The Tupelo journal., 1913-10-24
Texas Newspaper Man
Investigates SalaCiOuS
Mississippi Story
Finds Politics Behind 1t and the
Story Without Foundation
and Devoid of Truth.

al OOulIlt s
story from The Pitchfork, of Dallas,
Texas, of which MILFORD B. Smith is
the editor, to show to what state the
politics of Mississippi has descended.
1t is time when a halt should be called
and the character of u citizens, both
high and low, held as a sacred he itage
/ and respected. The past knew no such
politics, and the present should dis
card it.
The story as told by The Pitchfork
follows;
The editor of The Pitchfork doesn't
claim to be an inspired writer, though
he enjoys a reputation for inspiration.
My best inspirations come suddenly
like a babe belching curd.
With my leg thrown gracefully over
the top of my desk, and my left thumb
imbedded affectionately in my shrink
ing diaphragm. my c%lairvoyand eye re-
connoitered the political horizon, and lit
on a nasty mess entirely surrounded by
the boundary lines of the state OF Mis-
sissippi.
The Pitchfork makes a speciality OF
nasty messes. The Pitchfork simply
dotes on nasty messes. The Pitchfork
has no desire to thrust its prongs into
the political carbuncle fast fostering
on the body politics of the state Of Mis-
sissippi for the sole pleasure of seeing
the pus flow. Its mission is do what
it can in its humble way to purge the
body politics of that state of a part OF
its social and political filth.
After thoroughly investigating poll
s tical conditions in the state of Missis-
sippi, l am convinced that there are
more political quack doctors and toy
statesmen in that state than in any
state beneath Columbia's glorious dia
dem. To associate decency with state
politics in Mississippi is like mating a
monkey with a swan. There are men
dominating the councils of state party
politics in Mississippi who are as de-
void of patriotic impulse as a grave
digging hyena. They are as soulless
as a yellow fever microbe and as des-
titute of honor as the blacklist niger
that ever prowled down a southern
cotton row. One of these arch. scoun-
drels, upon hearing that a special staff
writer of The Pitchfork was in the
" q
state of Mississippi for the purpose of
investigating into its crooked politics
voluntarily offered The Pltchfork his
time, money and patience in assistiog
our staff-writer to the end that the
investigation should be truthful, full,
and complete. 1t developed later on
that this man (if it be fair to call him
a mani was in the mire up to his eye
brows, and hasn't been clean of muck
for a quarter of a century. Mr.. c. F..
NJ. Packard, special staff-correspondent
of The Pitchfork, because of the de-
moniacal designs of this Janus-faced
hypocrite, started his series of inves-
LEGATIONS greatly handicapped. He spent
the first three weeks of his time in
Mississippi trying to uncover the al
legged ~cussedness of a man in that
state whom he afterward found was
the ~cleanest man who ever operated in
Mississippi politics. 1t is needless to
say that the moment he discovered the
treachery and falsehoods of his promp-
tiers in his investigation, he got to
work on the proper end of the story.
a The Pitchfork is gong to draw fire
is story of political corruption in
ssippi, and The Pitchfork will be
appointed if the political hoodlums
of nat state make no attempt at re-
taliation. Every fact abducted in Mr..
Pickard's special article in this issue
is b%uttressed and barricaded with doc
umentary evidence. Mr.. Pickard is not
a fiction writer, and The Pitchfork is
not a story magazine. The editorial
policy of this paper is that there is no
lie good enough to tell and nc truth
ad enough to conceal.
f AS | write these lines Mr.. Pickard is
t his desk in this office. He has just
iished recitlng to me the deep, dark
I'D damnable designs of Mississippi's
NE.h-traducers, and after listening to
his report. l feel for the first time
that the English language, rich as it is
in adjectives, is too poor and paltry to
do justice to the unclean coyotes we
have to deal with in this investigation.
/ long for a whip with thongs of livid
fire to lash the rascals naked through
the world.
The Pitchfork doesn't give apetrified
whoopee about the success of n a
italist political party over another. The
Pitchfork stands squarely for the eter-
nal economic principles as %expounded
- ~L,Io,onhu of Korl Morv IT,,