People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1896-09-25
REV. SAM JONES.
HE WRITES AN OPEN LET
TER TO HONEST MEN.
LET EVERYBODY READ IT.
Show il to Your NeighbOrs and
Friends-They Will Read
It and Heed 1t.
CARTERsvILLE, Ca, Sept. 1G.

dress only the honest Democrats, the honest
Populists, the honest Prohibitionists, and the
honest Republicans of this grand old state.
want it distinctly understood that am not
addressing partisan machine politicians
whether they 10 editors of papers, pap-suck.
ers. political healtrs, or office seekers; and
as for what the last named gang may have to
say in response to what l now say / care for
1t as little as l care for the moss and trash in
a last years birds nest. But to the class
first mentioned address myself and sey that
little more than week ago / addressed a
letter to Hon. AS, Clay, chairman of the Demo-
cratic executive Committee of the state of
Georgia, appealing to him to comply with
the Terms prope I'D by the chairman of the
executive comm ttee of the PoEulist party
and pledge himself and. so far as possible.
pledge the chairmen of the county Demo-
cratic committees to divide election man.
ayers aud clerks with the other parties in
this election that we might have a free ballot
AMI a fair count in the state Of Georgia. My
appeal would have been as effective if / had
made it to an Egyptian mummy. A response
came from some of the editors of the Demo-
cratic papers il this state. Ny appeal was
not made to them. These editors would call
me down with q wave of their hand or a curl
Of thelT lips, with Hings about preachers 60
Ing into politics and all that sort of stuff,
and maybe in the same issue of their paper in
the repol torial columns they would give the
patriotic speech of General Evans a nohle
Methodist preacher of our state. They would
quote our dead bishops and our living D. DIS.
whom they happened to think were on their
side. 1t is all right wit them when a preach
81 champions the machine politics of a state
and fall in line with the thugs and buns and
political heelers and pap-suckers but if he
dare enter a protest and demand free ballot
and fair count he is a fraud and fool and
L. Il.
business.
To what depth have We fallen7 Every drop
Of political blood that courses in my veins 1
trace back to Thomas jefferson, the man who
gave America the principles of Democracy,
and these PRINCIPLES shall abide forever. but
whom l read the Platform and look at
the practices of the Democrats of today I say to
myself that, whether or not the iniquities OF
the fathers are visited upun the children to
the third and fourth generation, sure 1 am
that the children of he third and fourth gem
sration from Thomas Jefferson are visiting
lniquitv upon their father enough to make
him turn aver in his grave and wish that he
had died chiIdless.
l appeal to the honest Democrats of this
state, and they are many. I say to you, gentles
men, the question of fraud and rings and
tsscally dealing in this state can be found
they can be easily found. Some have been
found l understand, pigeon-holed with the
old dusty, faded records labelled 1884 and filed
away in the musty, dusty records of so years
Ago You have but to send for the record in
the contested election cases in the Tenth dis.
trict IN orGer words, you can get all the evil
dence you want of fraud and rascality enough
to make this state rise and mutiny.
You may talk to me about courts and iuries.
have always regarded the judges of our
courts as unim peachabIe but the judge does
not make court. Grand iuIies of tho
largest elements of our courts of Justice. A
gentleman who lives in Cobb county, Georgia,
told me the other day that there never had
been but one Populist on the grand jury ia
Cobb county, and he was there through mis-.
& ke. His name similar to that of an
other man who was a D. mocrat. Grand
juries must indict, and 1 deal candidly when
I say had as sooa Try to arraign a litter of
kittens before the old mother cat as try to get
grand jury to fad a true bill against set
OF ring tricksters and bali d box suffers aud
then go into court and ccnvict them " hen the
party thay prosecute is of their same kith and
kin politically. / know some men Will say,
"You ought not to impugn aud mali2n the
courts of this state My onl; reply is, search
the records of Il courts of this state where
the most ia grant frauds have been committed.
Go over tha records careful ly and find me
single Democrat THO has ever been indicted.
much less sent to the renIteni iary, in this
state for the heHous crime of ball bog
stu1ing or tamperinS with the ballots of the
Freshmen of his country; aud if anv judge oE
any judicial circuit in this state has sent-
enced such man to wear the stripes Vt a
convict for such offences let that judge name
his man and trot out his convict!
1t IS a matter o. record that two years ago
1t took more an seven days to fix the the re-
turns so they conld be announced and pub
lished. or course nothing was done wrong;
but didn't it take them long time to do the
rirkt thng7 1 would hate TO be that long
doing an honest thing and have folks say
Ing "He is honest but he is SO curious Ho
has the strangest way oil being honest of any
man ! ever saw. He is so eccentric in his
honesty" The Constitution boasts that it
will, on the day succeeding the election. give
full returns from every county in the state ;
but The Constitution was slow two years ago.
There are times when yYe must go SLOW If
any good citizen nf this state will go into
the archives of Georgia and get out tho
EwoIp testimony OF men who have never been
impeached, men who are good citizens in the
community in which they live and see how
that in many counties in this state the @ were
the most fragrant frauds where whole pre-
Clncta we're thrown out and IN the consOl ida
ton OF the returns for the least Irregularities
irregularities for VIII CHI tho Democi ats
alone were responsible-vitated the returns
and refused to consolidate them with the
Others. he will know what l am talking about.
The little editor who pors up now and snys,
"There ara no frauds in Georgia; our cleo
tions are honest, - is too ignorant to edit
paper in the jungles of Africa, or else he is
given over to a deIusion that he may believe
and tell lie in order that he may be
damned.
repeat what have said before, in my cam
good governor. / am his friend But i; he or
Steve Clay either isa party to oil has given
his nsent to the distribu of the CAM
paipn l terature that has beon circulated Ia
South Georgia among the negroes in order, a.
ono paper put it, that full rape vote slould
be mustered on the day of election for their
candidates and party, then have respect
for either of them. They have forfeited all
their claim upon the decent people OF this
state and ali right to hold office. When
Democrat and white man shall crawl IN the
slime like ii at and vonIit such stuff as that
IN the laps OF the negroes of this state in order
to catch thoir Yota he is guilty of an infamy
more treacheIous than any disreputable seal
awGgs that ever disgrGced this state.
repeat it, I am championinG no candidate
In til Sc utterances, but am talkine T. the de-
cent men Of Georgia-tlie fathers of boys, the
men in Georgia and they are in the majority.
i 4, NI