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language, that I did in my book.
There is many a man here to-night
that heard my speech in the Market
hall before I was elected. Every one
who was there knows that I pointed
out the same facta, and put the
whole town on notice of these
things, and one of the men that I
mentioned by name was Calvin
Brice.
A voice. Yes, we know that.
Mr. Watson. And the other was
Roswell P. Flower. You all remem
ber that ?
Voices. Yes, every word of it.
[Prolonged enthusiasm.]
Mr. Watson. Now, be quiet, my
friends, and let me go on. No mat
ter what the facts were before my
election ; no matter what the proof
was or was not; the very moment I
became convinced that there was an
ijT&concilable conflict with the straight
out Democracy ; that there was an
irreconcilable conflict between the
farming interests and the Demo
cracy ; that there was an an irrecon
cilable conflict between the laboring
classes and the old party r
[A storm of voices drowned the
speaker’s voice at this point and some
angry retorts came from the other
side.]
Mr. Watson. When I made up
my mind that the men of this
country had to choose between the
Ocala platform and the regular
Democratic party [Conclusion
drowned in confusion.] Don’t yon
know that that time has come ?
Don’t you know that the Democratic
party now is playing you for
suckers ?
Voices. That has played out;
we’re on to them.
Other voices. Rats, rats, followed
by howling of the unearthly sort.
Mr. Watson. Why do 1 say that?
Because every demand that they
promised to give you—free silver,
reduction of expenditures, increase
of the circulating medium, the in
come tax, and fighting the outlawry
of national bankers—has been de
nied.
Voices. That is the God’s truth !
Hurrah for Watson !
Mr. Watson. All these reforms
that they promised to enact into
statutory law they failed to do so.
No man is so blind that he fails to
see that they never intended to en
act them. Not only that, they do
not incorporate them in their plat
form. Let Mr. Black stand by par
ty, I will stand by principle. [ Ap
plause.] Let him talk about Demo
cracy as a name, without any
reference to .principle or platform,
I am going to stand loyal upon those
eternal principles of right and jus
tice represented by the wishes of the
people of the Tenth congressional
district.
.Cries of, Devil I devil! Oh, you
devil I Rats! traitor I Weaver I and
“Where am I at?”
Mr. Watson. You are in the
fence-crack. There is where you
are, and there is where your candi
date will be in November, Buddie.
(Applause). See it as you will; mis
represent it as you may ; distort the
facta as you do, there is not a man
in this town, if he is honest with
himself, who does not know that I
stand squarely by my principles and
by the people to whom I owe my
election. (Tremendous applause.)
(Facing Mr. Black.) You say
that you have run me away from the
position that I took at Crawfords
ville. (Facing the audience). He
has not done anything of the kind,
boyb. lie has not done it now, nor
will he ever do it.
A voice. He can’t do it, and he
can’t drive us.
Mr. Watson. Now listen. He
charges me with having given as an
excuse for leaving the Democratic
party caucus the f act that the Indian
apolis convention bad passed a certain
resolution instructing me not to go
into the Democratic caucus, and says
that. I ought not to be bound by it
because I was instrumental in having
it passed. Now that could not be a
good reason because I had no vote
in that convention. But to show
him that he was wrong I repeatedly
called his attention to the origin of
the St. Louis resolution; to the
origin of the Ocala resolution. I
called his attention to the origin of
the Indianapolis resolution to show
that the one was the sequence of the
other.
Voices around the speaker’s stand.
Driven ! driven ! driven I
Mr. Watson. Driven from where?
I wih show you directly who has
been driven, if anybody has been
driven [turning to the Hancock dele
gation where a continual hum of
voices interfered with the hearing,
even of your reporter.] If you gen
tlemen would only listen it would be
much more iustructiva to yourselves
and satisfactory to me. He talks
about men changing their positions.
1 want to show you that I have not
a monopoly of that, because the Hon.
J. C. O. Black has done a little of
that himself.
Voices. Right I right I right!
In 1882, when certain politicians,
now so anxious to have my friend
Mr. Black to go to the lower house,
opposed him for the Senate, he made
a speech from which I quote the fol
lowing. Now listen to you own can
didate :
Ido not covet the glory of martyrdom,
but neither the glittering blade of the
executioner nor the smoky tire of sacri
fice can drive me from the position I
• have taken.
I want you people to hear that.
Lt* it sink into your souls. It is a
strong expression and glowing in
rhetorical beauty.
My letter in declining to come to At
lanta and lobby for a Senatorship has
been criticised in the Constitution and
the Augusta Chronicle. In that letter I
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1892.
eimply propose a reform in politics which
these pa )trs are pleased to denounce.
What was that position ? Simply
opposition to ring rule.
Voices. Hit him again, Tommie.
Hurrah for our Tommie.
[Continues reading.]
The Chronicle of 1876 indorsed the
position I now hold, but that was the
Chronicle edited in Augusta, and now
we have a Chronicle edited from At
lanta.
Cries of Rats, rats, rats, traitor I
Run him to his hole.
Mr. Watson. Now, this is your
own candidate’s speech [turning to
Mr. Blade] You see how you are
treated by your owij friends. You
see how your own beautiful sentence
and vivid rhetoric is flouted. [Con
tinues to read]:
What I have written I have written,
and I am willing to stand or fall by it.
I am indorsed in my position of refusing
to importune members of the legislature
by the example of Mr. Hill, who de
clined in his race for the Senatorship to
do so, etc.
Now listen to this :
Success does not make right, and
since the example of the Sage of Ashland
has been invoked against me, I would
remind those who use it that he formu
lated his political ethics in the famous
sentiment, “I would rather be right than
be President.”
I suppose that the meaning of Mr.
Black was that he would rather be
instrumental in reforming Georgia
politics, as represented by the Con
stitution and Chronicle, than to be
President. Now listen:
I am called a dreamer and have been
expelled to Arcadia, but I would like
before I go to get a little of the Arcadian
atmosphere into Georgia politics.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Watson. He has done that
by joining the rings he was then
fighting. [Laughter and applause.]
Now listen:
Do not lower your standard of political
morals.
[Laughter, and voices, ’Rah for
Black! rata, rata, rats.
Mr. Watson. Now listen. This
is not my speech; it is your own
candidate’s speech. You ought to
stand him if you can not stand me.
Listen:
There is no doubt but among the people
there is a feeling of distrust. There is
just cause for it. There seems to be a
charmed circle into which if a man does
not enter he need not aspire to any honor.
So convinced was Mr. Black of
that ten years ago that he walked
into that charmed circle. [Great
laughter.] Now listen:
There is one head, and when it takes
snuff there is a universal sneeze.
A voice. Oh, rata, Tom. Give
us a rest.
Mr. Watson [not heeding the in
terruption.] At that time everyone
was sneezing -except Mr. Black.
[Liughter.] Now Mr. Black is
sneezing too. (Renewed laughter.)
Cries of Black, Black! hurrah for
our candidate, Mr. Black.
Mr. Watson. Now listen to this,
ladies. Here is a nice sentance :
i
When he pipes all dance.
And among the dancers now we
find the graceful figure of the Hon.
J. C. C. Black the moment the pipes
are put to the mouth and the fingers
to the keys.
[Roars of angry remonstrance.]
Now, boys, you ought to stand it
better than that. 1 took mine like a
little man, and I do not see why you
do not take yours that way. [Laugh
ter and applause.] I see now that
when the piping is done by the Hon.
Evan Howell, for instance, editor of
the Atlanta Constitution; and the
Hon. Patrick Walsh, who edited the
Augusta Chronicle, goes over and
says: “Miss Jimmie Black, can I
have your hand for the next quad
rille ?” [Applause and laughter.]
Well, without a moment’s hesitation,
the Hon. J. C. C. Black answers,
“Yes, sir;” and they go smiling
down in the merry mazes of the
dance. [Renewed laughter.]
Now listen. There is a Biblical
allusion that you will all recognize,
my friends. You know, my friends,
that Mr. Black is fond of alluding to
the Holy Scriptures. He does so with
great eloquence. But here it is:
“I call upon you—
Whom? The people of Georgia.
To arise and smite this power.”
Smite what power ? The corrupt
ring in the State of Georgia.
A voice. He means, smite Wea
ver,” followed by general tumult.
Mr. Watson. Why do you not
take your medicine like men ?
A man by the Chronicle reporter :
AY by don’t you go on. They would
not talk so much if you would keep
right ahead.
Mr. Watson. Why do you, and
your friends, not keep quiet? You
are annoying me more than all the
others.
He says, “Do not be frightened by
it.” Frightened by what? Why,
the ring politicians of Georgia, rep
resented by the Constitution and the
Chronicle. Now, if there is any talk
of fighting and courage in the com
ing campaign, here is something
bearing upon the subject:
For twenty days Goliath defied the ar
mies of Israel, but there came an Arca
dian youth and slew him. No power can
frighten me; no honors can bribe me. I
hope that the fate of Goliath will over
take all who obtain and hold office by
corrupt practices.
[Tremendous applause, and howls
from the hoodlums.]
Who was Goliath ?
Voices. Black, Black, Black!
And cries of, Oh, no, no. (Laugh
ter.)
Mr. Watson. If at that time I
held any place at all, it was by the
side of this same David who was
going out to slay Goliath, and the
Goliath that he was going to slay
was the corrupt political ring which
he said was fostered by the Atlanta
Constitution and the Augusta
Chronicle. To-day I am fighting
that same power, as I fought it then,
but over the other side of the brook,
with his sling, I find Mr. Black with
bis sling and hi# stones making war
upon the cause of God’s people.
(Great applause.)
Now, I want to get a chance to
say a few words specially to these
colored people to-night. Now my
colored friends, this i* what I want
to say.
\ oices: TeU us about Weaver!
Rah for Black! Traitor, traitor,
traitor. Hurrah for the Corbin
bank, etc.!
Mr. Watson. Now, if you want
these colored men to hear what I
have to say to them, why, be quiet.
If you are afraid to have them hear
it, then they will understand your
reason.
( Babel broke looose again. The
platform contingent commenced
thumping on the stage with their
chairs, and the speaker’s voice was
drowned for about five minutes.)
Mr. Watson. Have you colored
people seen that? Don’t you under
stand that they do not want you to
hear what I want to say to you?
Many voices from the colored.
We see it, boss.
Mr. W atson. Have you seen this?
(Holding up a circular.) That was
sent out by the campaign committee
of the Democratic party. The party
which has found out *so suddenly
how much it loves you. Which has
so suddenly found out how much it
always loved you. (Laughter among
the colored.) Mr. Black wants you
especially to vote for Mr. Northen
•for Governor of the State. Well,
Mr. Northen came down into Wash
ington county a week or so ago and
made a speech in which he reiterat
ed the charge contained in the cir
cular, and he took the old colored
man with him whose claim he says I
defeated. Now, you will soon see
why they did not want you to hear
it, but you are going to hear it. I
want to show you what kind of a
Governor Mr. Black wants you to
vote for.
Those circulars’ charge me with a
great wrong in having defeated the
claim of Charles Bradwell. He says
that Mr. Livingston had that in
charge for him. He says that every
Congressman was in favor of it,
speaking of the Georgia delegation,
and that it would have passed
through the House for the colored
man had it not been put back by me
calling for the regular of business,
which 1 did in order to < t up this
sub-treasury bill for theYClefit of
ail the people. That ’ ast
Congress which has e J.
It was this year, 1891?. >-
pose that 1 can show s
claim has been paid q|^K e rs lit
every one of these Congr«Fq nt? as
trying to get your tax "ap-
propriated to pay it a fjecak’ntime?
A voice. Tflttt w
were trying to do. .TqSinc,
Mr. Watson. That is jg s f what
they did try to do. 'j,' '
A voice. Rats, rats, ratsL XCL ar I
(Great confusion caused Wt "e, -s,
jeers, beating on a gong or isters.^« Q
triangle, and squeaking de- ,h
sounding instrument.)
Mr. Watson. My colored friends,
you see the reason they do not want
to hear.
Voice on the stage. Go on, Mr.
Watson! Go on Mr. Watson!! Go
on, Mr. Watsoh!!! (This in a mock
ing tone.)
Mr. Watson. Yes, I understand
you.
The sama voice. You are getting
a good hearing, Mr. Watson. They
do not want to hear your black
guard.
The assumption was so glaringly
that some gentleman who had
been cheering for Mr. Black, cried:
shame! shame I
Mr. Watson. (Ignoring the false
hood.) It would be better if you
gentlemen on the stage did not inter
rupt so much.
Here is the bill that was passed
of Congress four years ago, which
shows that that claim was passed
and paid in full, and there is Living
ston, and Gordon, and Colquitt, and
the other members of the Georgia
delegation, according to this, want
ing you to pay it a second time.
A voice. That ain’t true; there
ain’t a word of truth in it.
Mr. Watson. Every word of it is
true. Your candidate, Mr. Black,
would not dare deny it.
Mr. Black. My friend, if you have
any respect for me, stop this.
Mr. Watson. You have been in
terrupting me ever since I got up.
Now, I want you to be quiet.
A storm of voices. Rah for Har
rison ! Rah for Mrs. Lease! Rah
for Weaver. Traitor! Traitor!
Traitor! Devil! DeviJ! Run him to
the hole.
(The speaker smiled disdainfully,
while shame mautled the cheeks of
the few Democratic gentlemen on
the stage.)
A voice. Make them sick, Tom.
Mr. Watson. Yes, they are sick.
If they listen to this it will make
them sicker. They know what is,
coming, and they do not want the
blacks to hear it. They do not want
the whites to hear it. The want to
keep the truth smothered up as they
have done for twenty years.
There is not a man in this auditory
who does not know that my chief
crime has been that I have been tell
ing them the truth about how these
representatives have been defrauding
them, and falsifying the record to
them. They have been telling you
that the Republican party did all the
rascality since the war, and I have
shown you that for every half dozen
laws passed by the Republicans that
was wrong, there were six laws no
lees infamous passed by the Demo-
crats. And to-day, when the cry of
distress goes up from shop and fac
tory, and field and farm, for redress
for those wrongs, it is the Democrat
ic party, in the South, that says:
“We have never had a chance”
“ Give us a chance.” (Laughter.)
Anda thousand miles away from
here, away up in the North, where
the laborers in the wheat field, in the
corn field, and the coal field, rise and
ask the Republican party why it has
not given them relief, why, the Re
publican party puts up the very same
cry : “We have not had a chance.”
(Renewed laughter.) And the Re
publicans are trying to drive the
farmers of the West back into the
Republican party by the very same
tactics that the Democrats of the
South are trying to drive back the
farmers of the South into the
Democratic party.
Cries of : Traitor! Traitor!
Mr. Watson. How hypocritical is
this cry of, “traitor.” There is not
a man on whose lips that insult clings,
for whom I have not used my best—
Voices. Devil! Devil! Devil!
Choke the traitor, boys. Traitor!
Mr. Watson. You try to pull me
down, and you fail at it. (?) You
tried it in Crawfordsville, and failed.
You tried at Sparta, and failed. You
will fail here, and you will fail in
November. (Great cheering.) Ah!
if you think that you can keep the
people of Georgia from finding out
the truth, you are mistaken. Your
conduct here to-night, is opening the
eyes of many a country Democrat
who came down here to hear these
questions discussed, possibly antici
pating a victory for the candidate of
his choice, and expecting to hear the
truth. I have got no great newspa
pers to fight my battles, I have got
no boodle fund to take—(Roars of
rzge and angry imprecations, which
drowned the speaker’s voice for a
few minutes, and prevented your re
porter from hearing some of the
words in the sentence. He conclud
ed as follows:) But there is one
thing to which I have made up my
mind, and that is, that the people of
Georgia shall hear the truth. (Re
newed confusion, and cries of rage.)
Now, when I was reading this bill
a few moments ago, I noticed the
expression of certain gentlemen
when I repeated the question, “what
do you think of (Here there was
a fresh outburst of brutality. As I
write, the whole scene returns
vividly, and I sicken at the recol
lection.) Now mind you, I mean by
this, if the statement contained in
this circular is true—if the state
ments they make themselves are
true —then these honorable gentle
. men (More of the same kind.) I
do not know that Senator Colquitt
was in favor of paying this claim,
fraudulently, again; but it is in the
circular, so and so, and it is a
Democratic circular.
A voice. It is like their dirty
work.
Mr. Watson. I do not know that
every member of Congress favored
the payment of this bill the second
time, but this I know, the circular
says so, and it is a Democratic circu
lar. (Laughter and applause.) This
Democratic circular says that if it
had not been for Watson it would
have been paid, for all the balance
were in favor of paying it. I know
that Senator Gordon was in favor of
paying it. Why ? Because I hunted
up the record and found that he in
troduced a bill to pay it. I know
that Mr. Livingston favored it.
Why ? Because I hunted up the
record and found that he introduced
a bill. (Renewed confusion, and a
determination to stiffle the voice of
the speaker.) Now, what was the
concluding sentence of the bill
passed in 1892? It says, after ap
propriating $1,500 to pay this old
man for the cotton that General
Sherman took after the war, “said
sum to be in full settlement and pay
ment of said claim.”
[Scarcely had the last words
escaped the speaker’s lips, when like
the roar of so many angry wild
beasts lashed into their lair, the same
crowd which had been so intent on
keeping up the disturbance, broke out
into the vilest and’most scurrilous
imprecations. The few gentlemen
immediately surrounding Mr. Black
showed chargrin in every movement,
and the chairman came forward to
expostulate, but bad whisky and
mendacious literature had divested
the crowd of every vestage of man
hood.]
The chairman said: Gentlemen—•
■gentlemen—yon are doing both Mr.
Watson and Mr. Black an injustice.
Mr. Black cannot conclude until Mr.
Watson concludes.
Mr. Watson [indicating the spot
on the platform where the Hancock
gang held high carnival], I® am
continually interrupted from that
part of the platform.
The chairman. As I understand,
they were asking questions.
Mr. Watson. If they were, the
questions were not germane. They
were not in good taste. They were
for the purpose of diverting my at
tention.
[At this point a fellow made a
lurch against the table at which I
was writing, presumably an acci
dent, but this gang showed so much
bad feeling toward me on a former
occasion that I feel justified in
doubting the sincerity of the Scant
apology which he offered.]
Mr. Watson. As a matter'of
course, it is a matter of impossibility
for me to make an argument upon
the issues of the day. I desired to
do that. I desired to address your
reason and your judgment on mat
ters of great public interest—ques
tions engaging the minds of your
best thinkers and -writers. I was
very anxious to discuss those prin
ciples to-night, but you have seen
how utterly impossible it was to ad
dress you upon these questions which
we think are right, and Mr. Black
honestly thinks are wrong. I have
only twenty-three minutes to con
clude, and if I am permitted to say
it——
A voice. Ido not think you will
be permitted to say it, Tommy, old
boy. You are too rotten.
(This sally was greeted with a
long continued applause by the same
old gang.)
A voice. Let us adjourn, Mr.
Watson. They don’t want to hear
you talk.
Mr. Watson. No; Ido not think
they do. I have pitched this argu
ment on a high plane. I have in
dulged in no personalities. I ask
you who have done such great wrong
to Major Black as well as myself, if
it is right for a few men who do not
want to hear those questions discuss
ed, to keep a thousand from hearing
that want to hear. No one man
ought to insult a speaker, and try to
keep him from speaking to a thous
and who want to hear.
A voice on the second seat from
the stage. I cannot hear you hear.
Mr. Watson. No; I hardly hear
myself.
I had prepared for this occasion,
a careful argument on the business
features of our platform, clearing
away misrepresentations, and ex
pounding it from the standpoint of
Jeffersonian Democracy. 1 intend
ed to show you that every plank
was in accordance with the teachings
of Jefferson; but as a matter of
course, you see that I have had no
chance to do so to-night. (Laugh
ing and chaffing, leering and jeering,
howling and growling.)
Let me tell you what I showed at
Sandersville. I showed from Jef
ferson’s work an endorsement of our
land plank, which Mr. Black de
nounced. I showed an endorsement
of our plank favoring a direct issue
of money by the Government, which
he denounced. I showed a denuncia
tion of the State banks, which he
wants, and which I showed Jeffer
son said would be a curse to the
country, and what do you suppose
he said? “Why, 1 cannot be bound ;
by everything that Jefferson said I
sixty or seventy, years ago.”
A voice. Hurrah for Jefferson.
Another voice. Hurrah for Black!
Mr. Watson. Well, which are •
you going to take for your standard,
Mr. Bfeck or Mr. Jefferson ?
Many voices. Black; Jefferson;
Black, Black, Black, Black, Black.
Mr. Watson: If you take Jeffer
son at all, you must take what he
said sixty or seventy years ago, be
cause he has not had a chance to
talk since.
A voice. Jefferson is a ’ dead
duck. We want the new Dem
ocracy.
Mr. Watson. Yes, you want any
thing but fairness and justice. You
want anything but, “equal rights to
all men; special privileges to none.
You want national bank class legis
lation. You want railroad mono
poly. You want the gold standard
instead of the free silver, which Jef
ferson wanted. You want to pay
tribute to the bankers, rather than
free currency for all the people.
A voice. Hurrah for Black! Let
Tommie go to h—l!
Mr. Watson. What? What? In
the presence of ladies. My God! has
this day come in Geoagia?
Now, some of you think that it is
a great crime to start a new party,
and many of you do not know that
the Democratic party was a third
party, started by Andrew Jackson.
(Great applause from the benches
occupied by the workingmen, ming
led with cries of, “Traitor, traitor,”
from the same old gang.)
Mr. Watson. You cry traitor,
and have not sense enough to know
that Jefferson never did call his
party the Democratic party, but call
it the Republican party.
A voice. Tommy, you could have
been President of the United States
if you had stuck to the Democratic
party.
Mr. Watson. You say, “if I had
stuck to the Democratic party.”
Why not say stick to justice and
right?
Same voice. Yes, but you w’ent
back on the Democratic party.
Mr. Watson. Went back on who?
I never went back on a single man
that cast a vote for me.
(At this point there was another
outbreak of blackguardism. It
would seem that an equal number of
the imps of darkness could scarcely
equal the confusion and malignant
spleen exhibited. The speaker,
with great vehemence and indigna
tion continued.)
I had a message to deliver to this
people, and you kept me from de
livering it to them! Yours will be a
a short lived victory, for I will ap
peal from this knot of rowdies to the
great heart of the people. (Great
applause.) Don’t you doubt but I
shall be heard. (Groans.) Don’t
you doubt, but the people shall hear
my . message. (Renewed groaning.)
Don’t you doubt but the great heart
of the good, law abiding people of
Augusta shall hear the appeal lam
going to make to them! (Snarling
hke wild bears, when lashed into
fury.) Don’t you doubt but when
the sun rises to-morrow, and the
Democrats in the country find out
how you have treated me, that they
will repudiate your rowdyism. (An
other interval of diabolism.) Don’t
you doubt that the tide of indigna
tion will raise, and the people will
say that this man must be right, be
cause they were afraid to hear him.
[Writhing and groaning beneath the
lash.] Don’t you think! for on®
moment that you can frighten me.
Don’t you think for one minute that
you can intimidate me. I tell you
that the man or the set of men that
I am afraid of, God never yet made.
I represent a cause that is not afraid
to be discussed. [Great cheering,
the people seeming to reassert them
selves.] I represent men—not a
gang of howling rowdies.
A storm of voices. Yes, Tom.
You bet that we are here at your
back, old boy!
Mr. Watson. I represent men.
Men not dressed as well nor putting
on as many airs as some of you, but
as brave men as ever the sun shone
upon—men that are not to be bullied
or bought.
Voices. Now you are talking,
Tom.jj We are right here by you.
Give it to them.
Mr. Watson. They are the men
who have built up your city, and
beautified your streets. They are
the men who have made your banks
rich, and your factories prosperous.
They are the men who made your
merchants thrive. [Long continued
cheering.] They are the men
who fought your battle in time of
war, and fed and clothed the
country in time of peace, and I tell
you if you think that you can stifle
that people, you will iind your mis
take !
Cries of. Let them try it, Tom, ’
right now. Three cheers for Wat
son. [They were given with a will,
and for the time being brutal row
dyism quailed before calm determi
nation.]
Mr. Watson. You thought you
could discourage me. That cannot
be done I I won my way to honor
with no man’s help save that of
him who gave me work to do.
(Great applause.) Know, you rowd
ies, that when to-morrow’s sun shall
gild the eastern hills I will arise
stronger in the faith than I ever was
before, because of to-night’s disgrace
ful confusion that our enemies have
made of their weakness. (Tremen
dous applause.) A man is accused
here in public of betraying his honor,
of betraying his pedple, and denied
the poor privilage of being heard in
his defence. (Great cheering and
long continued applause.) Tell it!
tell it to your neighbors; tell it to
your children ; tell it to your wives;
tell it so that it will go to the fur
thermost ends of the country, that
even the presence of these ladies—
ladies as pure, as lovely, and as vir
tuous as the womanhood of the South
affords, could not restrain this rabble
from howling me down. (Wild ap
plause.)
(Whether it was the earnest, vehe
ment, impassioned words of the
speaker, or the determined indigna
tion aroused in the farmers and
workingmen of the city, the crowd
desisted during the foregoing defi
ance.)
Mr. Watson, (addressing the well
disposed). Just a word and I will
take my seat. To-night will not be
always. I will ,meet you all again.
lam going to talk to you people,
and the only way to prevent it is to
put a bullet into my heart. lam
going to be heard by the womanhood
of Kichmond county again. I am
not going to take the verdict from a
lot of men who do not know how to
behave in the presence of ladies.
They have succeeded in spoiling my
speech. That is ail right; I can get
another where that came from. They
have kept me from arguing your
principles here to-night. They have
howled me down to-night like de
mons, but, laborers of Augusta, I am
going to meet you as surely as my
pulse beats.
I will not attempt to make this
speech. Let me say in conclusion,
men, ladies, laborers, farmers, pro
ducers—
Cries of, Oh, rats, rats! Sit down,
Tommy; we’ve had enough of you.
Hurrah for Black.
This was followed by continued
cheering from the other side, and
cries of dudes, dudes! blackguards.
[Note —At this point a mau with
a Black badge ou his lapel, arose in
the body of the audience and flour
ished a bottle of whisky about half
full,inviting the boys to take a drink.
1 mention this fact because at a sub
sequent period, when M<* jor Black
was on his feet, the same mau
scrambled on the stage and Mr.
Fleming cried out, ‘‘Look at that
People’s party man with a bottle of
whisky.” I called his attention that
I saw a man with a badge on in the
audience, and that made honors easy
on that score. I ascertained later
that it was the same man. I did not
see a People’s party man that night
under the influence of liquor.]
Mr. Watson. This is a fight under
the bannei* of fraternity. This is a
fight which you can make with the
light of God’s glory in your eyes.
[The banner with the picture of
Mr. Black and Mr. Stephens was
carried up towards the stand at this
point and it created so much confu
sion that fcthe peroration which the
speaker commenced could not bo
heard.]
Mr. Watson took his seat, Major
Black unslung his overcoat from hia
shoulders and advanced to the front
of the stage, and now there com
menced a contest without a parallel
in the experience of your reporter
during thirty years, off and on, in
political turmoil. I found it utterly
impossible to hear a single word, al
though within three or four feet of
the speaker.
MR. black’s ATTEMPTED CONCLUSIOIff
Mr. Black. You want to hear the
truth, everybody.
A voice. We have been trying te
hear the truth but had no chance.
CONTINUED ON FOURTH FAGH.