The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-03-31

(From the LeaVenWorth TmeS-)
EJohn J. ingalls, Open Letter to Blshop
McCabe.1
Sleeping Car Essen
March %, 1897.
MY Dear Bishop McCabe-In a Kan
sas City paper which 1 bought at Trim
idad this morning, on my way home
from San Francisco 1 find the follow
ing:
At the Winfield conference Bishop
McCabe rose to a question of personal
privilege and roasted John ]. ingalls,
for his report of the prize fight. He
said: 1T is a fitting sequel to the ca
reer of a man who declared the purih-
cation of politics an irridescent dream
to find him slOughing off his senator
ship tOga long enough to prostitute ms
glowing rhetoric for the sporting read
|. ers of the New York Journal What a
contrast between the calm dignity with
which John ]. Ingalls, held the FESTIVE
| members of the upper house OF con-
gress within the bounds of senatorial
courtesy and his gentle efforts to Soothe
the ruffian spirit of Mrs. FitzsimmonS
when she shrieked to her husband,
XIII the dirty puppy [ am willing TO
leave the acrobatic statesman amid
| such genial environments, but as an
American citizen l protest against the
lie ,laration that the spectators at the
brutal fl. tic tournament were average
citizens of this Republic. This state
ment is a lie-an insult to American
citizenship and American manhood
Not being a member of the Methodist
church, I am at q loss to know how the
censure of any act of mine, no matter
how nefarious, could have been proper
" question of personal privilege at
| the Winfield conference; but my &c
| spect for your high Office, and for the
great organization which you repre-
sent, many of whose members are my
personal and political friends, renders
it appropriate that 1 should not allow
your comments to pass unnOticed-
Your allusiOn to the "SenatorShip to-
ny that I advocated depravity, because
I said the purificatio of politics by the
methods proposed by Democracy and
POpulism was an irridescent dream, re-
quires no extended reply.
If you think that the politics of Kan
SaS and the nation have been purified
by the precepts of the opponents of Re
| publicanism then you are warranted in
| your condemnation of the phrase which
[ uttered ten years ago; if not then
your quotation is disingenuouS and I'M
| just.
Your aIusion to the "Senatorship to-
ga makes it proper that I should say
that I left the senate involuntarily six
! years ago. I did not slough my toga
as you intimate The Popuhsts sloughed
it for me, very much against my incli-
nation. I ineffectually endeavored to
resume it at the recent election, but the
people decided otherwise, and am now
a private citizen, without even the
vague and ShadoWy publicity that at
| tends a man who is a prospective can
| didate for office. for I realize that my
| political career in Kansas is at an end.
l am glad to be able to infer from
| your remarks that While | wore that
| garment, l 6ishonOred neither my con-
| StituentS, nor the country, whatever L
may have done since.
During the interval, 1 have been, like
| yourself working for my living. Not
| having the gifts, faculties and conse-
creation requisite for a bishop, being out
| of practice a t the bar and business be-
| ing dull I have been doing odd jobs
on the lyceum platform and for the
press I talk and write, as you preach,
for money, but my opinions, convictions
and judgment are no more for sale than
yours.
From your illusions to my glowing
rhetoric" and the alleged incidents at
the ring-side, it is evident that you
carefully read the accounts OF the bru-
tai f1stic tournament at Carson, wheth-
er from the pulpit to your congregation,
at the fire-side to your family, or in the
SecluSiOn of your study, does not ap-
pear. To the unregenerate mind it
looks quite as immoral to read about
| diSreputable transaction, as to witness
it and write about it. Your time and
mine, I admit, could have been more
profitably employed in meditating upon
the maleGictiOns of Christ against the
Pharisees of his day; the canting hypo-
critics Of Palestine, and their lineal de-
| scendantS in Kansas, who thanking
God they are not as other men, pay
tithes of anise, mint and cummin and
omit the Weightier matters of law.
/ went to Carson with authority to
write as much or as little as L pleased,
in any vein as l saw fit, and my pur
pose was to tell the truth about the en-
counter, the audience and the moral
environment as it appeared to me Had
I been requested to attend the Winfield
conference and write my impressions of
it's proceedings, 1 should have done SO
with equal composure, had the cOmpen-
SatiOn offered been satisfactory, and no
other occupation prevented. Had
heard you Gistort and misconstrue the
| language of a man who had always
treated you with courtesy and spoken
of you with respect; had I heard you
apply injurious epithets gratuitously
and without prOVOcation to one VINO
| had endeavored to endure adversely
with fOrtitude; had L heard you de-
nOunce as a lie a statement of whose
truth you could personally know moth
! ing, I should have said so, in the same
spirit with which 1 described what took
! added that you exhibited all the char
| acteristics Of the gladiator, except his
! cOura ge.
1 heard no such language at Carson
as is imputed to you at the Winfield
! conference It's only parallel is the
! fictitious exclamation which you incor-
4 rectly ascribe to the frenzied Mrs. Fitz-
| simmons
The etiquette of the prize ring does not
| permit a man to call another liar, or
| accuse him of being ''prostituted ac-
robat" with impunity. Perhaps you are
| incorrectly reported 1 hope so. 1
| should regret to be compelled to believe
| that Carson has a higher code of ethics
| than Winfield, or that a pugilist may
have better manners than a Bishop.
| Very truly yours.
JOHN J. INGALLS,.
Shirts. collars and cuffs Numbered