Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-11
VIRGINIA.
p.cial Correspondence of The Star.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
RICHMOND, Va. June TO- 1905.
The week has developed nothing in
political way approaching the re-
newal of the old Martin contest
of twelve years ago, when Gen. Fitz
Lee was defeated by Senator Martin.
The speech of William L. Royal of this
city. which has caused the old bitterness
| to be revived by many who would never
have injected 1t into this campaign Is be-
| Ing widely discussed. The friends OF Sem
ator Martin express no surprise that re-
course has been had by his opponents to
something which occurred so many years
| ago. and they hail it with some delight, de-
| claring that the opponents of Senator
Martin have been driven to the last ditch
| and have had to resort to a defeat which
| still rankles in the bosoms of some who
would never have voted for the senator
| simply because he committed the unpardon-
| ably sin of opposing General Lee So far
| as can be ascertained, the speech has been
| double-edged. In the first place, Mr.. Roy
| all Is generally accredited with the author
| ship of the resolution which led to the in
| Vestigation and which. he says, was really
farce. 1t is also pointed out that Mr.
| Royal was the editor of the Times of this
| city when the fight was on and that he
was one or the closest friends and support
ers OF General Lee the defeat of his cam
oloate preying heavily upon him. Later,
Mr.. Royal refused to support William Jen
aisS bryan, leading the fight for Palmer
| ana buckner in this state The voters who
nau not MADE up their minds as to how
,nev should vote as between Montague and
Ma.,ln nave now, according to the friends
VI the junior senator. arrived at a con-
IL iC
nounce that they will vote for Senator
Martin Mr.. Royal repeats in a statement
given out after Senator Martins caustjc
comment on the speech by the Richmond
lawyer that the investigation was farce.
An Editor Caustic.
Editor Wilson of the Norfolk Ledger. who
was connected with the Times when the in
Vestlgatlon was had, is out in a lengthy
article in which he reviews some of the
inside facts" in connection with the affair,
saying that the reason for the investfea-
tlon not going into the matter at length is
known only too well to Mr. Royali the
edltorlal charging Mr.. Royal with having
a nsofeu . IN me elections in this city years
ago "hen the negroes had charge of one
"drd or the city and had a sufficient ma
Jorlty TO overcome the rest of the civ and
.ne tiIne and talents Mr.. Royal were
| employed-and successfully it is minated
In preventing the casting of the fTIIj
| Strength OF the negro vote. Editor Wilson
also refers to the fact that in tho con
| h arshi convention election-for mem
oefsnip IN which Mr.. Royal offered and
was defeated-the convention was defeated
| IN Hity-nVe of the white counties while
.he piacK counties gave an overwhelming
majority to call convention the nurnoss
| OF which was to disfranchise the negro ,,
Inc Ledger assigns that condition of Affairs
win which Mr.. Royal is familiar To show,
Wy me Lee,Martin investigation was re-
| themselves " N"'iuiuates
Inc charge Is made that Mr. Martin was
an an OBSCURE country lawyer at the time of
ms erection to the Senate not known tn
| any of the public men of the state This
Is answered by the statement that II was
khoWn that he was a candidate for tha
oenate, tnat he had been Endorsed by a
sIeht majority or the members of the gen
ersi assembly In petition to then Gov
eIhor mckinney to name him as the sl,c
Isssor 10 senator Barbour, and that Gen.
Eppa Hunton was named Senator Martin
at once announced his candidacy and II
was known that General Lee and Genera
Hunton were also candidates General HIM.
~ fum accepted the short term and retired
from the contest. General Lee remainins-
IN lne contest and receiving defeat at the
hands or the present senator there beine,
uozen votes majority in his favor. some
VI me members of the legislature instruct
ed to vote for General Hinton W. -
mad retired from the contest, went to Sen
ator Martin. ~ Seii-
Governor Keeps Quiet.
so far Governor Montague has mot bod
"ord 10 say relative to this phase of Tho
contest and If he was aware of Mr. Row
an 5 intention to Inject little life into
.iie campaign by parading the skeleton of
ueh- Lee before the people" IT is MT
known The governor was not in the citv
"hen the speech was made and he has
gwen out no statement in connection with
rl. En-, mater since Mr., Royal made the re-
cusson. Ni uIs-
both candidates for the Senate have haon
campaigning hard the past week and if is
not believed that there will be the slightest
perweeh ms and the date for the
state primary Each is trying to get into
as many counties as possible and to mako
as many speeches in the remaining weeks
as Is within the power of man to deliver.
Inc state democratic committee has been
called TO meet in this city Thursday Of
which time the date for the primary is tn
be fixed. The belief at this time is that
the election viii be not later than Aueust
10, so that the candidates may have n
chance to get breathing spell before bav
| Ing to engage in the campaign for election
after getting the nomination The com
mttee will also fix the amount to he maid
by candidates for the offices to which thev
aspire, thereby getting the money to de-
fray the expense incident to the primary
There is no way to say at this time what
that amount will be, but the most con-
sentative estimate places the sum al four
figures for each candidate, and no frac-
ton of dollars Is allowed in the estimate
Judge Mann is looming up as most
FORMIDABLE aspirant for the gubernatorial
nomination. He is actively at work on the
stump, and wherever he goes he Is receiv-
ing respectful attention and is creating
| most favorable impression Swanson and
Willard and their friends say that Judge
Mann will be second in the race putting
him next to the winner. But there is
class of politicians, friends of both Swanson
and Willard, who view the situation calmly
and say that Judge Mann is to be reckoned
with by the man who does get the nomina-
ton. Mr.. Swanson has made the bold
statement that he believes he will get more
votes than both the other candidates COM
bined, but many of the supporters of the
fifth district representative do not concur
with him in this view. AS in the case with
the senatorial asprants the candidates for
governor are letting no chance pass when
they can make speech, and they are ready
to address Sunday schools, colleges, me-
mortal associations, agricultural fairs, good
roads conventions or almost any descrip-
ton of gathering, whether composed of
pI,iI