Iron County register., 1899-12-07
From Ex-Governor Stone.
ST. LOUIS, Mo, Nov. 27, 1899.

Mr.. Eli d. ALe, IrOntOn, No:
DEAR SIR: | am at my Office to-day
for the first time in week, having
been sick at home. In my mail l find
a clipping from your paper, the REGIS
TER. This clipping is a reproduction
OF what purports to be an interview
with Brick" Hendrickson of Jasper
county, who once represented the dis
trict of which that county is part in
the State Senate. About the time this
''interview" first made its appearance,
Mr.. Cornelius Roache of Carthage
also printed an editorial in his paper.
the Jasper County Democrat, of about
the same general purport of the Hend-
rickson interview. Now, | happen to
know, and | assert il to be fact, that
Mr.. w. H. Phelps wrote both Brick"
Hendrickson's interview and Reaches
editorial. Roache has a grievance
against me, and with reason. Last
year (1S98) a new Senator was elected
for the Jasper country district. In the
summer of that year a Democratic Con-
Yeution met at Lamar to nominate a
candidate for Senator in that district.
Senator before both the Democratic
and Republican conventions of that
district, as he does in other districts.
Mr.. Cornelius Roache was his candi-
date before the Lamar convention.
There were two other candidates be-
fore the convention, one of whom was
Mr.. John B. Cole. of Lamar. The bal
loting ran through several days with
out result. Mr.. Phelps went out to
Lamar from ST. Louis to work for
Reaches nomination. During the pro-
gress of the convention Phelps offered
Cole $500 to withdraw and give Roache
votes enough to nominate him. With
the object of having the offer put in
form where it could not be contradicted,
Mr.. Cole asked Phelps to put the
money in MIR. Thurman's hands, to be
paid over on Coles withdrawal and
Reaches nomination, and that was
done. Then Cole went before the con-
vention and publicly exposed the whole
transaction. OF course that ended Mr..
Reaches senatorial aspirations. At
terward. when the legislature assem-
bled in January, MIR. Roache turned
up at jefferson City as a candidate for
Secretary of the Senate, backed, of
course, by Mr.. Phelps. / talked with
several Senators and strongly advised
against Mr.. Reaches election to that
Office. l had nothing personal against
Mr.. Roache; | had no reason whatever
for any personal grievance against
him; but, as party matter, did not
believe Messrs. Phelps and Roache
should be permitted to unload the
Lamar scandal on the State Democracy.
If the transaction to which | have al
luded was sufficient to drive Mr..
Roache out of a convention before
which he was a candidate for Senator,
did not think it should be taken as a
recommendation when he asked to be
made the Secretary of the whole Sem
ate. My advice, however, was not
regarded, and Mr.. Roache was elected;
but the fact that | opposed his election.
taken with his known relations to Mr..
Phelps, explain why he was not only
willing to open his editorial columns
to Mr.. Phelps production, but was
willing to adopt it as his own.
| know, also, as a matter of fact,
that Phelps has been striving, directly
and Indirectly. acting sometimes for
himself and sometimes through others,
to have the Hendrickson interview and
Roache editorial reproduced In other
papers. Some editors have reproduced
one or the other of them, and some
editors have declined to reproduce
either. He has also had these pro-
ductions of his pen printed as circulars
and In that form has mailed them to
many people throughout the State. So
elated and proud is he of his perform
ances in this behalf that he personally
mails 20 me these reproductions of his
genius as they appear from time to
time in various publications. | sup
pose he does this that may be advised
of his cunning and be made TO dread
his power. But there is no need to
advise me of the one, nor can | be
made to dread the other. On the con-
trary regard the whole performance
as comical, and it is not without its
advertisement to those who are familiar
with the situation and who know these
gentlemen and their methods. Indeed.
when | read these effusions written by
Mr.. Phelps and credited to Messrs.
Roache and Hendrickson, am remind
ed of a story told of Mansfield. 1t is
said that he was being terribly boared
on one occasion by three agents of
certain rostrum, who extolled its vir-
tues and pressed him to try it. After
listening impatiently until they were
through, Mansfield asked-"Do You
know why the Lord commanded Ana
MAS to stand forth?" They answered