The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-02-04
j. WILEY SHOOK, ESQ
The Shrewdest Republican Politician
in the State is Licensed to Practice
Law--A Letter that He Didn't Write.
Wiley Shook.


Plain J. Wiley Shook, farmer and poll
tician, editor and harmonizer. and like
wise one of the daddies of fusion.
Yesterday the gentleman from Hay
wood, after a whole days examination.
emerged from the mill at work i'm the
Supreme Court building. and having
undergone transformation. he is now.
J. WILEY SHOOK, E-QUIKE,
Attorney at Law,
CLYDE, NORTH CAROLINA.
Hs viii practice in all courts, ana would
NOT be avei~,. to being elected ~uiicItCr If
the rinIuai court presided owe. by judi G
Ewart.
Bearing his sheeps<in proudly, Mr..
Shook left this morning for his home
in Clyde. He was i'm Il hurry to get
away, whether to get into his printing
office to print his cards and scatter
them over the mountains, or to be
ready for the clients who vii be sure 20
greet him on his return, or to write a
letter somewhat in the following vein
to a mutual friend Of letter Pritchard
and Rich. Pearson, in Washington,
who can tell? All that we know is that
he was anxious to get back to his home
and if he writes the letter, it may read
something like this:
Clyde, n C., Feb 6, 1896
Dear Friend: Il do not want any
Office. | went to Washington like a
~darned fool, relying on Rich. to get
me a big Job i'm the House of Represen-
tatives. ! worked hard for him. / was
one OF the many daddes of fusion, and
thought my paternity ought to have
gotten me job. But it didn't Rich
was too busy winning and dining the
bon-ton to get the office, and | had to
come home empty-handed. But Jetel
promised me big place when the Dem
Ocrats are kicked out of their Jobs III
the Senate. He had already promised
to make me his private secretary. but
| fOrgaYe him, because he had to trade
II away to get elected Senator Jete
is sorry enough about the bargain. anC
SO let that pass.
got tired of the way the Radicals
do. If Sergeant-at-Arms Bright hadn't
given Senator Wolcott. of Colorado. six
goes places,the Republicans would have
organized the Senate weeks ago. That
was a smart trick of Bright's. But it
has kept me out i'm this cold world
long time. But | guess when Dupont
gets in, the Republicans can get Vol
colt 10 let them organize, if they will
give him seven offices
bought really to have big paying
job, but there is Hiram Grant, of Colds
boro, who claims TO bd the real daddy
of Fusion-that | and Rich. and JeteI
and all the other daddies are not genu-
ine-and that he ought to get the big
gest plum And the most of it is that
| think Jeter and Mary Ann have prom
Used the Yankee General the best thing
in sight. And then there is Fortune,
of Cleveland, who is promised big
job, and several others. On the whole,
think | will quit politics, and depend
upon my law practice for living
What do YOU think of it?
Yours in the hands of Gold Bug
finance
1t is certainly good thing for Jeter
and Rich that j. Wiley didn't write the
above letter, and thatititonly the pro-
duct of reporters Imagination. LIT
J. Wiley should take up the pen, and
would write as forcibly as he talks,
he would make the fur fly. He might
make Judge Ewart, Pritchard, Pearson
and Moody quake, for he knows all
about them from "a to H." In fact
he did more to elect each of them
than any other man in the mountains.
He is a fighter and an organizer from
way back, and if he has kept a diary
for the past ten years, it would be
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