The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-26
Thousand Men Hear Great Speech at Court
 Square. EARLE PETTUS SPOKE
 WITH THE CANDIDATE Remarkable Campaign Comes to Close With Enthusiastic
 Reception. Lieutenant Governor Delivers His One Hundred and Thirty-third Speech in Capital City After Wis.,
 iting sixty-three
 Counties.

With the cheers of a great throng Of Montgomery voters ringing in his ears, with their approving applause high above the noise of the traffic of Court Square. Lieutenant Governor R. M Cunningham closed his campaign last night for the Governorship of Ala banaa. And with the applause of the Montgomery County voters who hope to neighbor for the next four years there closed the most remarkable campaign within the history of Alabama.
 Alone and all but single handed pr. Cunningham since the first Monday in April has fought the richest political organization that was ever formed in the State and his personal. direct ap- neal to the voters of the State in that fight has been a winning campaign. with Hon. Erie Pettus of Limestone. pr. Cunningham closed that campaign in the presence of what was by far the largest political gathering that has assembled in Montgomery County in recent years. It was an open air meet ing. but the voters of the city and county pressed around the platform that had been erected on the east side of Court Square until the crowd was so large that the voices of the speakers could not carry to the limits of the gathering, The assembly would have been larger but those on the outskirts were continually changing. for they were so far from the stand that they could hardly catch the voice of Hon. S. H. Dent, the presiding officer of the great open air meeting or of the two distinguished speakers.
 His 1S3rd Speech.
 The address of pr. Cunningham to that press of Montgomery County gvot- CTS was the one hundred and thirty third speech he has delivered in the memorable campaign of 1906. In this campaign he has visited no less than sixty-three of the sixty-seven counties of the State. Since he went into the fight against overwhelming odds he has rested not moment, but he has moved from place to place with in credible speed and unbelievable energy. Only a man of his splendid physical and mental equipment could have stood the drafts upon his. mental and phys teal energy. To hear his voice ring out in eloquence and confidence the mem- bers of last nights audience found 1t difneult to believe that 1t was the fn- ishing speech of the most wonderful campaign one man has ever conducted in Alabama.
 Early in April Dr. Cunningham spoke in Mont gomery County. He spoke when he was beginning the fight against aggrandiZed wealth and organized in- terests. He knew then the odds against which he was fighting. He knew that in every section of Alabama there were men who were predicting his defeat who were saying that no man and no set of circumstances could defeat B. B. Conner for Governor No man could fail to be impressed bY these prophe- cies and 1t was evident then that he began his brave fight buoyed up by hope, but without the inspiration of confidence.
 But as the speaker said last night the months of hard campaigning have wrought change. Starting out with scant hope of success, he had watched his adherents grow; he had seen the additions to his ranks and the decima- tion of the ranks of his opponent until then. at the close of the campaign, he felt that he would be the winner. and that B B. Conner would be the one to go down in the dust of defeat.
 And in addressing the thousand or more persons that thronged Court Sauare, Dr. Cunningham spoke with ths eloquence of confidence There was nothing in his tones of the bravado of despair. On the contrary. he expressed himself as honestly and sincerely be- lieving that the majority of the people of Alabama were for him. that they would give him their support, and that they would so to the polls tomorrow and give him the vote which will place him in the Governors chair in Ala beIna
 Cunningham's Fine Speech.
 The speech of Governor Cunningham last night was more than an appeal It was an expression of confidence in his triumph at the polls tomorrow. It was the glad offort of the man who has fought a good fight, and who, at it's close feels he has won, and bears with in his soul the confidence in the just reward which his judges (the people) will give to him.
 There was nothing in the tone of the candidate for Governor last night which indicated fatigue from the hard race he has been running for the last six months There was nothing of iassi- tnde or weariness. His voice was as clear and penetrating as at the begin ming of the contest; his bearing as en- ereetic and his delivery was as forcible as on the first occasion when he spoke to the people of Alabama in the inter- est of his candidacy. Last nights ad- dress was the peroration of his series of addresses. It was the close of one of the most wonderful campaigns ever carried on in the State. And he gave ta his hearers something which win be remembered through the years, an ad- dresa which, for sloquence, hard rea-