The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-17

bad methods In politics, why did you not
say SO when first questioned in regard to
IL? Your statements concerning this cir
cular have been so varied and conflicting
that it is not easy to reconcile them.
In the Meyerhardt letter you say:
Without any solicitation on my part, I
find myself q candidate for the Democrat
&c nomination for Governor while in your
| Gainesville speech, delivered some days
later, you admitted that you had written
5000 letters requesting people to ask you
10 run
In your telegram from Haddock Station,
you said that the Meyerhardr circular was
a personal letter 10 a friend, and not In
| tended for publication, and yet it devel-
| oped subsequently that Judge Meyerhardt
did MOI even. know YOU nor had ever had
any communication with you. That num-
erous other copies of the circular have
since turned up in different portions of
! the state is a matter of general informa-
! ton. To meet this new development, you
! found it necessary to offer a new version.
To a reporter of the Macon Telegraph you
made the following statement:
| " 1 had daily received numerous letters
/ from different parts of the state iuquiring
as to my candidacy. and the nature of my
! campaign To all of these letters l replied;
! and in the case of some letters q had re-
! their queries, dictated this letter to my
! stenographer, and instructed her to adj
! dress the same letter 10 several parties
perha ps six in ssmber.
(which of these statements is true?
| Subsequently, when more than six of these
! secret circulars had come to light and it
| became known that a least one of them
| had been mailed 10 a man who had been
| dead two fyasprs. you abandond the state
] III or only civ baf
| they were written only in response to pri-
waite letters received by you. In your
| Gainesville speech you said: 4 got a list
| from a friend of a number of close friends
of Gen. Evans, and mailed them that let
| ter
! In an interview published by the Macon
! Telegraph which you pronounced correct
! find this statement: 1t was the conduct
| Of certain politicians around Atlanta that
! prompted the Rome letter How can you
reconcile this with your other explana-
| tons, previously quoted?
! Again, in the Atlanta Journal, you gave
/ as your reason for writing the Meyorhardt
! letter that there We're counties in the
! state where Republican negroes were vot-
/ ed in the Deypocratic primari es' and you
/ have also said that your own county was
one of these. AS the friends of Gen. Ev-
! ans had control Of the executive commit
I tee in your county, whose action gave the
\ negroes the privilege of voting in the
| Democratic primary, upon what theory do
| you make the wrong doing of Gen Ev-
! ans friends the basis of an attack upon
! the friends of Gov. Atkinson? Why did
| you send the secret circulars to the friends
I Of Gen. Evans only?
| Il note that you still claim to have been
one of Gen. Evans supporters in Hall
county four years ago. Now, let us see
what prompted your support. You gay:
| When l. discovered that Republican ne
! groes were to be voted In a Democratic
| primary for Gen. Evans opponent, 1 Lro-
tested against thus debauching our pri-
mary, and when my protest was of no
avail, took the field for Gen Evans
/ etc. So 1t appears that you did not go
\ into the tight with any interest in, or
enthusiasm for Gen. Evans, but merely
to rebuke those who were seeking to carry
/ the election with the aid of negro votes =!
! Now, is il not true that the primary In flat
| contest was thrown open to negroes by
| the action of your county executive COM
! mittee, and were not Gov. Atkinson s
| friends in minority on that commit ee?
| If it be true that you supported Gen. Ev-
ans, knowing the circumstances under
which negroes were allowed TO vote, how
| can you consistently condemn the action
of his friends on the committee in OPEN
/ Ing the primary to negroes? Did you not
| tell prominent citizen of this state with
| in the past month that, in the contest be-
tween Atkinson and Evans. you did not
decide until two days before the election
for whom you would vote-Evans or At
| kinson?' Is it not true, In fact, that
when you approached the polls, you went
In by rear door, and that you voted what
Is called a 'vest-pocket' ticket? Us it not,
my dear sir really a matter of DOUBT in
| the minds of many of your fellow citizens,
even 70 this day, as to whether you voted
/ for Evans or Atkinson? 1 am informed,
1 at least. that there Is tradition to this
effect in Hail county.
In my letter of March %, referring to
what you had said regarding the use of
money in elections. I denounced the prac-
tice. and charged that you had used your
money to encompass the defeat of your
4 opponents In your reply you do not deny
! this charge. You eVade the point by say
/ ing merely that you have not bought any
votes, nor whisky to influence votes Why
did you not meet the charge bravely, in
stead of resorting to evasion to dodge the
issue? Did you not fail to make specific
denial because you knew that had In my
| possession proof To sustain the accusa-
| ton? ] make no specifications as to how
! this money was used. will. however,
submit some evidence in support of he
charge that / have made. AS to whether
/ any part or all of this money was furnish
ed by you that others might use It for
buying votes or whisky, an intelligent pub
Tic can determine after reading the state
ment submitted below:
''In 1899 a movement was inaugurated in
| Gainesville for the establishment of a
bank, and the promoters of the enterprise
| addressed YOU a letter at Washington, ask
| ing that you take some of the stock. Yoa
replied to this solicitation, under date