Birmingham state herald., 1897-05-11
REMARKABLE FAILURE  Has Been Hon. Oscar R. Hund- :;;:: Iey's Contest Case h. -ss s<k EXCITING JOE WHEELER sz-ez>4ss For Congressman From the Eighth District Inside History Given by the Official ...,... Republican Organ.

= as-tfsA-
 ; -Tne Huntsville Tribune, the official or < gan of the republican party of Alabama, = publishes the following inside history of -a stfaeneandddacy of Hon. Oscar R. Hundiey ~s against Gen. Wheeler for congress from A theA4sighth district, and the reasons why s- MT Hundley has given up his contest se suit.
 = The letter of Hon.. Oscar Hundley e- stating that he would not contest Wheel = CTS seat in congress and assigning pre- = tended reasons therefor, Is the terminus = of one of the most disgusting political . failures ever known in the political his ss tory of this country.
 MT. Hundley's campaign has been in @s bad faith from start to finish. His nom 2 ination was secured by assurances from . his friends that he would put funds in ' to the race. His first speech, the speech s~ of his acceptance left a. stench from the = moment of it's utterance to the present ~s date. This speech was introduced by a z promise and a threat of contest, "he ' would have his vote counted in Wash -e ington if rot here" It was an appeal Y to the colored race, one more calculated ' to excite race prejudccs than any speech :. made in the Eighth district in a quarter Y of~a century. But the whole campaign = was a failure from start to finish MT. !. Hundley with the democratic executive -s committee pushing Eirn was a powerful !. instrument in their hands. Any other .. instrument who would have disregarded . the principles of fairness, and said to the . boys in the ditches: Boys, can't you ss run me a little ahead of the ticket?" |, would have been a success. It was the : machine which made MT. Hundley, and s4 when the county convention busted the @ machine and Dr. Mcdonnell and MT. es Betts were removed from MT. Hundley's
 ha0 ho ell a a -< rag, and was as equally worthless. See 8 ing his condition of helplessness, seeing = that his days were numbered, that he . stood no more chance than a snowball in -- the internal regions with such men as 7 Isue Matthews. R. E. Spraggins and Ed. : Gardiner as democratic executive com- .e mitteemen, he determined to try his s political fortunes in pastures new, hence { he jumped the political fence and when '. he hit the ground on the other side, it q was shouted, Hes got the money and s 1t don't make any difference about the E total absence of everything else that is ! attractive about him for congress" and we did run him.
 Now, there Is some inside history about this business. The editor of the Tribune, T who has known Mir Hundley for thirty. ,- years and never knew any great good of " him in that period didn't know what he e- might develop. When appealed to said: < Yes, let him run for congress, for if 1t
 suits you from your standpoint, it will
 suit me from my standpoinS, for I know now is the time to break his political neck. f What we referred to was the wild and -s woody free silver craze. We knew TO man
 could stem that tide. Standing at E. B.
 Carcer's corner we asserted to a leader: < You can take buggy and go due west ~ to the western Lauderdale county line. ' and you will no5 encounter farmer who
 Is not for free silver Oscar, in his egot-
 ism, didn't see it that way.
 We all agreed, both his friend and his yenemy, that it was better to break his
 neck than any one else's neck; he could .@ffnancially afford it better, we thought. s' So the Tribune took down the notice.
 Boys, can't you run ma little ahead of
 the ticko'?" the drum was tapped, and
 we had the satisfac ion of seeing dear
 Oscar start in race he had as much
 chance to win as a pig does to fly Of course. we were much tiokled a the psr-
 formance; but we went in, worked hard.
 made straight from the shoulder repub-
 lfcan speeches, advocated with instinct i've earnestness that grand old whig doc-
 Urine of protection and progress. After
 paying tribute yo Mckinley a the end
 of each oratfon we always brought dear
 Oscar in on the spotted mule and trc'.-
 ted him around to the best possible ad-
 vantage before tfhe audience, often elic- iting loud applause. We do not confess that on this occasion we had less to say about free vote and fair count than
 ever before. We could arouse neither
 pride nor enthusiasm over that principle
 of government, while the man who ap-
 pealed the Madison county manda mus
 cases. granting an inspector a each box
 thereby depriving our people of a fair
 election by legal trick, was climbing
 our mast pole.
 When the election was over we were
 told that We had to support a cor:est
 With decided earnestness we said, nit!
 We may have to support nominees, but
 we don't have to support a fraud upon
 our people We said, we had Just so soon
 support counting our vote at boxes as
 n Ons-I hxa ,rxk a1aa aI
 at the other end of the line We made
 the entire business stop and think. They
 made us stop and think some, too. for
 we have been punished for our honesty
 and defiance; but we have been punished {, all we can be. So now we are on top;
 our intelligence, our prophecy, our integ-
 rity have all been vindicated, and MT
 Hundley is hatter polically than a
 watery pancake beat with a biscuit rol-
 Ter. Now. as to the reasons about the
 contest not being made. that is all bosh
 Mir Hundley was simply defeated, badly
 defeated 4,00O, and if it had not been a
 to the vote of white republicans. He was
 defeated about 1000 and if it not been
 presidential year. with Mckinley to have pulled him through he would have been
 beat s,ooe just as easy. Our criticism of
 MT, Hundley is simply this: He has no '. force no power within himself He will
 accept all the force, all the power that
 democratic executive committee or any
 other power will lend him. He Is not un-
 like South American eater: he can just stick out his political tongue and lick in all the pie at one swipe. But when a fel-
 low gets into the republican party in the
 south. he has to have integrity and cour-
 age; 1t is his speed and bottom, and as
 Oscar had neither. his little balloon has
 bursted. his little gas has escaped. his
 little canvass has collapsed, his little
 political grave has been dug and his lt-
 tie corpse is in 1t. and.! and well! and
 we eare!!!!-well. putting 1t differently from
 what we intended, putting it with that
 Christian spirit for which we are noted
 we are not sorry 1t is thus, nor shall we
 weep- many tears over his grave. Poor