The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1910-08-27
BILBO THE HERO AT
NINONA SPEAKING
MEN AND WOMEN GAVE HIM A TU-
MULTUOUS OYATION-..ExPRESSED
FAITH IN HIM.
Senator'S hebron, Potter, Hon. SicgaII
and Others Spoke in the Interest Of
Maj. Vardaman .-- Contingent
Fund All Risht.


bled in Montgomery county was in
Winona yesterday to hear the
number of speakers, of which Bilbo
was the star attraction.
DR.. B. F. Ward WAS master of
ceremonies, and music was furnish
ed by the Grenada brass band.
Senator Hebron was the first
speaker. He said that Winona was
notable by reason of the fact that
. it was the home of DR.. B. F.
Ward, who was one of the best and
truest men in Mississippi, and still
he did not consider himself too
good to sit on the same platform
with Bilbo and that he knew but
one who was, and that one was the
Prince of Greenville. - Among
other distinguished gentlemen on
the platform at this time were
Capt. D. L. Sweatman and Col. j.
K. Binford, of this county, Judge
A. T. Roane of Grenada, DR.. j. A.
Mcbride of Carrollton, B. T. Hobbs
of Brookhaven and Hon. Bradford,
of ChickasaW county.
Senator Hebron spoke principally
concerning the accomplishments of
Vardaman's administration as gov
ernor. He said that when Varda-
man was candidate for governor
it was argued against him that his
radical policies would run all the
negroes out of the Delta, but the
only negroes who were ever disturb
ed were the State convicts who were
moved off the Dulaney and Nc
Laurin plantations. He stated
that before Vardaman became gov
ernor the State had never received
more than $50, 900 from the prod
ucts of her convict farms, and that
beginning with Vardaman's admin
istration the State had begun to
receive more than $130,0OO per
year.
Senator Hebron alluded to
Messrs. Alexander and Percy as the
Gold Dust Siamese Twins of the
Secret Caucus. :" He gave among
his reasons for opposing Percy,
first, that it would purge the State
of the stain of the secret caucus,
further that Percy was a corpora
tion lawyer and whisky lawyer,
and asked the question if Percy
was the prohibitionist he claimed
to be why it was he accepted a
$4,000 fee to represent the anti
prohibitionists before the board of
supervisors of Washington county.
No Shortage in Fund.
Senator Clayton Potter, a men,
ber of the contingent fund investi-
cation committee, was the second
speaker. He denounced the asser-
tion that the report of this COM
mittee showed any shortage in the
accounts of Gov. Vardaman. He
said that Vardaman had made
report of this fund to each session
of the legislature, and had answer /
ed every requirement of the
statutes, that he had tracked the
law in letter and spirit; that Var
daman's report had been submitted
to each session of the legislature
and it had been the fault of this
committee that the last report had
not been audited. He showed by
statements from the two former
secretaries Of Gov. Vardaman that
vouchers had been submitted and
the only shortage was the shortage
of vouchers which had been in the
hands of enemies of Gov. Vardaman
for two years.
StegaIl Approached.
Hon. "Bill" Stegall, who said
he was a hill billy, low brow and
a red neck, and that he was proud
of it, was next speaker. One of
the most notable statements of his
speech was that he had been ap-
preached by L. G. Dulaney, who
tried to persuade him to vote for
Mr.. Percy, and concluded by tell
ing him to go ahead with his sup
port of Vardaman until the run off,
then cast his ballot for Mr.. Percy
and come to his (Dulaney's) room
as quick as he could. The impress
sion was clear that he would be re-
warded if he would cast his vote
for Mr.. Percy on the last ballot.
Mr.. StegalI said the secret eau
cus'' was very rotten, and alluded
to it only as the recent carcass.
1t would be impossible to report
Mr.. StegaIl's speech, but he kept
his audience in an uproar and good
humor from start to finish, and inn
pressed them with his genuineness
and unsophisticated honesty.
BiIbO Had The Crowd.
Immediately after dinner. not
withstanding heavy downpour Of
rain, the vast shed that had been
arranged for this occasion began
to fill, and every seat in the house
was soon occupied, a large section
being occupied by the most elegant
and refined ladies Of the town and
county. The audience could not
most conservatively be estimated at
less than 2.090 people, and probably
reached $500 or more.
BiIbo held his vast audience in
the most rapt attention for more
than three hours. There is no ques-
ton the people were eager for the
facts he presented. and they were
convinced Of his fidelity to truth
ia their presentation Hon. s. 4.
Rohfnsor representative from