The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1898-07-28
HOT SHOT.

Whatever else may be said about
them, the Congressional insurgents
in this District are not using smoke
less powder in their attacks upon
Linney, J. Wiley Shook and the Re.
publican office holders convention.
Their guns are being heard and,
doubtless, their shots are being felt.
If this preliminary skirmish in
creases in intensity, and proportion
ately, as it approaches the lombard
ment and assault periods, the Bull
of the Brushes has regular Cervera
time ahead of him, and after it is all
over and he has been elected-to
STAY at home-his moments of re-
Fiction may suggest that a spirit of
independence has taken hold of the
people and that they will no longer
be dominated by pie-counter boss
ism.
In Yesterdays Charlotte Observer,
]. W. Mcneil, of Wilkesboro, fires
thirteen inch shell into the Linney
camp. It takes the form of a reply
to J. Wiley Shocks account of the
Congressional Convention which
named Linney for Congress. At the
outset, McNeill makes it warm for
Shook, by a number of interroga-
tions, among which is the following:
"Who is he to impugn the motives
of three-fourths of the Republicans
represented in said convention who
dared resist the oppressive and
coercive rulings that were attempted;
Republicans who had borne the flag
through many a fight before the
CALLING fire of the enemy; Republi-
cans, many of whom have grown
gray in the service, but who have not
fattened at the ''swill tub" as has he
who presumes to attack their Re
publicanism
Mcneil closes his personal reference
to ]. Wiley with the following
pointed words:
Enough about this fellow. Too
much, indeed, has already been said,
if the value of the space were set
against the man."
The writer then gives in detail the
insurgent account of the Convention,
agreeing in the main with reports
heretofore published in THE SENT
MEL, arguing that gag law was re-
sorted to by Linney's otfice-holding
friends and the will of the majority
stifed.
From McNeill's conclusions we
give the following extracts:
LET it be known that those who
withdrew from this pie brigade are
standing upon their rights as Re
publicans who will not be gagged.
Let it be known that foreign revenue
officers sent to intermeddle with their
affairs will not be tolerated.
"Let it be known that the Grand
Mognl,' Bull of the Brushes, who
has been a Republican seven years
only, and who has received therefor
$4,000, sum $40, 1899 in excess of
the value of his party service, cannot
intimidate nor coerce these men who
have grown gray in party harness.
"Unless this convention reconvenes
and dominates a candidate in COM
pliance with the plan or party
organization, DR.. M. ID. kimbrough,
chairman, and his executive commit
tee will Immediately proceed to call a
convention in compliance with the
Republican plan of party Organiza-
ton and place in the field Republi-
can staudard-bearer.
"They may call us insurgents. 1t
matters not to us. They cannot
destroy the truth for which we fight
and a rebel becomes a patriot after
he has put down wrong and outrage.
"Mr. Shook closes his letter to
your paper with the declaration that
if Mr.. Linney's defeat is accom-
plished, the blame will lie where it
belongs. True. 1t will lie at the
doors of those who made their battle
cry The will of the people be
damned
Other prominent members of the
Republican party are talking along
the same lines as Mcneil and the
mutterings of discomfort, under the
office-holders' lash, are spreading
and growing more ominous. Some
Republicans have learned a lesson
that our Populist friends need to
learn, viz, that the will and interests
of the people mist not be subordi-
mated to the selfish dictations of pie
counter gangs-bhat the people are
the sovereigns of the Republic and
the Office-holders are their servants
and not their masters.