Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1908-11-19
Assassination Of Carmock.
bristol Herald Courier. J


Few crimes in the history of
this country haveso shocked the
whole people as the assassina.
ton OF ex-senator Edward Ward
Carmack, who was shot and kill.
ed in Nashville Monday after
noon by ROBIN Cooper, a son OF
Col. Duncan B. Cooper. Especial
ly does the shock come with stag
gering force to thepeople OF Ten
nessee.
1t is hard to realize that t b e
dreadful thing has happened;
that Mr.. Carmack is no longer
among the living: that his life
has been so suddenly and SO cru
ely snuffed out. But it is pain
fully true, and there is grief to-
day in many thousands ofhomes
in Tennessee, There is deep and
sincere sorrow all over the land,
wherever God is feared and hu.
man life is held a sacred thing.
For it Is no ordinary man that
has been cut down in the prime
OF life, and while many more
years OF usefulness to his state
and the nation seemed to lie
out before him. Mr.. Carmack
was one of qhe foremost men OF
the country, known and admir-
ed in all sections, and a son OF
whom Tennessee was proud. Not
many bare footed pillow boys ev.
er reach the United States Sen
ate in this day and generation,
but he was one uf that limited
number, as he was also one oi
the few who had won distinction
in a single term in that greatest
deliberative body on earth. In.
tellectually brilliant, eloquent ol
speech, forceful and fearless in
debate. he achieved fame am.
ong famous men and kept the
standard of his state to t h G
front.
The assassination of ex-Sena'
tor Carmack was the result ofpo
litical differences, which had their
origin in the gubernatorial pri.
mary OF last spring. Shortly af-
ter the primary election IN June.
in which Mr.. Carmack was de-
feated by Governor Patterson,
the ex-senator assumed editorial
charge of the Nashville Tennes.
seeau, returning to the field o1
Journalism, in which he had first
attracted attention and demon
strated bis great ability. He was
mighty with the pen, without q
peer in Tennessee and without a
superioranywhere and to t h {
fact that through the edito'
rial columns of the Tennesseean
he boldly attacked the so called
Democratic "machine" in his un-
timely death must beattributed
His criticism OF the "mathine"
and it's methods and those con-
nected with it we're based for the
most part on the action OF the
state committee in changing the
plan OF selecting delegates to the
gubernatorial convention after
the primary had been held. Mr.
Carmack, with thousands OF 9TH
ers, looked upon this unprece
dented procedure as an act OF
bad faith, and he constantly ur-
ged the people, while supporting
the nominee, to disregard tn e
platform and instruct their rep
resentatives to the Legislature as
to how they should stand on va
rious important questions, par
ticularly the question OF state
wide prohibition.
Among those who came in Tor
a share of Mr.. Carmack's criti-
cism, by reason Of his prominent
connection with the machine
and his activities in the interest
OF one political faction, was Col.
Duncan B. Cooper Col Cooper
had perhaps less reason to CON-
plain Of this publicity than two
or three other individuals whom
tho Tennesseean had made ridic-