V
a man
a man
. W1 muiuucwuoca iao mem no harm if noerood. Take the legislative
can asses ot tne county. In 1S97 Orchard. Inrtenpnnt hp9t od.li roimfkr tin
inee. Odell did not suit, Orel -d did. In 1881, Heilman, Independent, beat
Means, regular nominee ; and In 1S87, Jim Long, a hog, in whom there could pos
sibly be no harm was elected over McAlister, regular nominee ; McAlister did not
suit, Long would do." The only formidable foe the ring ever had was Heilman,
who turned viper in their bosom after being waimed into political life. '
A majority of the people of Cabarrus county are fearless, honest- and sincere,
They have ever despised the ring. And when the Populist party made its advent.
Cabarrus became one of its hot-beds, not because the people believed so much in
Populism, but 1
BECAUSE THEY HATED THE RING
Init di$cZr ll not be the pliant tool they desire, they beat him with ing, "robbing and stealing on every WrflhlSclas to enrich coroo-
1 nave resolved to cut aloof from that party and cast my lot with the
ONLY PATRIOTS OF THE COUNTRY,
the Populist Party, until the last one has renewed his covenant of justice and right.
- Now, Mr Editor, I wish to ask a small favor of you, which I hope you will not
refuse, as I do not wish to be annoyed any further. I have been a subscriber to
the north Carolinian (Josephus Daniels' rehash of the News and Observer) and
my subscription has not yet expired ; but I do not wish my family to again read
any such an
INDECENT AND SCANDALOUS SHEET,
t which all the Christian people of the State ought to condemn, that its publication
might cease. Please call at that office and say to the editor I want it discontinued.
I freely give him all unexpired time.
vWi.thothe best wishes for the success of the reform movement in the good "Old
North State," I am, Yours truly, R. J. Corbett.
SAW ENOUGH TO FIX HIM.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY NO MORE FIT FOR BETTERMENT THAN HELL IS
FOR A SUMMER RESORT.
' Apex, N. C, October 9, 1898.
Editor Caucasian: While traveling through Richmond county I had the
opportunity of witnessing one of the most humiliating scenes that I ever saw im
posed on a free white man in my life.
A gang, headed by John F. McNair, Maxcy John, Bob Covington, W. L. Fields
and I heard that one of the preachers of the town chur. h, together with about
forty of the ignorant poor farmers who are being used as tools and bedecked in
red bhlrts, while the leaders wear their usual lanndried shirts, marched down the
town street, in open daylight, and arrested a young white gentleman of humble
birth, manly bearing, and a lawyer by profession,
AND THREATENED HIS LIFE
if he ever was caught again making speeches to negroes. I understand Mr. Cox
was reared a Democrat, but a few months ago he decided to cast his lot with the
Fusion party of North Carolina, and-because of that his neighbors and business
men are imperiling his life.
Now, sir, I have always been a poor man, but a Democrat, but when I witnessed
that blood-curdling, humiliating and desperate seen.-, I
DECIDED WITHIN MY SOUL
that the Democratic party is no more for the poor man's pleasure and betterment
than hell is for a summer resort. And since seeing with my own eyes this das
tardly attempt to take away from a fiee white man in North Carolina
THE RIGHT OF HIS OPINION,
the fact is clear to my mind that this Democratic campaign is to the poor white
men of North Carolina what the civil war was: "A rich man's war and a poor
man's fight."
In every county in the State the tickets are not even spotted with Door white
men, and I am told in Richmond county the candidate for the Legislature is rich
and oppressive, and spent hundreds and hundreds of dullars to prevent the poor
people of Rockingham from having a graded school.
What I saw in Laurinburg gives me a full taste of what we poor white men
would suffer if the rich Democratic partv wins. Why South Carolina would be a
Heaven to it. ' w. C. Dixon.
Now I have always been a Democrat ; I have teen a silver Democrat ; I am a
t V XriT-t . . uone as nam woric tor tne partv as any other man
lias done. While this is a fact, I have never been in svmpathy with the ring, nor
the nng with me. ' 6
Last May we held our primaries for the purpose of sending delegates to the
County Convention The ring, lent on rule or ruin, did not attend these primaries.
But the leaders of the Ring did their work well. To a silver man they would say :
a,m. not SolnS to the primaries ; silver men ought not to bind themselves." To
a goldbug the cry was : "lam going to take no more Bryanism and electoral fu
sion with Russell's gang in mine. I expect to vote as I please this year." The
consequence was, a very small attendance was given the May primaries.
In order to put silver men on their guard, we instructed our delegates to the
county convention to introduce a resolution reaffirming our allegiance to the
Chicago platform and our faith in National Chairman Jones. When we got to the
convention we found the Ring in full control. After the delegates to the State
Convention were named, a resolution instructing them against fusion was passed.
Then our resolution was rvfTorcwl ai
FAILED TO GET EVEN A SECOND.
And this, in spite of the fact that the men in control of that convention had been
mad as wet hens because the last National Convention failed to endorse Grover
Cleveland ! Our resolution was actually hooted at by most of the delegates, in
cluding some of the gentlemen who have since become successful candidates for
the Democratic nomination for office.
The State Convention was held and, as might have been expected, Cabarrus
county was represented principally by a
GOLDBUG RAILROAD ATTORNEY.
who, it is said, voted only a sect'on of the last Presidential ticket and who was not
in svmpathy with even that small part of it. The platform adopted at that conven
tion is, as you know, "a cowardly makeshift," bearing in almost every paragraph
the most flagrant evidences of insincerity, and designed onlv to deceive. Our knees
weakened when we learned that A. B. Andrews had named the State Chairman (a
fact which is no longer denied) and when it became doubly evident that the ma
chine would make one last determined, defiant, despairing effort to gain the legis
lature, with the
UNDISGUISED PURPOSE OF PLAYING THE DEVIL
generally, in such matters as the enactment of laws to create a high rate of inter
est, the disfranchisement of the negro in the East and the " poor unruly white"
in the West, a perpetuation of corporation iniquities, the invention of a machine
with the aid of which the next State Convention should send a Gold delegation to
the National Convention for the two-fold purpose of striking down Bryan and
Bryanism, and through the aid of which machine also the
, RANSOM REGIME SHOULD BE RE-ENTHRONED,
with the sure election of one of their school to the United States Senate in 1900.
With a State Convention just held, in all respects exactly to their liking, the
Ring in Concord began to move upon the " masses."
I saw the rascality of the whole proceeding. So did most of the silver Demo
crats. We of the silver persuasion did not stand a single chance of getting to vote
for a silver man in the November election. For the general purpose of giving the
silver men such an opportunity in the primary convention an
, ; . .. EXCUSE FOR EFFECTIVE ACTION LATER,
LOOK UP A PEOPLE'S PABT1THASD
BOOK. YOU MAY BE ONE OF" THE MEN
WHO HAS BEEN FOOLED BY THE DEMO
CRATIC MACHINE. THIS BOOK WILL
OPEN YOUR EYES.
denied if the charge is true what may
silver men expect in 1900? Will not the
Clevelandites, who now contrpl the ma
chinery of the party, use it to try to de
feat the nomination of Bryan or any true
silver man? And, if he should be nomi
nated over their heads, would they not
use the machinery of the party to try and
defeat him and carry the State for ihe
nominees of the Cleveland-McKinley-Palmer
and Buckner combine? Certain
ly they will. Some of them bolted in
18)6 to try to carry the State for McKin
ley, and, failing by that method, they
went to work to capture the machinery
of the Democratic party for the same pur
pose in 1900. This is a question for every
silver man who is earnestly opposed to
the rule of gold and monopoly to think
about, and seriously too.
There were some men at the recent
Democratic State Convention who had
been so bound and who seemep so pro
nounced in their devotion to silver and in
their opposition to monopoly, that the
people thought they were sincere. But
it seems that they all surrendered to the
Clevelandites without even a struggle.
They made no fight for their convictions,
or, rather, their professed principles.
Where was the editor of the News and
Observer, the member of the National
committee, the so-called representative of
Mr. Bryan and the self-styled "Tribune
ofthePeple?" He, too, surrendered at
the convention to the Clevelandites. They
put him on the platform committee.
They told him that he might write all the
silver in the platform he wanted, but that
he must not insist on carrying the plan of
Bryan and Chairman Jones for winning a
victory for silver. They said to him,
make all the silver and anti-monopoly
professions you want to, but you must
surrender the only weapon of success for
those professions by the same act that
you declare your devotion. And the so
called 'Tribune of the People" stepped
into the trick. Was he fooled, or did he
think he could fool the people?
Mr. Bryan foresaw, months ago, that
this trick would be worked by the gold
bugs and hypocrites in Statts where the
silver sentiment was strong among the
masses of the people. In an open letter
and for the specific purpose of learning the stage of rottenness to which the Ring
had' descended I, at the last moment, allowed my name to be used in the primary
in connection with the legislative candidacy. My own township gave me an over
whelming vote. ' Wonderful to tell ! we had ninety-five men in our primary on the
3d of September instead of four as in May. I had only two days in which to work
and did not try to reach all of the townships, but in some precincts where I had
been promised fair play, the Ring's lieutenants, fearing a revolt in the county con
vention REFUSED TO ALLOW MY NAME
to be put in nomination. Why? Not because there was any objection, moral or
intellectual. Not because they were pledged to any other candidate, because it
was said there was no avowal candidate for the place. The reason was, I did not
suit the gang !
It may be charged that I an "disgruntled" or "soured." These are favorite
terms with the machine. But this charge would be absolutely untrue. I knew,
when I started out, there was no chance of a nomination.
I have some inside facts. I will not be personal here, but if anyone desires names
or reasons, let him see me or address me, and he can be accommodated.
One of the candidates told me that a certain " Richard Croker " of the Ring was
for him and had triven him more eood points than any other man in the countv.
In return for these "points" this candidate confided all his achievements in his
canvass to the astute Croker ; and it so turned out that as fast as the candidate tied
a knot, Croker slipped -long and gently untied it. In the primaries this candidate
was not only slaughtered, he
WAS SHAMEFULLY HUMILIATED.
In the County Convention lie bit the dust, and instructed, in an eloquent fashion,
that the nomination of his rival be cheerfully and unanimously given.
Now, the irresistible deduction from these facts is that this candidate was either
shamefully betrayed by a heartless and villainous Ring, the life of which ought to
be crushed out in the righteous wrath of an outraged community, or that the said
candidate was the
HIRED SACRIFICE OF THE SAME RING,
who, for a consideration, marched to the block for the two-fold purpose of keeping
all other candidates "off the grass" in that .particular race and to secure the out
raged candidate's peaceful approval of the infamous, detestable work of the Ring
in their particular cases. I do not share in the latter belief, but I know many
who do.
In the race for Register of Deeds, Henry White, a good man, a good Democrat,
but a man who was not favored by the Ring, was deprived of the nomination, it is
generally asserted (and I believe) by a trick worked in the very last days of the
campaign before the primaries. Henry White believes he was treated most shame
fully. He was beaten by the Ring for a man who, so far as I have been able to
learn, has not one single point to recommend him for the office. In the County
Convention, Mr. White went down before the invincible onslaught of Ring forces.
When every hope vanished, he was too overcome to speak, but asked a friend to
express his approval of the Ring's disgraceful work, of his own political murder ;
and while this friend was speaking, Henry White sat upon a seat just behind him
and wept. , -
There are many other disgraceful things I could mention, but I .do not desire to
weary your readers. . Suffice it to say I am
TOO MUCH OF A DEMOCRAT,
too much of a gentleman, to endorse the work of the late Democratic Convention
in its nominations for Cotton-weigher, Register of Deeds, Sheriff, Clerk of the
Court and Legislature. I think it is in the interest of the common people that
these candidates be beaten, and I promise the most devoted assistance in bringing
ahrmt this desired end.
I WILL NOT BE WHIPPED INTO LINE BY THE CRY OF ".NIGGER."
The white men of the East, if they are suffering so terribly under negro domina
tion ought either to open their doors to Peg Leg Williams and get rid of the negro,
or move themselves to other quarters. I am opposed to negro rule I will not
submit to it but Democratic Ringsters
CANNOT CONVINCE ME OF THE GENUINENESS OF THEIR SCARE
lon as they continue to vote for negroes to hold office. In the last three elec-
the Democrats had " reversible " experiences in
the first, they bought him and got him ; in the two last, they bought him and got
him not. Now, I do contend that the party that buys negro votes is equally rep
rehensible with the party that puts the negro in onice. wma , or ouiu,
that politics in North Carolina have reached the very lowest depths of corruption,
and that a terrible debauchery has been wrought in our manhood.
One thing more:
I WILL NOT AID THE RING DEMOCRATS OF THE STATE
in their attempts to place the State again in the hands of the Ransom-Jarvis-Sim-mons-Andrews-Henderson
gang, with their oligarchic tendencies and their faith in
their divine right to rule. If no other individual in North Carolina opposes them,
I will take the platform of invincible, indestructable manhood and utter my protest
against their long, clammy grapple of the throats of the oppressed poon
Very respectfully, Jake Nkwku.
CORBETT KNOCKS 'EM OUT.
HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A DEMOCRAT BUT NOW CUTS ALOOF
FROM A PARTY DECEIVING, ROBBING AND STEAL
ING FROM THE PEOPLE.
Sunbury, N. C, October 10, 1S9S.
Progressive Farmer: 1 am now past my three score years, and have always
been a Democrat, and think all political fights should be made upon truth and jus
tice leaving the results to the voters of the country. But having seen what tactics
the machine Democratic press of the State have resorted to, that they may again
get control of the State, bv lying, villifying, scandalizing and cartooning the good
people of the State, regardkss of sex, many of whom are personally known to the
writer, and knowing their statements to be false, I feel that it is time that the good
people of the State should stand together and
DRIVE OUT OF EXISTENCE
that old bourbon Democracy, which has swayed so long in North Carolina, deceiv-
THE EGGS HAVE LONG SINCE " FAILED," BUT THE OLD MACHINE THINKS
SHE IS BOUND TO SET TILL THE EIGHTH OF NOVEMBER.
N. B. These aie not the rotten eggs thrown at Populist speakers in former campaigns.
THE CLOVEN FOOT EXPOSED.
MR. STEVENS EXPOSES THE HYPOCRISY OF THE RAILROAD LAW
YER CONVENTION THE CRIME COMMITTED IN THE
NAME OF DEMOCRACY.
so
tions
Editor The Caucasian :
Since the last Democratic State Con
vention adjourned this writer has been
expecting'to see some charges cleared up
and set right before the people. It has
been repeatedlj charged that the Con
vention didnot represent the masses of
Jeffersonian Democrats, but that it was
captured and controlled by men who
wouldprefer to see Cleveland President
rather than Bryan. It has also been
charged that goldbugs and monopolists
who did not support Bryan and silver in
1896, and somewho supported either Mc
Kinley'or Palmer and Buckner, were on
hand as delegates helping to defeat a co
operation of the silver and anti-monopoly
forces, as recommended by Bryan and the
National organization.
Is this so? The people have a right to
know, and they will know. There have
been no positive and specific denials. The
denials come by way of charging other
parties with certain shortcomings. Does
this answer the charge ! Surely it does
not, but, on the other hand, it it not an
adnvssion that a positive direct denial
cannot be made? The sickening con
viction is coming to the masses of the
silver Democrats that the charge is
true.
Is it not shameful that 140,000 silver
men, who stand for Bryan and the whole
Chicago platform, shall be dominated and
betrayed by about 5,000 goldbugs and
monopolists, who are ag -ins. Bryan and
silvtr, and many of whom bolted and
openly supported McKinley orPalmei nd
Buckner and that crowd? Yet it seems
that these are the men who took complete
charge f the Democratic State Conven
tion on May 26, 1S98, and who now have
complete control of the machinery of the
party. They repudiated the policy of
Bryan and committed the party to the
policy of Cleveland. Bryan wanted the
140,000 Silver Democrats and the 40,000
Populists to join forces to co-operate,
which would make a sweeping victory
over gold and monopoly. Cleveland
wanted these silver and anti-monopoly
forces kept apart so that gold and mo
noply might control the State. Thee
5.000 Clevelandites have captured the
party and carried out his goldbug policy.
They have not only done this, but these
Clevelandites now control the machinery
of the party. Will they nt use this ma
chinery of Cleveland's till 1900 against
Bryan and silver and in support of Cleve
land's gold and monopoly policy ?
This is shameful treason that has been
committed in the name of Democracy,
and this is the reason that the question
is dodged and not answered, It was not
thus in 1896, when by a union of the sil
ver forces the State electoral ticket was
carried for Bryan and silver over the
heads of the Clevelandites.
If the charge cannot now be positively
in the New York Journal he warned
the people that in States like North
Carolina the goldbugs and monop
olists would pretend to be for silver in
order to get control of the conventions
and the party machinery, but when in
control they would refuse to do that
which was necessary to win a victory for
the people and good government. Did
not thi - very thing happen at the late
Democratic State Convention? And did
not Mr. Daniels submit to it without a
fight? But the people had not been warn
ed of this danger, for a majority of the
Democratic papers refused to publish
Mr. Bryan's letter containing this warn
ing. What does it mean? It means that the
goldbugs and the pretended silver men
(hypocrites) have fooled the people and
have gotten complete control of the par
ty machinery. It means that Bryan and
the principles he stands for have been
betrayed that the people have been be
trayed. What can the people do ? Let
them repudiate the traitors !
Don't silver men want success for sil
ver? How can they win? By standing
together by co-operating against gold
and monopoly, as advised by Bryan, and
Chairman Jones. And if the Democratic
State Convention had been controlled by
men who were sincere for silver and earn
estly opposed to gold and monopoly, it
would have followed this course.
Don't goldbugs and monopolists want
to win a victory for gold and monopoly?
Don't they always pursue the course that
will bring them victory? Certainly ! In
this State they could not win by simply
combining their strength, because the
silver men, if united, are in a large ma-jo-ity;
therefore, to win, they must first
divide the silver men, and this is the ex
planation of the action of the Democratic
State Convention, If this is Democracy,
then I do not endorse such Democracy
and am out of it.
Thus we see that the goldbugs and mo
nopolists put forth tremendous efforts
(supposing the letters of Mr Bryanand
Chairman Jones) for no other purpose
than to divide the silver and anti-monopoly
forces. They worked this game wher
ever they could in the last election ; they
are working it even more successfully
now.
There are, probably, 40,000 Populists
who saved this State for Bryan and free
silver in the last campaign, and that, too
under conditions that pat their patriot
ism and devotion to principle to the se
verest test. These are the men whom
every sincere supporter of Bryan aud his
principles should seek as allies. Did the
Democratic State Convention seek the co
operation of these men? No, but, on the
other hand, it spurned the offer which
the Populists had already made. What
is the explanation? There are a few
thousand gold and monopoly Democrat?
who, acting under Cleveland's advice,'
tried to defeat Bryan in the last campaign
and carry the State for McKinley ; and
these are the men who, with the hypo
crites, captured the Democratic State
Convention and now control the machin
ery, and are using it to try to divide the
silver and anti-monopoly torces. This is
the explanation.
Does any man need further proof that
the convention was not composed of sin
cere silver delegates? If so, I can be spe
cific. Here, in Duplin county, at the
county convention, a certain Cleveland
ite offered a resolution condemning the
last Democratic State cpmmittee for
forming a co-operative electoral ticket in
1896, which was the only possible way to
carry the State for Bryan and silver. Now
this same Clevelandites was rewarded at
the late Democratic State Convention by
being r laced on the Democratic State
Committee, and the State. Committee is
now composed of such men, because the
Clevelandites controlled the Convention.
Thus the 5,000 Cleveland and monop
oly Democrats, with the help of some
hypocrites pretending to be for Byran
and silver (who, by the way, are more
numerous and more dangerous than the
open goldbugs), have led 140,000 silver
voters again in the goldbug trap. They
have succeeded in dividing the silver
forces (the object aimed at) which is a
victory for gold and a defeat for diver.
I believe that it is the duty of every
true silver man and sincere supporter of
Bryan to expose and denounce this trick
of the enemy. The quicker the people
repudiate these traitors the better. I
hope in 1900 to see the true silver and
anti-monopoly forces united. But the
people must overthrow these Cleveland
ites and hypocrites before the silver men
can be united. These men are against
the Chicago platform and every economic
reform that means prosperity to the -people.
Remember how these monopolists and
goldbugs were dumbfounded and scatter
ed with amazement when Bryan was
nominated, but most of them hung on to
the Democratic ship, some by voting for
only a Democratic constable perhaps,
hoping to recapture her. This they have
now done by deception. Now.they intend
to either scuttle the ship or land her into
their goldbug and monopoly harbor. One
of the two they will surely do, and the
honest masses of the Democratic crew
cannot now prevent it, for the ironopoly
pirates control the machinery of the ship.
Now, one word in conclusion about the
recent letter of ex-Governor Jarvis, in
which he attempted to construe or inter
pret the action of the convention. Let
it be remembered that Mr. Jarvis was one
of the leading opponents of co-ojieraUon
at the convention. He was Chairman of
the committee which repudiated Bryan's
plan for co-operation of all who oppose
gold and monopoly. He was Chairman
of the committee which not only refused
the proposition of the Populists for co
operation and further refused to make a
counter propo ition, but which also de
clared against ..nsidering any further
proposition of any kind. Yet Mr. Jarvis
says in his letter to Col. John R. Web
ster (than whom there is no truer silver
man) that it was not intended by the State
Convention to prevent district and coun
ty co-operation. If it was not district and
county co-operation to elect silver Con
gressmen and members of the Legisla
ture, &c, that the State Convention re
fused, then pray what was it ? There is
no State ticket to be elected this year.
The hypocrisy of this is too absurd to
fool anybody. The State Convention is
the only body that is a unit of the Na
tional organization. The chief business
before the State Convention was to con
sider the question of co-operation as out
lined and recommended by Bryan and
the National organization of the party.
But this convention repudiated the Na
tional organization and betrayed the peo
ple at home. Why? Because Bryan and
Chaiiman Jones are true silver men,
while the State Convention was controll
ed by goldbugs and monopolists. Still
the silver people are invited to vote for
the candidates of this gold and monopoly
machine in the districts and counties.
Do they think the people are fools ?
Yours, &c, ,
II. L. Stevevs.
Warsaw, July 14th.