Politics of AlabamaManning, Joseph C. (Joseph Columbus)
History
Politics of Alabama
Manning, Joseph C. (Joseph Columbus)
Alabama -- Politics and government
"P. S. I said I do not belong to your party. I am a political
Prohibitionist, and pray for the day to dawn when the sober and
sensible and honest manhood of our country may get together and
rule it.
"L. F. W."
Other instances of this frenzied partisan madness soon abounded. But the
most wicked resort of Democratic party passion, be it said to its
eternal shame, was made upon Col. J. M. Whitehead, editor of _The Living
Truth_, Georgiana, Ala. Not content with destroying peace, planning and
attempting midnight assassinations, hooting and howling at public
meetings, these haters of civil liberty and "dying hard" Democrats come
forth in their extreme infernalism, and hurl eggs at a gray-haired,
one-legged, ex-Confederate soldier and citizen of irreproachable
manhood. In response to a request for a statement on this subject, the
writer received the following reply from Colonel Whitehead:
"GREENVILLE, Ala., April 3, 1893.
"J. C. Manning:
"_Dear Sir_,--You ask me to write to you some of my experiences
during the campaign last year with our friends, the organized
Democracy. Knowing their methods so well, their 'wild and woolly'
ways did not surprise me. I had some experiences with them in 1884,
when I was an independent candidate for Congress in this district,
against Herbert. At Ross Hill, Covington county, I was set upon by
their tools, who had been organized before to kill me. It was a
miracle that the plan failed. As it was, I had an arm broken, a
shoulder dislocated and was left for dead on the ground. I had just
closed a speech in which I had exposed the unfaithfulness of their
Congressman (the nominee), which I had been doing for the past two
weeks and he had heard of it. He is now the Secretary of the Navy!
I had challenged him to a joint discussion and he had declined. He
was a Confederate soldier and so was I. I had lost a leg and he had
lost the use of an arm, but nothing of this kind could stand in the
way of his ambition. I never had any doubt but that he and his
henchmen instigated this cowardly assault upon me. Last year, most
of my speeches were made in the 'white counties' where our friends
are largely in the majority. I went to Union Springs, in Bullock
county,--a 'black county'--to engage the Hon. W. C. Oates in a
joint debate. He declined and I made no attempt to speak. As I was
leaving on the train from the depot that night, I was honored with
a shower of eggs coming through the car window at which I was
sitting. They passed within a few inches of my nose and breaking on
the other side of the car, fell on the good clothes of an
enthusiastic Democrat. Of course he was mad, while I was in the
best possible humor. I did the laughing and he did the swearing. It
took place as the train moved off, so that there was no chance to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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