The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1914-10-01
TO LETTER OF
CONGRESSMAN SELLS
WILLING TO MEET HIM
He Pleads Guilty to Being a Loyal
Supporter and Friend of
Col. Roosevelt.

Gen. j. B. Cox, candidate for con-
gress in the first district, has for
warded the following reply to letter
sent him by Congressman Sells and
published last Monday, in which Mr.
Sells agreed to meet him in joint de-
bate in the county seats:
Johnson City, Tenn, Sept. 20. 1914
Hon, Sam R. Sells,
Johnson City, Tennessee.
Dear Sir: Your letter in answer to
my telegram inviting you to join me in
making canvass in my race for con-
gress is received. / express regret
that you do not see proper to meet me
at all my appointments, but with your
permission, l will meet you at yours,
If you will mail me your dates, l
thought then and think now that the
people have right to, and have de-
sire to hear us discuss the issues be-
tween us, and I especially think that
the country people far removed from
the county seats have right to hear
us both, and as for myself, intend to
go to their places, and not require
them to go all the way to the county
seats to hear me.
You say in your letter you hoped
that the differences existing in the re-
publican party might have been set
tied in primary. So do /, and If you
had done half as much toward having
1t done as you have to prevent it, it
would have been thus settled, but on
the other hand, your boiling commit
tee first refused to join in legal pri-
mary stating that the law did not APP
ply to congressional primaries, and
finally when they were forced by pub
lie opinion to join, they then refused
to carry it out, and you proceeded to
take caucus nomination from about
four or five of your said committee,
one of whom was your brother, and
that Notwithstanding you have here
tofore at all times abused the late w.
P. Brownlow and his friends because
he accepted nomination, not by four
members of factional committee,
but of his entire committee, when he
had no announced opposition. As a
matter of fact Mr.. Brownlow never
accepted committee nomination un-
less it was ratified by a convention;
whereas your nomination has never
been ratified by any one, not even by
a majority of your factional commit
tee which had its birth in mob con-
vention two years ago, when your
henchmen assaulted the regular chair
man of the convention, Honorable
Adam Bowman, who is not only a
cripple but a Christian gentleman.
You therefore were not nominated by
your factional committee nor even a
majority of 1t, neither do 1 have to
ask you when your illegitimate Off
spring was born" as it was born in the
same mob convention when the blood
of your fellow man was spilled at the
hands of your drunken henchmen,
you looking on in merriment.
Yes, l plead guilty of being loyal
supporter and friend of Col Theodore
Roosevelt, and shall continue to do SO,
but do not charge you with anything
of the kind. On the other hand, / do
charge you are one of the crowd and
gang that helped to take the nomina-
ton from that great leader, and you
are one of the men who calls him on
the street and elsewhere an anarchist |
and traitor.
Yes, about twenty years ago, be-
cause of my record as temperance |
advocate, my name was placed on a |
ticket for state senator by the temper
ance people of the first senatorial dis
trict 1 neither accepted nor declined
the honor; made no speeches and /
did not request any one to vote for
me, but you say / got two hundred
votes. My recollection is that about
that number of good people voted for
me in Johnson City and Bristol who
knew me. I pray you, Mr. Sells, tell
me and the people what you were do
ing for temperance at the same time.
and while I received a very small
vote, guess had you been in the race
instead of myself with your wonderful
and marvellous popularity you would i
have swept the country and been elect
ed unanimously l might state, how
ever, that / am satisfied, II all reports
are true, that you never voted for me
on the prohibition ticket at that time,