The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-08-24
HOT POLITICS IN MANATEE-

The democratic executive commit
tee of Manatee county has held a
meeting and gave Hon. John A. Ora
ham a hearing before it. He read the
charges made against him by Editor
Claude L'Engle in the Tallahassee
Sun and replied to them seriatim, re-
inforcing his replies with sworn am
davits. etc., and his vindication of
himself seems to have been complete.
After he had finished his remarks
the committee passed unanimously
the following resolutions:
"Be it Resolved:
"1st. That it is the unanimous sense
of the committee that the Hon John
| A. Graham has been outrageously
slandered by "The Sum-" the above
mentioned newspaper, and that the
specific charges therein made are
false and without foundation.
"2nd. That we, in our official ca
pacity, as representing the democracy
of Manatee county, after careful de-
liberation, and with the purpose In
view of furthering the interests of our
party, do hereby declare that we find
no cause to question the honor or
integrity of the Hon. John A. Ora
ham, and call upon all true and loyal
democrats in the county to stand by
and support the democratic nominee,
who is entitled to, and who we believe
worthy of your support.
.rd. That while we honor as man
and citizen the Hon. A. ]. Pettigrew,
the socialist candidate for representa-
tive against the Hon. John A. Graham,
and have only the warmest and kind
lest feelings for him, both in public
and in private, we resent as an insult
to the democracy of the Manatee
county, and the democracy of the
state at large, the efforts of The Sun
to induce the democratic voters of
this county to desert the principles
of their party and vote for the social
ist candidate; and that we resent the
action of The Sun in interfering with
our local politics in this county in
urging the democratic voters to vote
for the socialist candidate, and de-
nounce it as traitor to party law
and principle"
Commenting upon the resolutions.
and the charges made against Mr..
Graham, the Bradentown Herald
makes the following red hot com
ments:
st is indeed unfortunate that a
newspaper can become so envenomed
as to admit into its columns such al
series of abusive falsehoods as The
Sun has printed from week to week
There are graves charges made,
which, if they were true, would brand
the author as a disreputable, unwor-
thy citizen, because. instead of bring
ing them before the, courts, he pa
rades them before the public in an
election campaign, to crafty spite.
The charges that are grave enough to
attract attention are matters of rec
ord. which when followed up, are
proven absolutely false by the same
record.
"The meddling with the affairs of
county that is fully capable of taking
care of her own, is an insignificant
offense, compared with the gross
falsehoods published.
Zone charge to-wit: That all men
who buy tax certificates, and get
deeds upon them are thieves and rob- |
bers.' This charge is one that brands |
a very large number of the most hon
orable men in the state as thieves.
and is the proof of vicious and vii
famous mind, that would stoop to any
thing to sustain false charge.
But we see in it a low, cunningly |
devised scheme to break up the demo |
cratic party, by assailing its nominees
falsely and unjustly. And to prevent |
such villianous schemes our courts
will have to vigorously enforce the
law against criminal libel, and the
public will have to set themselves
against even looking at any paper
that goes back for decade to trump
up false charges, of which the courts
took no cognizance when they were
fresh. Such stuff should be excluded |
from the mails"