The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-09-16

Or Some other Quality shown ny e. Re
Ayeoek To he Very Defective.

Ayeoek To be Very Defective.
From the Charlotte Observers &C
count OF the debate betwecu c. b. Ay-
cock and Cy Thompson at Concord on
Monday we take the following ex-
tract:
DR.. Thompson said. referring 10 the
office Of secretary of state under his
predecessors:
will give you another bit OF loose
ness in that office. During Captain
Cookies administration there were
from $50 TO 100 corporations chartered
from that Office upon which the fees
were paid. and upon which the seal tax
OF 81 zach should have been turned
over TO the private secretary OF the
governor.
One hundred and eighty or $3.50
ought TO hav been paid to the private
secretary of the governor on this az
count during Cookies administration.
His books show that not one cent was
so paid. The law gives the secretary
OF states these corporation fees ex-
cept the small seal tax This account
was balanced on Captain Cookies o
He took all the fees. | don't pre-
| tend TO explain 1t, but II is a fact
THOMPSON'S WORD AGAINST
COOKIES WORD.
Mr.. Aycock's hands were trembling
| when he arose 10 reply. The paper he
held uuivered like an aspen leaf. IL
was not from fear. but from pent up
indignation. His rejoinder was even
-N~-, enr{nnn and nnpSfnOlS thai
Thompson's speech. He read extracts
from Mr.. Cookies reply to Thompson's
| Clinton speech. in which the ex-secre-
tary of state denied in toto the sneak
ing i%nsinuations OF lying and fraud
that the ~fusionis; makes Mr.. Cookies
word" he said. turning upon his oppo-
| ment, lis as good as yours any day.
| Great cheering)
| A. The keynote OF Mr.. Cookies reply Is
| this sentence: Instead OF being a fact
IL is a f~alsehood." This was hurled at
| Thompson again and again and he
| ouailed before it. He went dow in
| shame and defeat.
is that your endorsement asked
| Mr.. Aycock. as he handed DIR. Thomp-
son a check. The crowd broke into
wild cheering. as the doctor hesitated
| and hesitated. but did not dare To re
| pudiate il. II reads as follows, and
| covered the seal fees Mr.. Aycock
said. which Thompson had accused
| Cooke of not accounting for:
| Certificate $500. $500. -. ..S',oVV ~
By check, Worth Tres. 1902 20
*Telfair H.. ......slS3 90 l,OS5 40
Balance . d. ...... ...S6.ili Az
De-. 80 +ha orlar- Of ('yT1l= ThDmn @Dn-
present secretary Of state.
G.. NJ. Coke. former secretary of
state.
Pay National Bank Of Raleigh,
CYRUS THOMPSON,
Secretary OF State.
Mr.. AycOck was evidently loaded for
Thompson. and the latter was
by surprise.
BENEDICT ARNOLD WAS SOBER
AS to T~hompsOn's claims or immacu
late spOtlessness for the present ad-
min~istl tito Mr.. AycOck said hat
Judas I~scariot and Benedict Arnold
(populist favorites. by the way, for
purposes Of comDarison) were sober
men. so far as he knew. He never had
heard Of their drinking. The hour
has come" he said to his opponent.
when you shall stop going up ana
down the state villifying honest men"
Great ~appaluse.J
Thompson had charged Aycock with
staying in Office as district attorney
after Cleveland went out n getting
a salary at the rate OF 5000 a year.
Mr.. Aycock denied this, and stated
that the fee system was abolished
while he was in Office, and that, in an
sWer to a question from Washington,
he a written to headquarters that he
thought 81 900 a. year was ample salary
for the duties a district attorney had
to perform. | believe any democrat
would have written that answer, he
said. But a ~fusionists never would.
THE DOCTOR HACKED.
DR.. Thompson and his crowd were
both hacked under the onslaught Of
Mr.. Aycock's eloquent and convincing
and unanswerable rejoinder. He said:
Il endorsed that check, but | don't
know what these items On IL mean
Does the word "Telfair" mean that the
seal fees were paid? 1t does not
Cooke says there Is a record of settle
rnent. ! can't find 1t, nor his chief
clerk, whom | kept in my Office for
seven months.
The doctor said that anyone in Ons-
low country would say that his word
was as good as any mans
Have / villified any man" he ask
ed (as if he really believed he hadn't
both living and dead!D Am | a dog
that I should not tell the truth ON you
men? Are you tAycock} or Cooke bet
ter than II"
nj in the next breath: Il have
never said Cooke diverted that money
to his own use. But what did he keep
1t so long for? I'll show the r~ascality
of a democratic administration"
It was a pitiful attempt Of a falling
man to balance himself-this last re-
ply OF DR.. Thompson's.
I*Not@Telfair was the governors