The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-07-08
THURSDAY. July :, 1897.
ESATOGsHAH. GAJHE'AEGsS

q dolcful sound"
The first of these expressions was used hy
former Scnatot John l.. NJ. lrhy: the an,
reply came from the incumbent, John i
McIaurin.
The two sentences gave an insight into
tho temper of the two men rs they oppose
each other in their candidacy for the Uni
ted States Senate. No one would suppose
that such an expression would Lc exchanged
between political friends and today's dc.
velopmcnts in the opening campaign meet
ing here do not pretend to indicate that
there will he amy cordinlity or reciprocal
good feeling in the conduct Of the coming
campaign.
II used to I've common thing TO write
about guns being drawn and people stand
ing on tip.tnc ready for Il fray ut II politi-
cal campaign meeting, but, rs lns been
were never fired.
AS disgusting, rs disappointing and as
uninstruCtive rs these personal difficulties
may be, they are nevertheless becoming to
be very ordinary and commonplace at
campaign meetings. In fact it might be
said that it is getting to be an almost cX-
pcctcd thing these days for one candidate
to say to another something that is calcu.
lated to be taken As an insult and then for
the two candidates to glare into each
others eyes and talk about hitting and in
sulting Zach other. 1t has not been ur,lina-
y
phasiZcd ut the Initial meeting OF tn" cam.
pAign, bHt such seemed to be the case tud,,"
and the principal NClois in the Scnnlurill
drama that is now IN progress evidently
thought that it WAS very good to introduce
it IN the first ac'. No doubt the campairn
Will warm mp from now ON, and if it does
it will not take very much more to bring
about an ac!nIi Conflict. The meeting
seemed To catch an inspiration from the.
weather and the snap of the Spraks w..
not TO be ont done by the vigor~n i Ihr hrn,
Some people. mny thMk tina, todny*
camp camp"'ETn ~, n"rr'l.S Wa model ns an ciu,
cn.or O, thc p14iTIc TO the ordinary per
sU,i' sHm' !nHS@crcr, i, would not hr So cnnStri
st'tcn the campai gn was ordered The IN
- rderstnnding was That it was intended to
educate the people ON the issues Of the day.
The only issue Tint was in anyway discuss
ed was the tariff, and that by Mr. McI.a,lr.
in, unless local affairs be regarded nS is.
sues. In the course of his hour talk Mr..
McLaurin did us" the expression ''polili
cally dishoncst.' and referred to certain
people ns ''skulkng to their dcnS," and
again to The fact ihnt certain people had
done nothing for six years III Congress and
such other rc'uarks The expressions
Senator lrby, who WIS the only active can
didatc here today, took unto himself and
thereby hangs the tale of todny's meeting
Senator lrby without delay or ceremony
upon the suppnSiliOn that these references
es to political dishonesty referred To him
self, piled right into Senator McImrin's
record and accused him Of hcing in cnlu-
sion and political plots for the iuination of
Ihe Reform Movement. Ii was Il severe.
and causlic attack.
MIR. McLauiin. perhaps unwisclv for him
self, did not mninhn silence. but took en-
of tie references of Sen.
Faced him with The demand
EOt he, and would net al.
he, insultcd in any WAY
ave Mr. McLaurn to IN
facing each other that if he
were III, ne would hit back, but there was
no hitting, although there was considcra
bic fecIing. aud from thea on ihr course Of
the speaking indiratpd that there would hr
future dcVclop&cnis OF decidedly more
spicy nature. Ii is very plain from the in
cddents of today's meeting that Senator
lrby intends to run his campaign rs 4 Re
former of the "Iruc blue" sort as he has
called it, and at the same time il is also TO
be noted that none Of the candidates are
doing anything whatever to cstrunpc or
ALLEVIATE what has been heretofore known
as the Conservative vote. for it is Of suni-
ccnt value to be very much desired.
Senator hlcI.anrin had well prepared
speech, dealing chiefly with the tariff is.
sue, and especially defending his position
with reference To his coulSc on that meas
Nlre but he made several digrcssions from
a..
which Mr. hb} seemed to think were di-
Tectcd against him. as he did the remark |
about certain ''disloncst politicians and
9Th" Sku king.
1t was very plain from the outsc, that |
the majority of the audience were in favor |
of Senator 3lcI,aurin, and Col. Irby had an !
Up hill Job from the outset, but il was also
evident that whether the audience was
with him or against him he proposed to
say what he II can't and he meant to say
what he felt. for il hus seldom been The
history OF an initial campaign meeting
where there has been such an absolutely in.
dependent and plain spoken speech and
Sor that reason one which was not cnlcuu-
hed TO make friends in the immediate au-
,dicnce.
There haze been great many people in
Rhis State who have known what it meant
and how it felt 60 be howlcd down, and
Judging from what Coz. Irby said and !
from what he emphasized. hc thought that. +,
that was TO be his fate today but as Chair
man Purdy remarked, it was mos, likely
the enthusiasm of the audicnc. for 1bc;r !
friend, which Col lrhy mislook for an rI.
fort TO howl him down. But anyway. Col
1rby took 1t as one Of those incidents fn.
miliar to the cnnpaigncrs Of 1892, and Inc
proceeded 20 deal with It as Col Youmons :
used to do, and he never entirely rcgaincd
She good VIII of many in his audience, but
that did not prevent him from saying what
he wanted to and from pouring his no, {
shot into Mr.. McIaurin.
There can be no question about the hit
that Mr.. McI4auriD made when he replied
20 MIR. Irby about bis death kncll being
sounded, and as his rejoindcr, "lIark from
tlie tomb q doieful sonnd," died away it
vas followed up @ith hearty applause and {
laughter Now come say that the applause !
which followed tbs was not intended to
hmerrurt hr MIR it'y, and that he should not