Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-09-22

Duncan may go 1fee, DuG Few uecen1
people will have any respect for a person |
with so base a mind and heart.
Rockingham Democrats Get Rest.
1t is refreshing to read the Spirit OF
the Valley this week. Something has
gone wrong down in Rockingham, and
Mr.. John Acker and the Rev. A. L.
Funkhouser are suffering from fusllades
shot from the Spirits blunder- buss. 1t
tells how nine years ago John Acker
began breaking up the Republican par
ty. and later when he began to run
county conventions by sharp practices
which would have disgraced even a
Democratic ballot box suffer in the
Black Belt, and how Mr.. Acker might
be honest in settling his private bus1-
ness, but politically he was as low 'wn
as Funkhouser, and used money and
whiskey in the primaries, with mis-
statement of facts. to serve political
ends. until many people declared he was
quite as bad, if not little worse than
Funkhouser, but that the Spirit was
compelled to say that it, the Spirit,
does not believe that Acker is as low
politically as Funkhouser, &c.
To give accurately an idea of the
eulogies pronounced, and the kindly
spirit pervading Republican pleasantries
down in Rockingham, we produce the
following excerpt from one article:
when nine years ago, j ohm Acker be-
gan to break up the Republican party.
which, up to the time of his appoint
ment as county CD lirman, had been I'm
tied and victorious in Rockingham
county, very few people thought any
| thing more of his action than that he
was wrong-headed, and possessed bad
| Judgment, and that he was too much
under Parson Funkhouser's influence.
When later on he began to run Repub-
Iican conventions by sharp practices,
which would have disgraced even Il
! Democratic ballot box suffer in the
Black Belt, people began to say that
while he might possibly be honest in
settling his private business, yet politi-
caliv he was as low down as Funkhous-
er. And still later on, when he began
TO run primaries with money and whls
kew. coupled with gross MEASUREMENTS
of facts, many people declared that he
WAS quite as bad as FunahOuser. il not
a little worse. Bnt when at last he
actually Joined ParsOn Funkbouser in
stealing the vote of Harrisonburg pre-
clint, some said that nothing lower or
more contemplate in politics had ever
been accomplished.
NOW. we have seldom attempted to
defend 1.-THE ways that are dark and
the tricks that are vain" which have
marked John Acker's political course
since he fell under the malign Influence
of the Rev. A. p. Funkhouser, but JUS
tice compels us to say that we do not be-
lieve that Acker is as low politically us
Funkhouser. 1t is true that he has
Joined Funkhouser in all the contemp-
tiple tricks which have SO disgraced the
pair, yet candor dictates that We should
say to our readers it is our belief that
John Acker is so much under Pars0n
FunkhOuser influence, that he is i'll
capable of seeing for himself, but al.
lows Funkhouser to do his planning and
thinking for him."
Such charges as these against leading
men of party and community, gets
the community all agog, because there
is no measuring the depths of depravity
to which a Democratic ballot box suffer
has fallen; therefore the public cannot
tell lust how far down Mr.. Acker and
Mr. Funkhouser have gone, To say
that man had quit lying, in q great
measure, or that there are several APP
pies on tree, or that there are in q
tract of land So many thousand acres,
more Or less, have each some si2nifi
canoe, but being lower down thar
) Funkhouser, or guilty of tricks which
would have disgraced even Democrat
ic ballot box suffer in the Black Belt
has a ring of uncertainty about it which
is tantilizing to careful, calculating
accurate people like those OF the Tentl
Legion.
This is an an ugly thrust. The deptl
of depravity to which these leaders
seem to have descended so suddenly il
appalling, but that the discovery should
: just now have been made by the Spirit
: which has for years gone blindly along
associating with these good Republican
brethren, hobnobbipg, iraternzips
and mixing with them, rubbing U!
against them, and griming itself witt
{ the p1litical slime it finds them swim
ming in now, is beyond comprehension
That all astute, keeneyed journal lik'
the Spirit which had advertised to Sc
S political prutrldity Whenever and
wherever it existed, and has found 81
} much in its Democratic neighbors
l should have overlooked d cesspo1l 0
: this character at its very door, int
which it has been on the eve of falling
S and besmirching its garments, a cess
d pool worse than the Democrat have il
4 the BLACK Belt. does not argue strong
+ | " for the sight or ofactory senses q
the Spirit. But maybe it has beel
L suffering from cold, or its eye glas se
l have been dimmed, Or maybe Mr.. Johl
S Acker and the Rev A. p got the bette
p of the Spirit in political tussel, any o
= these things would explain the mystery
At any rate the democrats can take
i day off, and get little much needed
= rest, because at present there is no hop
: of the Spirit coming dom Off its higl
horse, and letting up on the said Mr.
d Acker and the said Mr.. Funkhouser
q We NAV look by the time the weel
e passes, for these persons to get anoihe
r kick which will send them further ant
further down The decline Way dow
below the ''Black Beitn fellows, wher
I IA Mere Tool" will in no sense properl.
characterize Mr. Acker.