Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1908-04-25
Another Open Letter,
To L. D. Teakle Quinby, Esq,
OnanpOok Va.

charges which you make against me:
You do not come out openly and
make direct charges as a real man
should do, but you adopt the foxy"
method of making charges by INFER
ence, by asking questions from when
YOU wish the people to infer that l
had done things which | have never
thought of doing, and now
challenge you to bring one iota OF
proof to support the charges you have
made. Is this the clean, open nght-
ing, high plane method OF attacking
and criticising me about which you
boast in your letter? No really hlgh
man would make charge against
another, by implication, or in any
other manner, that he could not back
bv proof. You have charged i'll your
letter, by implication at least, that
Mr.. Mears, whom you say in one SEN
tence "is gentleman to the manor
bornn was guilty along with myself
of having made political deal where
bv Mr.. Mears promised me something
that he could not deliver in return for
my supporting him for Judge, the IN
situation being that he was to elevate
me to a seat in congress. | brand the
charge that any deal of any kind was
made by Mr.. Mears, or his friends, or
any living man, with me to secure my
support as absolutely untrue and I'M
founded, ard you will find that such
an unfounded and absurd charge will
not injure the reputation of MIR. Mears
or myself as you intend that 1t should,
but will only show to the people of the
Eastern Shore of Virginia the small
ness of the man who made it. No, Mr.
Ouinby the congressional bee has not
vet begun to buzz in my bonnet, and
don't think it will so long as that
peerless democrat, Hon. William A.
Jones, the idol of the people of the
First Congressional District of Vir-
ginia, is willing to serve them.
Now, won't you be equally frank
aud tell the people, what many al
ready surmise, and what all will have
to know soon, that your criticism OF
me is due in large measure to the
Legislative bee that is buzzing in your
bonnet. Now out with il, friend
Ouinby. You ask me to announce
whether | will be a candidate for re-
election two years from now, and my
reply is, | will. 1t is now up to you
to be equally plain and frank. Let
the people know why it was that you
attacked me in the editorial column
of your paper, and also i'll the same
issue in an article over the nom de
plume" of Non Particeps Criminis, "
and why it was when | asked you to
give me the name of the author of the
article, you declined, and did not have
the manhood to acknowledge that
YOU had written that as well as the
editorial, and only admitted it by your
silence, after | had publicly charged
YOU in my open letter with the au-
thOrship of both.
You state that you are unwilling to
admit that the majority of the men,
bers of the AccOmack Bar should have
guided me in my course when the
majority was made up OF myself and
brother who would naturally follow
me"? If you eliminate my brother
altogether and allow even poor me to
have preference, Mears would still
nave a majority of the Accomack Bar.
If you insist that | too must be elm
mated as a member of the Accomack
Bar, because | was IN the legislature,
then Senator Gunter would also have
to be eliminated for the same reason,
and still Mr.. Mears would have a
majority of the Accomack Bar, so Mr..
Quinby, Mr.. Mears had majority of
this Bar any way you take it, even if
you do eliminate my brother because
he is my brother, and because you
may think he has no opinion of his
own. As matter of fact, he endorsed
Mr.. Mears'candidacy two days before
| signed or saw the paper endorsing
him and without mentioning the mat
ter to me at all, and he also informs
me that be told his friend, Mr.. 8.
James burlington, before I came home
from Richmond, during the recess of
the legislature, that he did not favor
Mr. WescOtt for Judge, this statement
being made in response to a request
from Mr.. burlington that my brother
endorse Mr.. Wescott, if Mr.. Parsons
did not become a candidate before the
Legislature, 80 you see Mr.. Quinby my
brother really did have an opinion of
his own and did not follow me in this
matter, but followed him together
with the majority of the other men,
bers of the Accomack Bar.
Now YOU charge me with ingrati
tude to Mr.. Wescott, who you say has
aided me in the achievement of what
political success | have attained. I'm
less 1 am badly mistaken this charge
like all the others you have made is
absolutely untrue. Unless | am mis-
informed, if Mr. WescOtt ever supper
ted me for the legislature, it was in
general election against a republican
opponent and after l had won the
nomination of my party in the pri-
mary or been declared the nominee
without a contest. l have been NOM
mated by the Democratic party three
times, once without opposition. The
last contest l had, Mr.. Wescott was
in Europe and of course did not take
any part at that time. The first time
| was nominated was when | opposed
the Hon. S. Wilkins Matthews. If
Mr.. Wescott supported me at that
time, | certainly had no reason to
think so, but had every reason to
think to the contrary. His own pre-.
cinct, Mappsburg, went against me
by large majority, and / am reliably
informed that a short time before that
election Mr.. Wescott told Mr.. Jas. H.
Fletcher, who was then making
strong fight for Mr.. Matthews, that
he (Wescott) was for Matthews, and
that he (WescotN thought the people
of his district were for Matthews, and
the vote showed that they were for
Matthews. So much for the charge
of ingratitude to Mr.. Wescott and
political preferment. I wish TO state
here though that l entertain no hard
feeling against Mr.. Wescott for OPP
posing me on that occasion. l accord
to him the same right to express his
preferences in such contests that /
claim for myself, and was not at all
influenced in my opposition to him
for the judgeship by the fact that he
me in my first political con-
test for the House of Delegates. 1
make this statement only to show the
injustice and untruthfulness of your
charges, for among the many faults I
may possess, ingratitude is not one of