The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-05
PoSSUM SUPPER A BIG PLOT.
col. GAMBLER INDUCES IN rBUE
COMMENTS.

Says He Didn't Think 1t Was Good
Place for One-Eyed Man 90 Be
Atm the Second Place He Was so
Busy at Home That Day That He
Would Not Have Had Time 10 At
tend His Own FuneraI-The Letter
Ancident Makes Him smile.
Atlanta, Ca, Jan. 4.-The secret 3D.. r.e
Newman 'possum supper are er a
cropping out That Is to say, the .-
beginning TO break upon some of t.. E
dents of that great feast, WIFI. ,'
caused more or less speculation .n
political point OF view ever sine . eas
''pulied OF"
Aside from the Stumbling" Of s..--..
Bacon by the invitation comm. u.
most talked-of thing connected e...
affair was the failure of Col. Allan ..Hl-
Ter TO attend. While he did not 60 I.aa t.
sningie with the host OF polite aa
We're expected. Col Gambler sem a
of regrets" TO the chairman
enough, this letter was never real %. t'.
feast, but it appeared in the daily io.'s
here the day following, just a * r .a.
been read and received with grs.t oa'a1-
siasm by the assembled 'possum-,at-rs.
This has also caused talk
Col. Gambler himself has said nothing
about the incident until tonight. vheu.a.
took occasion 20 say some highly interest
ing and significant things about be. When
asked by the Morning News Correspondent
why he did not attend the Newnlu FEAST
the little secretary Of state. vino s u9@
fairly in the gubernatorial lists. win Fl
peculiarly quizzical expression ia his man
nor replied: well, in the frs, place. T
didn't think it was a good place for
'one-eyed' man to be at
From the way in which this answer was
given, il was very plain to be saon that
the "Plowboy of Pigeon Roost' thought
the Newman feast had designs on state
politics and that he was not a friend 300
the conspiracy.
In the next place" he added "it was
the last day of the month, and the las, OF
the year, and / just had 20 be at home.
! couldn,t have gone to my own funeral
on that day"
AS the Newman possum plot was fur
ther discussed, Col. Gambler made some
exceedingly trite observations upon it,
Why said he, with that emphatic l.
mean-eyery- bit-of-it sort of a way thar
campaigns, my opinion is that the whole
thing was goa up to boom my friend Ter
roll for governor. and to launch the At
Rinson senatorial boom"
There are others who thing the same as
Col Gambler on this line.
Some one mentioned the letter Col. Cand-
Ter wrote to the chairman of the Newman
feast and he threw some more interest
ing light upon the game OF politics now
being played on the quiet by relating
brief story of his campaign against Judge
Emory Speer for congress when ne first
defeated him in the Ninth district
''Speer didn't exactly challenge me to
joint debate" he said, ''but he wrote me
a letter saying he had made list of
appointments and would be pleased if I
could meet him at any of them lie CON
cluded with a little lecture saving it was
quite improper TO engage in still hunt
] was green in the game then and | wrote
q reply to Speer. 1t was short but to the
point. / just told him he'd find that If
would not be as stir as he imagined be
fore he got through with the race But
didn't keep a copy of this reply, and Of
course Mr.. Speer didn't publish it. and to
this day IL is a lost document none of the
newspapers ever getting hold of it. Now
] am some older, / have learned a few
Things, and when / wrote that letter to
Newman, / kept a copy of it. / knew they
wouldn't print it. but it got printed lust
the same. l sent my copy to the office
and | guess it surprised 'em. They tell me
il wasn't even read at the feast. though
some one gathered all the letters and tele-
grams of regret up and was about to read
them, but he didn't
Col Gamblers retrospect of the Newman
'possum plot viii undoubtedly be read
with much interest 1t shows Just what
some men with political futures who
We're invited but stayed away think of
its political significance.