Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-08-28
MIR. HUGHES LETTER

We take pleasure in reproducing
the letter OF Hon w. w. Hughes
of Wclch. which appeared in tha
Daily Telegraph this morning. with
reference TO conditions in Mellow
ell.
II is temperate in tone. and raises
question that does not Civ, us
any surprise. Mr. Hughes congrat-
uiates the LcaGcr for its exposure.
but at the same time questions our
motive as being political in taking
up the matter AT this time.
There can be no question but that
the action of the Leader will make
votes for the Democratic party. and
why? Because the Democratic par
~ proposes to rid the electorate Of
the terrible incubus of the negro
vote, and make impossible such CON
ditions as exists today in Mcdowell.
II our motive is to rid Mcdowell
county of the negro, then may We
have the credit Of being inspired
by the right sort of motive.
We know nothing of the faction
al troubles of the Republican party
in Mcdowell. But we are glad to
mention the name of Mr.. Hughes as
one OF the Republicans lined up for
better government and opposed to
the rottenness of the present polit-
teal conditions Ia,
heartily congratulate him upon his
tand for better government The
Leader is not a hypocrit. 1t will
not deny that IL believes that its
exposure will help the Democratic
party. because that party proposes
the only relief. Ii will not deny
that this exposure has helped the
Leader, because it has taken up the
fight in behalf OF deccncy, and the
good people of the county. of both
parties have rallied to it's support
But il does most emphatically deny
that ii was actuated by any motive
other than to print the truth with
out fear or favor in making this ex-
posture. We are glad the truth will
help us. The situation in Mcdowell
S but another instance where the
/ best element of the Republican par
ty is lined up with the Democratic
party in order to throw off the yoke
of shame. and make fight for de-
cency.
Until Saturday. August 18th the
day before theraid at Keystone. the
leader was in ignorance of the con
1itions in Mcdowell, except as
matter of general rumor \ repre-
sentative of the Leader att ,nded
he senatorial convention at Key
stone that day which nominated the
notorious w w Whyte, whose nom
ination alone is sufficient evidence
or the political depravity of the
county. On that day our represen-
tative saw and heard many things
that set him thinking. and when our
Northfork correspondent sent us an
account of the raid he said there
Nphih w oOlll' o'liHdAlOndl utN cup
ments at the trial, and advised the
l. a1er TO send a representative to
report It. The Leader has a nose
Tor news ana seeming something in
the air. one OF its stan went to
Northfork and Keystone to investi-
gate What he scented" smeued
to high heaven. 1t was hard to find
men who would talk for publicat on
The Leaders Information was gath
cred from many sources. from Dem
ocrats and Republicans. ana so far
as we know there was not a poll
/ tic.an I'm the entire number of our
| informanis. unless it was the Justice
Of the peace who gave us access to-
his records The story was written
mp as news story, and whatever
political bearing the story was due
TO the facts
The Democratic party promises
the only remedy FIN such cases For
the sake of decency the negro
should Doc eliminated from politics
/ .n NcDoU 70. on the day OF the
/ Key tone convention we saw Things
'ha. wore abuuIanuy sufficient to-
sig tho affair political nf-
canoe We saw the best people of
/ zinc county subjected 90 the polite
f raI VIII of the negroes and th. fow
. degraded white politicians who