Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1897-02-04
A GratuitOus Slander.

The SPECTATOR AND INDICATOR
was the only paper in the Tenth Dis
trict which printed very full text OF
Mr.. Yost's speech made in the Yost-
Tucker contest. We printed the speech
not on account of any intrinsic merit
it contained, but that the people OF
the district might see the extent OF the
libel which has been published against
them. 1t has been the custom OF the
press in this district with a few notable
exceptions to pass unnot1ced and IN
contradicted these wholesale ISLANDERS,
but we do not intend to adopt such q
policy, and shall not undenied nor IN
disputed allow such ISLANDERS to be
perpetrated. Mr.. Yost's denunciation
of the election officers as Hlgha00ynaen,
robbing the ignorant of their votes,
was as untrue as it was gratuitous. He
knows that in the counties of Augusta,
Rockbridge, Botetourt, Highland and
Bath, frauds are impossible. The
men who manage the elections there
cannot be bought and. will enter into
no combination to accomplish such an
end as he states was accomplished. We
believe the same about the other
counties of the district. and when Mr..
Yost held up his hand and reverently
asserted that he believed the ballots
were burned, in order to defraud him
of votes to which he was justly emit
tied, he knew that he had no founda-
ton for such statement. He knew
that the reason those ballots mad been
burned was because the election off,
GERS honestly thought they were per
forming duty incumbent upon them
under the law. When again Mr.. YOst
declared that nobody but democrats
knew how the names were placed on
the election tickets. he stated fact
possibly, but he wanted to create the
impression that the electoral boards
had used such information to advance
the democratic cause. Now Mr.. Yost
knew, and to have been fair should
have stated, that none but the "elec-
toral boards" knew how these names
we're arranged. Then he would have
told the truth, and made statement
which would have been fair. He
knows that the utmost secrecy pervad-
ed the printing OF these tickets, and
that in no case has any leak ever oc
Cured. These officers have always
always religiously observed this, be it
said to their credit. No ticket has ever
escaped them, nor has any living soul
beyond themselves and the judge of
the county or city court whose duty it
is made to help count these ballots,
and the printer who sets the tickets up
and prints them, ha ever seen one OF
them before turned over on election
day to the proper officers.
But his speech discloses that the
most intelligent Republican voters
were instructed to go in and vote first.
and then come out with all the infor
nation they could acquire about the
ballots. and instruct the more ignorant.
f1b ulll6 w DIS 0IlCCO f1OloUlOA VI Ao w,
one can well imagine what would have
been done, had men of that character
had charge of these ballots. But the
republicans did not believe Mr.. Yosu,
they saw the record did not support
his claims, and to vote for him would
have been to have received and acted
on evidence GIlaL1de, which evidence,
was Mr.. Yost's statement. This they
did not credit and therefore they re-
fused to vote for cause which had it
succeeded, would have been equivalent
to finding verdict of guilty on every
charge in Mr.. Yost's Indictment
against the people of the 10th district,
and to have overcome a majority OF
over 800 in favor of Mr.. Tucker. In
other words, it would have been dis
reimbursement Of the white people of
this district, and the elevation of a
beaten candidate to office, whose only
right to the position was that he was
the candidate of a clique which repre-
sented no principle but that OF denun-
citation of the white people, and a
determination to discredit the State
by malicious attacks on the integrity
of the people of one OF the most Jaw
abiding portions of Virginia. Strip
the case of partisanism and it was alb
without merit.
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