The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-05-29

have been incidents which have
b~f"adencd his horizon. Blackburn.
throwing out his chest, has known the
pride of being a martyr" With the
simplicity and directncss of his ma
Jufc, he has lost no time in irving
to exploit the role. But, standing
where he does, Blackburn has gone
far.
The Advent OF Necessity"
In 1895 Blackburn descended to
Raleigh from the mountains. dressed
III q long black coat. 4 dashinc sIoucn
hat and enCaScd in a collar that cans
ed him to look habituaIly at the cell
ing. Blackburn was of the crudest
type of boy orator. Just then he was
looking for a job. lie met his fate
to the ground IN the reading clerk
ship of the Senate. 1t was one Of
the amusemcnts sndtched from
misfortune in those days to watch
blackburn, legs crossed, left arm
thrown gracefully over the desk,
waving black hair thrown in Il
leonine name over his classic brow
oSling the galleries.. Soon he became
proficient. tie could say General As
sembly Of North Carolina do enact"
without pausing to hin Having ut
tered this poftcntous phrase he would
make Il downward. sweep with the bill
in hand and literally kill" the women
ABOVE MN. BQI II is expensive to
be q "masher' and Blackburn did
many odd jobs about. He learned the
ground lOOr of the lobby. He learned,
also. that legislators can be Impress
ed. There was a Code Commission bill
i'll passage. Blackburn became q can
dIdate and the State laughed. Never
theleSs the caucus nominated him for
the place. He was known as "Ncccs-
sity" Blackburn upon the pat .appIi-
cation of his innocence Of the law.
This was so marked that there was a
move to reduce the salaries proposed
for the commissioners from $4,000 to
ST 500. The bill was called up but
there was no bill. There WAS a con-
siderable search and sCrimmage. Fin
ally it developed that Mr.. Blackburn
had taken the bill to show to Il friend.
The code Commission died finally
when Daniel Russell anne by the
caucuS as one of the commissioners, |
got eff his aphOriSm at Black burns
expense:
I'VE have elected a clerk for Il COM
missioner; now let us elect q commits
SiOner for Il clerk
Blackburn came back in 1897 as a
mi of the House. He did Moth
ing, said nothing worth while. He
voted as Butler and his lieutenantsl
said. In those days Blackburn was AL
gressive only towards the galleries. He
had not progressed to The dignity Of
giving baJtlc TO the BOSS.
Never Sold Out.
There is a story of those days which
is not vouched for here except that
it is in character. The colloquy is re-
ported as having been had between
Marshall Mott and Spencer Blackburn
thus:
Mott: Look here, Blackburn, do
you know that they're saying that YOU
sold your vote for twenty dollars?'
Blackburn: Hell. that amt selling
a vote: | was going to vote for it any
how
In the trial of Blackburn at Green's
boro for practicing before a depart
ment, one witness, krider. said:
along III May | was arrested in
Salisbury and gave bond. | aGain
phoned Blackburn in Greensboro
and he told me to come over to see
him. This was the. last of May. He
told me he had seen Holton and Chap
mar and they had agreed TO recon-
mend a compromise of 500. | asked
what he was going to charge. He said
that he could not charge anything,
that being a Member Of Congress, he
could not charge me without getting
| into trouble. 1 then save him 500 20
nav the compromise and ! gave him
| $50 for himself.' Adds the witness
| with the supcrfiuity of his KIND ne
never gave it back.
testified of the same
transaction that he said: You can
Just pay me for my former service,
OF course Blackburn would have
gone to the Department for a friend,
anyhow. That is easy.
Foundation of Martyrdom.
1t is this Greensboro trial and aC-
ouittal which is giving Blackburn the
| pose of a hero and martyr. The lactS
are that the witness. Nrider. q witness,
EEddlcman. Collector Hank ms and 9th
e,s testified tina Blackburn received
feas 10 obtain compromises of mdlCt-
n,e,rts for Illegal traffic in WhiskCN.
Eddleman paid him $500. he SAID on
behalf Of Ace Dink1nS to see the KEY
enre agents and secure q
collector Harkins testified that Black
~, him with reference to
COMPROMISING 4 case Tor d ciielt-
Black hrrn wrote and signed a~ffldaNita
fo, he Department as attorney TOT
,cc pink ms. Also he told a govern
mont officer in Washington to 90
| ,vhat he could" for mis- client. "fhefe
was nothing improper in ma con
GUIDED This witness. Mr.. Blackburn
onterad > general denial. alleging that
al fees he had received had neeh tpi
services to be performd in court me
i $500 EdGIeman had paid nun ne Sdid
:,e considered a general retainer
II was on his evidence that Judge
Golf ,racticalIy instructed th2 jury
+, arnnit the defendant while q gen
ucnarIy Virginia lawyer sent 10 pros
aruf, the case sat by cohlpidcSuti
n,on.ino about as much about th'
Nv tn oct the truth out of a North
carolina whiskey fly az Ace oi,ihii9
do,. a,,1r,t Virginia society. Anu ! -
rifl this bill of health that