Bradford County telegraph., 1906-06-08

mittee annulled the election in that
county and then Mr.. Rivers betooS
himself 10 Jacksonville to conteLd that
the result ought to be declared without
the vote Of Baker county. A very nice
scheme. wasn't IL? but the state COM
mittee foiled It.
In his yellow circular Mr.. Rivers says
that ON May 2ist my attorney, Mr..
Baker. and myself conceded my defeat.
This h not true. Sufficient for that
misstatement.
. In this extraordinary yellow circular
Of his Mr.. Rivers saves his best-lis
choicest piece Of chicanery and most
glaring misstatement-for the last.
refer to his ludicrous effort to lead the
people to believe that there is some sort
Of collusion between Mr.. Colhoun and
myself and that was put into the
second primary for the purpose of aid
ing Mr.. Calhoun to defeat him (Rivers.) }
Twas about to refer to this very original
and brilliant idea as only another vaga-
~ Of Rivers feverish imagination,
but it is not such. He is deliberately
making this effort TO mislead the public
and in the face of the fact, too, that he
knows absolutely the circumstances do
not justify any such conclusion. In this
circular, which, by the way has also
been published in some of the papers of
the circuit. Mr.. Rivers says:
Before the state committee cOnven-
ed, Mr.. A. v. Long, who is Mr.. Field
ing's law partner. and who is known to
favor the nomination of Mr.. Calhoun,
was present taking an active part in
trying to get Mr.. Fielding into the sec
ond primary. The fact that Mr.. Long
is q member of the state committee
gave him opportunities for accomplish
ing this object, and the close cOnsulta-
tions between him and the member of
the state committee from Putnam CONN.,
ty, who was firm in the espousal of Mr..
Calhoun's cause, made it apparent to
every observer that they were working
together. When the matter came up
before the state committee, no attempt
was made to find out what the vote of
Baker county really was, but the incor-
rect statement Of the vote contained in
Mr.. Fielding's protest was accepted rs
conclusive, and the first thing done was
q motion to place all three candidates in
the second race. An amendment to
this motion was offered by Ex-Governor
Fleming, but Messrs. Long and Fielding
had done their work too well, and the
amendment was promptly voted down.
Then the motion was adopted through
the combined efforts of friends and
partisans Of Mr.. Calhoun and Mr.. Field.
ing"
This denounce as nothing more OF
less than an unprincipled effort to pref.
udice the voters who do not want Mr..
Calhoun continued in the Office of state
attorney against me. Mr.. Rivers knows
the statements made are not true. Hon.
F. j. Fearnside is the Putnam county
member Of the committee referred to,
and he is a good friend and active sup.
porter of Mr.. Calhoun. In the commit
toe room Mr.. Rivers sat not more than
ten feet away from them and knows
that Mr.. Fearnside was in constant con.
sultation with Ex-Governor Fleming,
who endeavored to 80 amend the motion
as to put only Rivers and Calhoun into
the second primary. Mr.. Rivers could
not help seeing this consultation, and he
knows full well that for the first time
during the campaign there was between
he and Mr.. Calhoun the heartiest kind
Of sympathy.
Mr.. Rivers tells the truth when he
says that Mr.. Fleming's motion was
promptly voted down, but he lapses in.
to misstatement again when he says
that the original "motion was adopted
through the combined efforts of the
friends and partisans of Mr.. Calhoun
and Mr.. Fielding" The motion was
adopted by the members of the commit
toe who We're not governed by part.
isanship and wanted to see fair play.
The partisans Of Mr.. Rivers and Mr.
Calhoun acted together, and when the
negative side Of the main question WAS
called they kept silent. They were toe
hopelessly in the minority to even vote,
Another misstatement is made by Mr..
Rivers when he says, "When the matter
came mp before the committee no at.
tempt was made 10 find ont what the
vote OF Baker county really was" He
made this statement in the face of the
fact that Hon. Duncan u. Fletche,
stated to the committee that my protest
had been filed without undue DELAY on
my part and that he had promptly made
every possible effort to get such in.
formation from Baker county as would
be necessary to intelligent action upou
the part OF the state committee. Mr..
Fletcher had in his possession letters
from the secretary of the Baker county
committee showing that he had been IN
correspondence with them with view