The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-26
AFTERMATH OF THE
 LANETT MEETING
HeAin and StaIIings Explain the
 Ircident
HEFLIN SAYS HE SPOKE
stallings Says They Sent Challenge to Congressman Heflin for Eight Debates But Have Not Yet
 Heard From Him.

| The incident at Lanett. in Chambers
 county, which occurred last Saturday
 night, has created much interest all over | Alabama.
 It is remembered ex-Congressman Stall
 ings and Joseph J. Willett of Anniston, | anti-amendment orators, were billed to | speak at Lanett.
 From the report which The Age-Her-
 aids correspondent sent, it seems that a
 representative of the amendment forces | asked for a division of time in favor of 1 Congressman Hefin and that when it was
 refused an effort was made to divide the crowd, which resulted in failure. l Yesterday the following communication
 was received from Congressman Hefiin: Hehin's Letter. | To the Editor of The Age-Herald. Your correspondent in reporting the | speaking at Lanett Saturday night does
 me and the friends of the amendment | at Lanett an injustice. and l will thank you to publish the following statement l from me:
 On my return Saturday morning from | Opelika, where I spoke Friday night, I l had phone message from Dr. Mc- | Clendon of Lanett, requesting me to come | and speak that night. l told him that l the anti-amendment forces would have d meeting there and that l preferred to | come some other time, and he said a | goodly number of citizens had met and requested him to ask me to come at | the time stated, and that the friends ot | the amendment and also the few who | oppose it wanted a joint discussion, and | that they would see the speakers against | the amendment and ask for a division or | time. l acquainted Judge Denson with the | situation and the request of the citizens | and he advised me to go, and said: "lf | they will not divide time you can speak in
 the other hall. At Clanton, when Gov | ernor Conner refused to divide time with | MT. Bowman, the anti crowd held a meet | ing at another place and Bowman spoke, l and when l spoke at Tuskegee a few | days ago the antis had Emmet O'Neal | there at my meeting and they asked for | division of time and 1t was stated to
 me that If I did not divide time with him.
 MT. O'Neal would speak anyhow after I got through. I divided time with MT. l O'Neal and gave him the opening and l the close"
 | So, l submit that there was no harm | in asking for the same consideration | and courtesy that Judge Denson had eX- | tended to the antis at Tuskegee, and | when they refused to divide time with me
 at Lanett, certainly there could be no | harm for us to do, as the antis did at Clanton. speak to the people at another place. No attempt was made to break up 1 the meeting of the antis at the school
 house in Lanett. A goodly number oi
 those who had assembled there expecting 1 joint debate when informed, just be- | fore the speaking, that the antis had re- | fused to divide time with me came tc
 the large hall where, in little while, ev- | cry seat was filled and where for two l hours I spoke to the most enthusiastic | audience that I have addressed in a 1 long time. The friends of the amend
 ment claim that Lanett will poll four to 1 one for the amendment; and Chambers
 county, in my judgment, will give large | majority for the amendment. Yours very | truly. J. THOMAS HEFLIN. Lafayette, October 25, 1909.
 stallings' Statement.
 Ex-Congressman Jesse Stallings, when
 asked concerning the meeting at Lanett.
 had the following to say
 ''It looked to me like a pre-arranged | plan. The house was well filled. Every | thing looked most propitious. Then there appeared in the hall gentleman who asked division of time in favor of Con- gressman Heflin.
 That request was refused for the sim-
 pie reason that we had three speakers
 and had come long way to carry out
 a programme which had been arranged | by a local committee.
 '1n the meanwhile the brass band,
 which the amenders had provided, was | playing merrily.
 | "Mr Willett started speaking. Just as
 he began. the signal having been passed along, there were numerous people seen | to leave their seats. It looked for a while as If everyone in the hall would leave. But 1t developed that many had | left their seats in order that those who desired to leave the hall might pass un- | impeded.
 "There were 32 who left the hall, the
 majority being women and children. The chairman of the anti-amendment com
 mittee called upon those standing at the | rear to come forward. This was done and all the seats occupied. There fol- lowed the most successful meeting in which I have been engaged during this | campaign The audience was most en- | thusiastic.
 ] After the speaking we went to the ho- l tel and remained there for long while. We saw nothing of Congressman lief
 lin. The following morning we remained there until 10 o'clock. But we saw noth- | ing of Congressman Heflin. l "I was under the impression that he did
 not make a speech in Lanett at all. I | see that Congressman Hefln says that | he did and he did, of course"
 Heflln Challenged. After giving these details MT. Stallings | said:
 | "R. D. Steiner, the well known Mont | eomery attorney, who was at the Lanett meeting. acting for P. G. Bowman and
 me sent word to Congressman Heflin | that if he wanted a debate he could get
 if The challenge provided that there
 should be series of eight debates, all | in the district which MT. Hefln repre- 1 .ents in Congress. l was to select two | of the places. MT. Bowman two and Con pressman Heflin four. He was to meet I Rowman four times and me four times.
 we have heard nothing from the chal- lenge."