The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-13

fear of rogues. We had three or four
I thousand inhabitants but they must have
| been better than we are now, or one
policeman could not have kept order.
| do not remeber what the city paid Uncle
Jimmy to keep the peace in those days,
when there were four thousand people
| to look alter, but suppose he received
about as much as one of our policemen
| receives now. / do not know how many
policemen Raleigh has, these days-not
less than twenty 1 guess-but, OF thus
| am quite sure, the twenty do not let
| themselves be seen in as many places, III
| the course OF day as ''old Jimmy Muir
ray did. 1t made no difference when or
where the fight took place, the ''old man"
was there; and, in addition to his duties
as policeman, he was tax collector, and
always carried his pouch, and didn't lose
| 1T either, when stopping fight or max
| ing an arrest. Taxes were not as high
! then as now, for in that day it was the
endeavor of town, city and State to make
government cost as little as possible. Now
| the idea seems to be to size a mans pile
and take 1t ALL save a bare living for
himself and those dependent upon him.
| The truth OF the matter is a poor man
can barely live in Raleigh now, and the
| tendency IS to run the city deeper IN
debt and increase taxes. The result is,
Raleigh is not increasing in population
| as many other towns are. But, enough
of that for the present
! / received letter a few days ago from
Hon. George w. Broos, of Atlanta, Ga,
who at one time was a prominent poll
tician in this State, being at one time
| Comptroller. His letter came as unex-
pectedly as if it had been a ghost from
the graveyard, for, not having seen or
heard from him since the war, did rot
know that he was still walking among
men; but, like the others of the long ago,
had thrown down the cross and put on
the crown. He will pardon me for Civ
ling your readers some extracts from his
letter as they will be in line with the
old time sketches l am writing. He
says:
my attention has been called to your
article in the Raleigh News and Observer
OF the 22nd inst, suggested by the death
OF Mrs. Il. OBJ. Branch, my good friend
during my time in Raleigh The incl
| dents you relate are most interesting to
me, and the names you recall are like
voices from the dead / believe not one
whom you mention is now living except
you and myself. / have thought of you
| often In all these long years, but have
not known, until l saw your article
whether you lived or not. l have seen the
name, but having forgotten your initials
l could unot determine which one of
| your name, whom l then knew, it stood
for, having always known you in my mind
! as the Giraffe Man" = Now
would not distinguish you, if you had not
told so plainly who you are and were - =
| had supposed scarcely a man or woman
was left in Raleigh of my contemporaries
who were grown up. l have just seen the
name of DR.. Peter e. Hines, who is one
more besides yourself. Who else? One
by one they have gone. / have recently
noted the death of James s. Amis, of
( Granville county, whom l knew so well,
and Col. Buck Blackwell of Durham who
was raised in my immediate neighbor-
hood in Person county, and Samuel T..
Phillips whom we all knew so well as a
gentleman and an able lawyer, at Chapel
Hill. Gen. Matt Ransom, who was At
torney General, when l went to Raleigh
to live, in the winter of 1S54-5, outlives
them all. l would not have picked him
cut for long life. DR.. Thomas E. Skinner,
from whom l had a postal card this fall,
still lives, though not now resident of
Raleigh
II Judge from what you say that you
have not given yourself to politics as l
have done. l do not mean that / have
made it a business but rather a study.
My experience in Raleigh taught me to
appreciate public office less than I did
before. l was elected Comptroller of the
State. next year after 1 graduated beat
ing Curtis H. Brogden; two years later
1 was beaten by Brogden'
The reason that Mr.. Brooks was beaten
grew out of the fact that he was sus
pected of being a know nothing" new
party of that day which opposed the hold
ing of office by Catholics. While the sl1s
picion was not established. and really was
! not true, it served its purpose in defeat
/ ing Mr.. Brooks and electing a man
! C. II. Brogden-who in the last days OF
bis life became the enemy of that party
which elected him over Mr.. Brooks, be-
cause of his supposed firmer adherence
| to Democratic principles. l cory again
| from Mr.. Brooks letter
Tom Settle was in both legislatures
and made himself active against me the
| second term, because, as he said, l was
not Democrat. He had just abandoned
! the old Wing party on the election Of
| Gov Reid = All l said in reply Ito
Settles activity against him) was,
watch me! l have been working for the
Democratic party ever since. + What
did Brogden and Settle and others who
impeached my democracy do? Fled to re-
publicanism the first disaster got fat Of
fees and died in office, in support of the
] enemies of the South. No more and no
less than / expected of them. Such is
| politics.
1 am, and always have been glad that
1 got out of politics, for, with few ex-
! ceptions men don't make much by dab
| hing therein, or even in making bust
! ness of it. I am sure there are many CT
Mr.. Brooks friends who will read the
extracts from his letter with pleasure,
as | have done. Fifty years ago he was
we'll known gentleman here in Raleigh;
| but now there are thousands here who
| have never heard of George W. Brooks
who once held the office now filled by DR..
| Il