The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-10
(By D. ". McIyer.l

I
 in East Birmingham a man who has been
 a conspicuous figure in Alabama for
 nearly half of century. In reconstruc
 ton days In Alabama Ryland Randolph | could not bend his proud head to the | powers that be" and Yankee uniforms | and Yankee bayonets stirred his blood l and reused his fiery Southern spirit to the | uttermost, and very often he gave vent | to his feelings by word and action which I impressed themselves very favorably 1 upon those at whom they were directed. In 1869 when the carpet baggers ruled, | he was elected to the Legislature from | Tuscaloosa County and his words end writings were so plain and pointed that | he was expelled from the House. In earlier days just after the war he had | trouble with negroes at Tuscaloosa and was placed in dungeon at Selma and when he was released was greeted by | the people of that city men and women with great enthusiasm; flowers being strewn along his pathway in the public streets and when he reached his home in Tuscaloosa no man was ever greeted with greater hoonr and good will. All along the journey he received ovation after ovation. In 1888 he was editing The Monitor bitter Southern paper and he was very severe in his language against those who had placed the evils of recon struction upon our people and he was bold and outspoken in his denunciation of all indignities to the people of the South. Tn the Legislature. As before stated he was in 1869 elected to the Legislature from Tuscaloosa Coun- ty. His pen got him into frequent trouble. He criticised Chief Justice Peck very severely and was asked to retract by Captain J. M. Martin, his son-in-law, but Randolph declined to do so, and was invited out of the State by Captain Mar l tin and accepted the invitation appointed the Peabody Hotel in Memphis as a place | ''outside the State where correspondence | may be resumed. Friends heard of the ! pending trouble and settled it, deciding | that nothing more was intended than | ridicule, of a prominent political oppo- 1 nent. and in this view declared that there
 is no cause for a challenge between the | parties, and that amicable relations be | restored" This correspondence is pub | lished in House Journal 1S69-70 page 1s6-
 1s7 reported from committee to inquire
 into 1t, which reported Randolph
 eligible to his seat. However, later on
 real trouble came to him from that same
 caustic and bitter pen.
 | His Expulsion.
 On January %, 1870, a resolution was in
 troduced in the House by MT. Simmons as follows:
 | Whereas, In recent number of The
 Independent Monitor bearing date of
 January 25, 1870. newspaper published
 and edited in the city of Tuscaloosa, Ala, by Ryland Randolph, a member of this House. an article appears from the said Randolph, couched in such language as to leave no doubt that 1t was intended to
 bring this House into public contempt; and, whereas, it is the prerogative of ev- cry legislative body to preserve intact Its dignity against the assaults of every spe-
 cies of libellous men; and whereas, the
 said Randolph. as member of this body. has under his own signature grossly in-
 suited and slandered the members of
 this body: therefore,
 Resolved, That the said Ryland Ran
 dolph be hereby expelled as a member
 of this body
 After some discussion and failure to se-
 cure action. adjournment was had until
 the 31st. Monday when it was again
 postponed until February 9th, when the
 resolution was adopted by a vote of 57
 to IS.
 Those who voted nay were Messrs.
 Brown, Dereen, Hubbard, Hurt, Jones,
 Mastin, Moore, Murrah, Parker Pros
 kauer, Reeves, Rice, Steward. Strobach.
 Taylor of Chambers, Vanzandt, Waldrop, Speaker-1S.
 His Farewell Speech.
 When the vote of expulsion was an
 nounced, MT. Randolph arose and said: H Before I take leave of this so-caIled legislative body, 1 feel it incumbent of
 myself to perform the disagreeable part
 of a policeman who turns the rays of his dark lantern upon the skulking forms | nf a how of bat desire to remain except for the purpose
 of watching for and exposing vilainy in all It's underhanded and rascaIly ramifi-
 cations.
 "I came here believing, with religious
 confidence. that you were a body of or
 ganized punderers and thieves; I leave
 you fully impressed with the justice of
 my previous convictions.
 Go on, if you will. in your legalized
 robbery of the State Treasury Go on in your log-rollng appropriations; your in fernal bribery; your unlicensed acts of partisan villainy, your multiform corrup-
 tion, and the time will soon come when | the tax burdened people of Alabama will
 rise up in their injured majesty. eXpell- | ing negroes and scallawags. like so many miserable lazaroni from these polluted l but historic halls, and driving the car | pet-baGrcgency back to their proper con- | stituencles in Maine, Connecticut, Ohio and other hibernal habitations of the mearest race that the world has ever known. Then In the proud day of the white mans trium )h, I may reappear here to aid in striking off the handclffs you have riveted upon our downtrodden people.
 | Tn bidding you farewell l would say that l feel proud that I have been ex- pelled from your midst. Our future horo- scope. methinks, may be prophetically read in the famous distich:
 The man recovered of the bite.
 The dog it was that died"
 There is no re ,ord of what effect these words had on those for whom they were l intended. but their hides were so thick they were possibly unmoved hy mere words. On his return home he was again accorded an ovation and assured Of the sympathies and confidence of his constit- | uents.
 Lost a Leg.
 At that time the radicals had control of the University. One Of the professors | named Vaughn was seen in town every | day drunk on the streets. Colonel Ran dolph finally took the matter up in his paper. and denounced his conduct and demanded that he be removed Vaughn did not resent the assault upon him. but