth, or tell |
ing nothing at all. A political opponent |
knows that If Mr.. Jones will deal with |
him it will be in absolute fairness ana
Justice The Populists at their recent |
convention knew with as much certainty |
as could appertain to things and events |
political that If Mr.. Jones promised any
thing that promise would be carried into
effect, Just as its letter and spirit pro-
Yided. This was why he was requested |
to be present, and, in the event that any |
arrangement between the two parties
might not be quite clearly understood, Mr..
Jones's construction of the point at issue
would be binding. without hidden tricke-
~, final. "By'-this and by that-said a
long-bearded, "one-gallused" old fellow
not far from Monticello, Ark, when the /
question of combine" with the Demo
cratic party was at issue, "by"-this and
by that-"Jim Jones has given me his
word, and every man between the Qua
chita and Red river will believe any
thing he saysw And 1t was this matter
Of Mr.. Jones's personal reputation for abb
soute truthfulness and fair dealing with
the men at St Louis from along the
Louisiana and Arkansas line. sturdy old
fellows, who had heard him on the
stump in the troublous battle years,
decade and a half now away; 1t was
the faith Of these men I'm the stalwart
six-footer from Hampstead, who had
never deceived them, that was the leadf
ing factor in putting William j. Bryan
at the head OF the POpulst ticket. And
when the history Of the last OF the three
conventions comes TO be written. ii Will
be known and seen that the one man
whose honest word and pledge went
farthest with the Arkansans, the Tennes
seeans. and the Louisiana Populists was
the unsullied word of the man who has
upon him to-day the most tremendous
task that any individual has undertaken
since the war-James Kimbrough Jones
A Ray of Hope.
Detroit Free Press)