The Palatka news and advertiser., 1916-07-21
EDITOR RUSSELL IS
PAID A COMPLIMENT
By One of His Ardent Ad-
mirers CD
Aren't His Selection by County Com
mittee as . Member Of the State
Executive Committee.

The Free Press of Jacksonville, or
gan of the secret political orders now
occupying the front of the stage IN
Florida politics, in its issue OF yes
terdav. has the following cocmmunl-
cation from an anonymous cores
pondent in this city which we gladly
reproduce verbatum, as follows
AN XMAS STORY.
Palatka, Fla, July 17,1916'
Palatka boys have their first Hmas
in July.
After the decease of Mr.. P. j..
Becks, our state executive committee
man, some of the political authorities
got busy and had several petitions cir.
culated among the various sections OF
the county and obtained approximate
lv $50 signers requesting that Hon.
| Ii. NJ. Fearnside be recommended Tor
appointment to fill the uneXplred
term of Mr.. Becks. The "boys" for
tilted with all those petitions Just
thought they would have a landslide
in that august body in favor OF the
aforesaid Fearnside, but alas, they
had reckoned without mine host, hung
out their St. Nicholas hosiery, retired
in the bliss of their ignorance and
snoozed, and upon returning from the
gloomy land of morpheus and open
ing up their Xmas box, 10 and be-
hold they had Bill Russell, the man
that disgraces the columns of the
Palatka News by knocking patriots,
"Gardeens," good Protestants "some-
times" Cats, who is like Bill HIM
self, reformed preacher, in fact cv-
ervthing that is not in harmony with
the papes and the pope.
The chagrin of the Fearnside ag-
gregation was very much apparent
from their several counteHances 2".
utilized by the papcs and "nigh
rapes" as q marker for future con-
sideration. However, the boys are
not to be too severely criticised, for
it had only been a matter of some
thirty or more days since they had
tied a milestone around Russelps po-
litical neck and cast him in the Nigh
tv deep: they then thought the
rising bubbles (Salt Creek trip was
the high ball to Bills trip to obliv,-
on-Dutchman's flea, "got him and
you haven't got him.
1t can now plainly be seen that
there was some secret wire pulling
before the meeting, while the boys
were out in the open obtaining as
near as possible the sentiment of the
reople in the form of petitions, which
the committee, spurred on by some
broadsiders from Russell, consigned
to the basket. They then proceeded
to ballot. resulting 8 to IS in favor
of RUSSELL and, bless your soul, they
we're still not satisfied. One little
nape mounted his pedals and moved
that the committee express its ap-
preciation of the efforts on the part
of Mr.. Knott to have the vote re-
counted where he considered there
had been irregularities, most of the
committee having an abdominal sui
fciency renieged and some of the old
or heads, which could stand the test
of the carpenters "whiskey stick" m
formed the committee that it was
better policy for them to remain neu-
trail. and so they did.
Now. boys, the thing to do is to
acknowledge the results of your pro-
tracted nap and adopt a slogan thus,
"Alertness Always" for the papacy
never sleeps. Dispute it if YOU can
without taking note Of the clas-
sic literary stvle of the above COM
munication and its somewhat obscure
meaning. also it's anonymity, the edl-
tor of The News desires to correct
one false statement in order thai
those now in the office will not feel
themselves called upon to apologize
for his malfeasance, i. e., that this
editor is not a "reformed" preacher,
nor an eX-preacher. Never having
been an applicant for holy orders it
would naturally he impossible for him
TO "reform" He is simply trying
to a Christian, a gentleman and a
democrat at one and the same time
under the most trying conditions, be-
lieving there is nothing inconsistent,
one with the others, in combina-
ton of the three. He gladly repro
duces the article from the Free Press
in order that readers of this paper
throughout the county may know
somewhat of the disesteem in which
he is held by those who. having a.
tqired to Christian perfection, Tom
Watson's Jeffersonian democracy and
q n-Chesterfeldian gentility, can
afford to laugh at his feeble attempts
to climb up some other way