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READ AND CIRCULATE!:
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(caption title) READ AND CIRCULATE!
(first line) The elections in August impose upon the people of North Carolina one of the most solemn and important duties that citizens were ever called upon to perform.
8 p.
[North Carolina]
[s. n.]
[1872?]

Call number Cp329.1 N87r13 (North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)


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READ AND CIRCULATE!

        The elections in August impose upon the people of North Carolina one of the most solemn and important duties that citizens were ever called upon to perform. The misfortunes of war upon the social and material condition of the State are yet apparent, and the political elements are yet disturbed by the passions, prejudices, and demoralization which characterized the closing years of the rebellion. The falsehood and deception resorted to by the Confederate leaders and newspapers to mislead our people into protracting a hopeless struggle, are still resorted to for the purpose of nursing the remnants of the Lost Cause and postponing the hour when the last hope of its revival shall be buried forever. The Ku-Klux Klans were expected to be perpetual nurseries of sectional hate, of opposition to the rights conferred on the freedman, and of persecution and violence toward those who seek to nationalize the State and persuade its people to love and cherish the Union as the great safeguard of liberty and equal rights. But the crimes of the Klans, and the infamous perjury and falsehood by which it was sought to conceal and forward the purposes of their leaders, became so disgraceful to Southern society and so revolting to the feelings of men, that public attention was concentrated upon the conspirators, and the National Government interposed effectively for the protection of its citizens.

        Unable longer to conceal the infamous means first deliberately chosen, the leaders have since sought to shield themselves and their followers from punishment by attacking the character of the officers of the law and deriding the State Government in all its branches. They are prolific in slanders upon others and arrogant in assumption for themselves. They fear to see the State Government, especially in its legislative branch, pass into the hands of those who threaten them with justice, and they equally desire to assume its control themselves, that they may hide or pardon the crimes which they have instigated or committed.

        To accomplish this they readily assume to themselves all the virtue and respectability of the State, and scruple at nothing calculated to sustain their desperate purposes. They sustain some of their members--connected with the frauds upon the State Treasury--by nominating them for high offices, and others, notoriously the perpetrators or investigators of the darkest crimes against humanity, by fulsome praises and public marks of confidence. They call upon the voters of the State to sustain them in this proceeding, regardless of the public interest and of that high and enviable character which the people of North Carolina have heretofore sustained in the nation.

        Let the people seek information of these things. Let them consider and take counsel of their better judgment. Who is responsible for the strife and hatred that now saps the very foundation of the prosperity and peace of the State? Who show no disapprobation to criminals and their abettors, but offer rather to honor them and to revile and degrade their accusers and prosecutors?

        For the first office in the gift of the people, our party puts forward the man who caused Swepson to be indicted, and who is pursuing Littlefield even into the borders of a distant State. For the same office the other party, thrusting aside the many of its able leaders who are above suspicion, puts forward the confidential and active adviser of the criminals--the man who counseled them before, during, and since the perpetration of their frauds upon the treasury. With their counselor in the Executive chair, having in his pocket the money which they paid him from the funds stolen from the treasury, they may well expect to find safety in the prompt exercise of the pardoning power. Can the honest people of North Carolina fail to see the impropriety of this attempt to fill the Executive chair with a man sustaining such relations to such men? The managers of this nomination for Governor have given no explanation of their extraordinary proceeding, but have left it in its nakedness, trusting to effrontery and arrogant assumption to override the struggling aversion which all good and thinking men must feel to the consummation of the scheme.

SYMPATHY FOR DEMOCRATIC SWINDLERS.

        W. M. Shipp and J. B. Batchelor were appointed on the Fraud Commission ostensibly to bring to justice all persons who had swindled the State. They showed their


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sympathy for a brother Democrat by recommending the release of Swepson, the prince of the ring, on his promising to pay back six cents of every dollar he had got from the State.

        The Democratic Legislature appointed no Republican on the Commission. This was an unparalleled wrong, a thing unheard of in the history of legislation. When Gov. Caldwell appointed a Fraud Commission, he made Gen. Bragg chairman. He gave the Democrats every facility to bring swindlers to justice. There was no white-washing to be done there. He wanted to purge the party of scoundrels. While the Republicans prosecute the Republican Littlefield and drove him from the State, a Democratic Legislature appoint a committee to whitewash the Democratic swindler Swepson and rescue him from the hands of justice, by his paying six cents on the dollar. How long will the people have confidence in the declarations or professions of such a party.

BEHOLD THE MEN.

        Merrimon, Clingman, and others of like kidney, are by false representations and other foul means endeavoring to produce the impression that Governor Caldwell was equally guilty with themselves in getting the appropriation bills for railroads passed, by which Swepson and Littlefield were enabled to steal millions of money from the State. A sufficient answer to all their vile aspersions is the fact, that as soon as Caldwell became Governor he had Swepson arrested and used all means at his command to secure the arrest of Littlefield, to make them answer for their crimes; while Merrimon and Clingman rushed to the defense of the boss swindler, Swepson, to protect and shield him from the penalties of the law which he so richly merited. Does any sane man-believe that Gov. Caldwell would have been so vigorous in the prosecution of these criminals if he had been implicated in the least degree with them? Would he not have been afraid to do so lest he himself should be exposed? Did not Merrimon and Clingman on the other hand come to Swepson's rescue from motives of personal interest, to cover up and hide their friend's rascality in order to prevent an exposure of their complicity in the matter? Is it not a matter passing strange and beyond the comprehension of honest men, that Judge Merrimon and the Honorable Thomas Clingman should both have been examined by the Fraud Commission, and when under oath and sworn to tell all they knew about these railroad swindlers, that neither of them knew or said one word about Gov. Caldwell having anything to do in the matter? Did these honorable gentlemen tell the truth when they were under oath or are they romancing now?

        Why did Gen. Clingman, when on examination before the Welker Committee in 1869, refuse to answer a question put to him with regard to what he knew about the passage of a bill affecting the Western North Carolina Railroad, but instead of answering said, "That he was consulted confidentially by one person with reference to some bill relating to the subject embraced in this bill, and that he was especially requested to consider the application as a confidential one between a client and his attorney. Such information as was confided to him in that interview he did not feel at liberty to disclose, nor even to mention the name of the applicant." (See Legislative Documents No. 35, page 3, session 1869-'70.)

        Let the public remember that although Gen. Clingman threw himself upon his reserved rights as a lawyer to shield a scoundrel in 1869, yet he had not been known as a practicing lawyer since his election to Congress in 1843.

WHO GOT THE IMPEACHMENT MONEY?

        Graham, Bragg, and Merrimon got it, at the rate of $22.72 a day for forty-four days, making the snug round sum of $3,000 "Jo" can tell who greased with the little printing and paper job.

        Putting down the cost of impeachment at $13,520, when the Treasurer's and Auditor's books show that it costs $61,900.10, is a Democratic way of telling the truth.

        Representative men: "M." Turner and XX. Robbins.

THE LEGISLATURE.

        Mr. Jarvis, the Speaker of the House, canvassed the State last summer in advocacy of a Convention, and spoke of the members of the Ku-Klux Klan as "ministers of justice." It is true he qualified this expression by saying they were "disguised and unauthorized," but, nevertheless, they were, in his opinion, ministers of justice. According to the evidence of James E. Boyd, as stated by Judge Settle before the Outrage Committee of Congress, Dr. Moore, of Alamance, told Boyd that Mr. Jarvis was a member of the Klan. Boyd further stated that Jarvis was present in a room in the Yarborough House, in Raleigh, when Hamilton C. Jones, Senator from Mecklenburg and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, gave him the signs of the Invisible Empire.


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        From the same source we learn that F. N. Strudwick, a member of the House, was on a certain occasion on his way to assassinate Senator Shoffner, who fled the State to save his life, having become obnoxious to the Klan because he was the author and successful advocate of the stringent military bill, by virtue of which Governor Holden attempted to put down the Ku-Klux conspiracy.

        Corroborative evidence that Jones was a member may be found in the testimony of Plato Durham before the same committee. According to his testimony we also learn that Mr. McAfee, a member of the House, was the chief of the Klan in Cleaveland county. In the Weekly Telegram, June 24th, 1871, it is stated that the grand jury of Cleaveland county nominated this Col. L. M. McAfee as a candidate for the Convention. This fact is significant. If all the facts could be brought to light the public would doubtless be surprised to learn that other and influential members of both Houses were as deeply implicated as the individuals named.

MERRIMON.

        The Sentinel, with its characteristic disregard of truth, says Judge Merrimon is in favor of the Homestead provision of our State Constitution. Judge Merrimon is opposed to the Homestead. The Sentinel has not stated the truth. Why? Because Judge Merrimon vehemently opposed the Homestead in 1868. Because Judge Merrimon endeavored to raise money to carry a case to the United States Supreme Court which involved the constitutionality of the Homestead, for the purpose of depriving the people of their Homesteads. Because Judge Merrimon advocated the call of Convention in 1871 for the purpose of framing a new Constitution, and thus do away with the Homestead.

        Judge Merrimon was the confidential friend and adviser of Swepson; he drew the bill or bills by which the State was robbed of several millions of dollars, and a large debt saddled upon our people. This is proved by Judge Merrimon's testimony before the Fraud Commissioners.

        Judge Merrimon was the early friend of Col. George W. Kirk. This is proved by the record of a public meeting.

        Judge Merrimon indicted forty women of Yancey county, as respectable as any women in the State, for the crime of grand larceny, when the only crime of which the women were guilty was the breaking open of a door to a tithing house and the taking of twenty bushels of corn. Judge Merrimon refused and did not nol. pros. the indictments until his fee of four dollars in each and every case was paid.

        JUDGE MERRIMON AND THE HOMESTEAD.--The Democratic candidate for Governor, Judge Merrimon, from the first, both as a private citizen and professionally, has opposed the Homestead. He has used every endeavor, in every walk of life, to defeat this wise and beneficent provision of the Constitution. The Judges of the Supreme Court, a majority of them, have sustained the Homestead, even in its retrospective action.

        The Supreme Court is composed of five members. It is constantly liable to changes. Some of them have already taken place, and if rumor is to be credited, another one of the judges will soon resign, leaving a vacancy to be filled by the Governor. One of the judges is more than seventy years of age; another is nearly seventy. These are likely to die or become disabled by old age. Should vacancies occur, the Governor will appoint the new judges. It is important to those who desire to retain their Homesteads, that the man who can appoint the judges should believe in the Homestead provision of the Constitution, as construed by the present Supreme Court. They know where Governor Caldwell stands and can rely on him. They know also where Judge Merrimon stands, and what he would do if he had a chance. If elected Governor, he would, in case of vacancies in the Supreme Court, appoint judges hostile to the Homestead. The result would be Democratic lawyers would make up cases for the new Democratic judges to decide, and the decision of the Supreme Court, sustaining the Homestead, even as against old debts, would be overturned. Many Democrats have taken advantage of the Homestead, while condemning the Constitution and the court that secured it to them. If they cannot be reached in any other way, perhaps they may be impelled by self-interest to vote for the man who is beyond doubt in favor of the Homestead. We ask them if there is any nonsense in what we say.

        In 1868 Judge Merrimon and his friends attempted to defeat our State Constitution by asserting that the white and colored men would be forced to muster in the same militia companies. Governor Caldwell and his friends denied this. The Constitution was adopted. Have white and colored men been forced to muster together? Who told you the truth and who did not?

        In 1868 Judge Merrimon and his friends asserted that if the present State Constitution was adopted the white children and the colored children would be forced to


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attend the same schools. Governor Caldwell and friends denied this. The Constitution was adopted. Who told the truth.

        Let the people of North Carolina remember that A. S. Merrimon, Democratic candidate for Governor, tried to raise money to test the constitutionality of the Homestead clause in our Constitution, in the Supreme Court of the United States.

        Thousands of our people were ruined by the war inaugurated by the Democratic party, and yet when the Republican party offered the people of the State a Constitution which provided a Homestead, thus enabling our people to save a home from the general wreck, Judge Merrimon and his friends labored hard to prevent even a home being saved. Is he a poor man's friend? It is our opinion that he now believes the Homestead unconstitutional, null, and void. Can we trust him?

        Let the Democrats of North Carolina recollect that it was currently reported and believed in Raleigh that A. S. Merrimon, Democratic candidate for Governor, did write a card withdrawing from the Democratic party, when Gen. M. W. Ransom received the nomination for United States Senator over him in the caucus of the Democratic party.

        A. S. Merrimon for Governor, that was Attorney for the Swepson Railroad ring, and drew the bills that robbed the State of more than ten million of dollars!

        Let the old line Democrats of North Carolina recollect that, in 1868, A. S. Merrimon declared that if the party then known as the Conservative party did adopt the name of the Democratic party, he (Merrimon) would leave it.

COLLETT LEVENTHORPE, THE BULL-PEN MAN.

        Gen. Collett Leventhorpe, Democratic candidate for Auditor, arrested forty-two respectable women of Randolph county; he confined them in a bull-pen; the women were not allowed a moment's privacy; the thumbs of Mrs. Owen were placed between the rails of a fence, soldiers made to get on top of the fence, and Mrs. Owen was tortured in this way to make her tell where her husband was, who would not fight against the Stars and Stripes. These women would not have been set at liberty but for the efforts of Hon. Thomas Settle, who sued out a writ of habeas corpus, and Brigadier General Leventhorpe, of the Home Guard, was compelled to release them and cease his inhuman torture.

        Hon. Thomas Settle, in his reply to Gen. Leach at Asheboro', said: "I also charge my competitor with being the candidate of the party that erected 'bull-pens' to confine women and children. I charge that General Collett Leventhorpe, the Democratic candidate for Auditor, was a militia general under ex-Governor Vance, and that the said Leventhorpe had, within those bull-pens, the wives, daughters, and sisters of men whose only crime was that they refused to fire on the old flag, or fight against the Union. In that bull-pen these women were subjected to all the barbarities that the most inhuman mind could suggest. They were not allowed to attend the calls of nature without being attended by an armed male guard. I charge that this gallant militia general of Gov. Vance shot and killed young Northcote one beautiful Sunday morning, and that his only crime was, he would not raise his arm to fight against the Union. I charge that you belong to the party that murdered Owen, that put his wife's fingers between fence rails in order to compel her to tell where her husband was, he then being in the woods to keep from being conscripted.

JOHN W. GRAHAM.

        John W. Graham, Democratic candidate for Treasurer, knew that murder was to be committed; he left his command before sunrise and Northcote was murdered at sunrise; Graham skulked out of the way, because he did not possess courage sufficient to prevent the taking of innocent blood.

        QUES. Who introduced a bill, during the last session of the General Assembly, in the Senate, to grant amnesty and forgiveness to all Ku-Klux murderers and Democratic assassins.

        ANS. Maj. John W. Graham, candidate on the Democratic ticket for State Treasurer.

        John W. Graham for Treasurer, that introduced the infamous Ku-Klux pardon and advocated the bid for perjury.

        XX.--Below we present the censure of W. M. Robbins, by the Senate of North Carolina for taking the fee of twenty dollars from J. W. Stephens for assisting said Stephens to get back pay and mileage.

        "Whereas, it appears by the report of the committee on bribery and corruption that W. M. Robbins, Senator from the 32d Senatorial District, did, on the 22d day of August last, receive from John W. Stephens the sum of twenty dollars for his services in securing the passage of a resolution through the Senate in favor of said Stephens; and


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        "Whereas, a Senator cannot rightfully receive any fee or reward for his services as a Senator beyond the per diem allowed by law; and

        "Whereas, the receiving of any fee or reward is a high breach of the privileges of the Senate and tends to the destruction of legislative integrity; therefore

        "Resolved, That the Senator from the 32d Senatorial District be, and he is hereby, censured by the Senate of North Carolina."--Senate Journal, Session 1868-'69 pages 238-239.

        Let the voters of the 7th Congressional District read and digest the evidence of Stephens' and Robbins' censure. Let the honest voters of the district, without regard to party, calmly consider whether they can conscientiously support for Congress a man who has been censured by the Senate of North Carolina, by a vote of 26 to 4, for committing "a high breach of the privileges of the Senate which tended to the destruction of legislative integrity?" If he committed such a high breach in the Senate of North Carolina for twenty dollars, can he be trusted in the Congress of the United States where thousands of dollars are always ready to be paid as "lawyer's fees?"

        W. M. Robbins for Congress in the 7th District, who, when State Senator, condescended to take a fee of twenty dollars, and who said last summer, "If his convention is not called, I must levy that tax, or I will be a perjured villain." The convention was not called, the tax was not levied, and according to his own evidence, he is a "perjured villain."

        Can the honest and intelligent voters of North Carolina cast their votes for such men? We do not believe it. We appeal to them to scan the records of these candidates and ferret out their infamy.

        DEMOCRATIC HONESTY.--Gen. Clingman, Swepson's attorney and lobbyist, wrote the Democratic platform.

        Judge Merrimon, who rendered Swepson invaluable services in drawing his railroad bills, was given the first place on Gen. Clingman's platform.

        And Judge Shipp, who secured Swepson's release from all indictments against him for railroad bond swindles, was renominated for Attorney General! And yet the Democracy prate about honesty.

        W. M. SHIPP.--W. M. Shipp, Democratic candidate for Attorney General, allowed Swepson to escape trial for his crimes in robbing North Carolina. Judge Shipp allowed Swepson to compromise for six cents on the dollar, thereby setting up a premium for robbery and embezzlement.

        J. M. LEACH.--J. M. Leach for Congress in the 5th District, who, according to his own confession, is the legal adviser of midnight scourgers and assassins, and whom eighteen lawful jurymen have said on oath they believed to be in complicity with the infamous band.

        Such, in brief, are the charges against the Democratic State ticket. They have not been denied. They will not be. If the truth makes scoundrels, thieves, or murderers of the nominees of the Ku-Klux Democracy, we are sure it is not our fault.

        The Democrats of this State have put forward candidates for the highest offices very worthy of the Klan--fit representatives of the party that fosters in its very bosom a band of midnight marauders and assassins pardons murderers, and incites them to perjure themselves.

CONVERSATION BETWEEN A REPUBLICAN AND A DEMOCRAT OF THE RANK AND FILE.

        Republican. Well, neighbor Democrat, how do you stand on politics now a days?

        Democrat. I am a Democrat still.

        R. Going to support the Democratic ticket and endorse the acts of the late Legislature, are you?

        D. Yes.

        R. Why?

        D. Because the members were economical, honest, and worked for the best interests of the State.

        R. Do you consider they were economical when they spent sixty-five thousand dollars to impeach Gov. Holden for trying to put down the Ku-Klux? or when they spent twenty thousand dollars in passing an unconstitutional convention bill to further their own selfish aims? or, in short, when they spent about the same per year for doing what they did, as the Republicans spent in putting the whole machinery of the State Government in operation?

        D. Well, but they cut down the salaries of officers.

        R. Yes, they cut down the salaries of Republican officers, but didn't they raise the salary of their Democratic Attorney General from $1,500 to $4,800? And is it not almost certain that if all the officers had been Democrats, the salaries of all would have been increased?


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        D. But they were honest, and there was no bribery and corruption among them like there was in the Legislature of 1868-'69.

        R. Let us see. In the Legislature of 1868-'69, your candidate for Congress in the 7th District, W. M. Robbins, took a lawyer's fee of twenty dollars; your candidate for Governor, A. S. Merrimon, drew the bills for Swepson that robbed the State of over ten millions of dollars; and the Sentinel, your State organ, was established with money furnished by this same Swepson, a Democrat. In the late Legislature Jo Turner overdrew about $3,000 for public printing and these honest (?) members smoothed it over and gave back the printing to him. They made large appropriations to the penitentiary and boasted of it, but when the matter was investigated the convicts were starving and these large appropriations had gone into the pockets of the Rottenfish Directory. The members of the late Legislature were not more honest than those of the one in 1868-'69; but they were shrewder, all hung together and plundered the people by discussing and considering unimportant or selfish measures.

        D. But, neighbor, they did work hard for the best interests of the citizens of the State.

        R. I don't think that the extravagance and corruption of which I have shown they were guilty did a great deal for the best interests of the State. Then glance at their laws. Nineteen-twentieths of their acts are incorporations, and in reality private acts, one half of which are not valid. They refused to allow the people the right of petition; trampled the Constitution under foot and made offices for their dirt-slingers; attempted to pardon the Ku-Klux criminals; gerrymandered the State so as to virtually disfranchise twenty thousand voters; passed an unjust and arbitrary election law; repealed the act that allowed a man to defend himself against disguised midnight assassins; incited criminals to swear to lies; and submit good and obnoxious amendments together to the people for ratification, with the alternative--all or none. If you call extravagance and corruption, denying the right of petition and totally disregarding the Constitution--those only safe guards of the people--and apologizing for, shielding, and giving free license to the Ku-Klux, those midnight murderers that have made the South almost an earthly hell, "working hard for the best interests of the State," the late Legislature has done it to perfection.

        D. Well, neighbor Republican, if they did all that you say, they didn't do as well as I thought they had done; but, you see, they are more honorable men than Republicans.

        R. What I have stated they did, I can prove by the journals and public records. And as to their being "more honorable men than Republicans" we will go back for a minute to the convention contest last summer and examine a little. The Republicans were never charged of being known liars and perjured villains, were they?

        D. Not that I heard of.

        R. Well, didn't the members of the late Legislature tell the people that unless the convention was called, the tax to pay the interest on the public debt would be levied, and the tax being eight dollars where it had formerly been one dollar, the homesteads would be sold.

        D. Yes, they did.

        R. Well, the convention was not called, the tax was not levied, the homesteads were not sold, and are not they--these honorable men, members of the late Legislature--most infamous liars?

        D. A-h-e-m, they didn't tell the truth square out.

        R. Didn't they say, too, "if the convention is not called we must either levy that tax or resign, or be perjured villains?"

        D. I believe they did say so.

        R. How then can you, an honest farmer, support and endorse the members of the late Legislature that were extravagant, corrupt, bitterly partizan, that denied to the people the great right of petition, usurped numerous unguaranteed powers, attempted to trample down the Constitution, disfranchised citizens to secure their own selfish aims, placed arbitrary restrictions upon the voters of the State, shielded and legislated for Ku-Klux murderers, and who, by their own evidence and confessions, are infamous liars and perjured villains?

        D. Well, neighbor Republican, you see I never studied about nor examined these matters much, but I tell you they must clear up all of these things before the election or I cannot go for them.

        R. You and every other farmer ought to study the acts of your representatives. I want you to examine into what I have said. You can find the documents at the Clerk's office. The fact is I want to talk with you a great deal before the election. You and I are common farmers. We and all others of our class are honest. The leaders are the ones that are dishonest and selfish. We being honest and desirous of our welfare, which is most certainly the welfare of the State, should examine the


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principles of the two parties, the characters of their leaders, and determine which is more favorable to our rights and interests. I think I can prove to you from authentic records that the Republican party is the only party that has ever taken a deep interest in the welfare, education, and promotion of the masses--the only one that has ever punished public criminals and cast them aside--and the only one that chooses for its leaders the best, purest, and ablest of its members. Good-day! I hope to see you again soon.

        D. Good-day!

A TRILEMMA.

        The Democratic members of the Legislature told the people that one of three things must be done unless a Convention was called to change the Constitution. They said that if the Convention was not called, they, the Democratic members of the Legislature, must either--

        They did not levy the tax, neither did they resign their seats. They concluded to take the last alternative, and in so doing to perjure themselves.

        We are fully persuaded that there are enough honest, truth-loving people in the State to brand these men as they properly deserve.

WASTE AND EXTRAVAGANCE.

        As a few specimens of proceedings of that immaculate party which makes such a flourish of trumpets about retrenchment and reform, let us look for a moment at a few facts and figures and see how these tally with their loud-mouthed and hypocritical declarations.

        
The Republicans put the salary of the Attorney General at $1,200 00

        The late Democratic Legislature put the pay of the Attorney General as follows:

        
As Attorney General $1,500 00
As attendance on Supreme Court 200 00
As Fraud Commissioner 1,500 00
As Reporter 600 00
For sale of Reports 1,000 00
Total yearly pay $4,800 00

"DEAD ISSUES."

        The Democrats seem very sensitive concerning "dead issues," and think they ought not now to be brought up. Of course any one can see why the horrors of bull-pens, military murders, Ku-Klux hangings, stabbings, and scourgings, &c., should cause the perpetrators to squirm uneasily when mentioned; and they would gladly have them forever buried in oblivion and desire ardently that they should never be referred to. This is natural.

        But they pretend they wish to "bury dead issues" and call everything square, and commence the political lives anew. We do not believe this pretense, for, if they honestly entertained the idea of letting by-gones be by-gones, they would make no allusion to the so-called Kirk war. For why is not the Kirk war a "dead issue" as well as the Ku-Klux outrages? The Kirk war was inaugurated at a time when the Ku-Klux were in full power, and for the purpose of breaking that power. Its purpose was accomplished and the villainy was unearthed, not only in North Carolina, but all through the Southern country. The developments of the Kirk war were the first that eventually resulted in breaking into the infernal dens and Klans; it was then the good commenced that exposed these tremendous iniquities.

        It has been nearly two years since the Kirk war. There are no State troops to be found in North Carolina. There is no earthly reason why the Kirk war should not be called a dead issue if Ku-Kluxism is to be so regarded. The Democrats are not sincere in their cry of "by-gones." They desire to make capital out of the doings of Holden and Kirk, yet they do not like to have their own frightful crimes and cruelties recalled. The reason is plain enough, for their own iniquities are terrible, and vastly overshadow any wrong that Kirk ever perpetrated. The latter never killed any man in 1870, but the Ku-Klux are guilty of murders, and assassinations, and hideous outrages, that have never been surpassed by any of the horrible crimes of ancient or modern history. No wonder the Democrats would like "dead issues" to remain buried.

        Who rode disguised into the town of Graham and hanged a peaceful, law-abiding


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citizen by the neck until he was dead, for no other offense than his political opinions?

        Ans. K. K. Democrats and Turner's friends.

        Who dragged Ramseur, an honest, hard-working man from his home in the dead hours of the night and mutilated him and left him for dead, and laughed like devils at the cries of his wife and the piteous entreaties of his little daughter imploring, begging, and praying for her father? What party did they belong to? How much Democratic majority will Catawba give?

        What were the names and what the political sentiments of those gentlemen who decoyed State Senator Stevens into the office of the clerk and master and stabbed him to death with dirk knives, while a Democratic meeting was going on up stairs?

        Ans. K. K. Democrats.

        Who are now in the Albany penitentiary and what are they there for?

        Ans. K. K. Democrats.

        Look at the vast sum that was wasted on party favorites in the impeachment trial. The following are the figures, viz:

        
Three extra lawyers 44 days $3,000 00
Reporting, one man and staff, 44 days 4,375 00
Paper 2,840 40
Printing and stitching 5,615 50
Pay of witnesses 5,655 20
Pay of members, 170, at $5.00 per day 37,400 00
Pay of clerks, door keepers, &c 2,464 00
Fuel and lights and 44 cords of wood 200 00
Clerk and messenger for lawyers 350 00
Total amount $61,900 10

        This is enough to pay the schooling of more than ten thousand children for six months.

        Everybody knows that Jo Turner swindled the State out of $3,339.38 by overcharging for the public printing. And this fellow still does the public printing, although other parties offered to give good bond to do it for less! They said Turner had done the Democratic party too much good service to be thrown overboard.

        What party claims to possess "all the wealth, intelligence, respectability, and chivalry of the State?"

        What party is trying to make false swearing respectable?

        What party apologizes for murder?

        What party penned women and hunted and shot down Union men like wild beasts, plundered the women and children at home and roped and handcuffed the men and marched them to the front to fight and die in the slaveholder's rebellion?

        Who exempted the "owners of twenty slaves" and conscripted the "wool hat boys?"

        Who was going to fix the "hideous mark" on the Union men, and make them and their families infamous?

        When Swepson did not have the legal skill and ability to draw a bill to swindle the State out of millions, and cheat the West out of their railroads, who undertook to do the work for him? (Merrimon.)

        Who was the early friend of Kirk? (Merrimon.)

        Who appointed a committee, exclusively of Democrats, to whitewash the Democratic thieves who had stolen the public money?

        The Democratic Legislature endeavored to destroy the system of public schools in the State, by withholding the appropriation. The old secession slave aristocracy have always been opposed to educating the children of the poor, for just in proportion as intelligence prevails, their political power declines. "They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

ATTENTION!

        Reader! You are an American citizen. You have a vote. You are morally responsible for that vote. It is a crime against God and your country if you cast that vote contrary to the dictates of your reason and your conscience. You are oppressed by taxes which were brought on by the war of secession. You want relief. You care nothing for the personal ambition of office-holders and office-seekers. You want peace and prosperity. You want an honest and comfortable maintenance for yourself and your family. You want to save your homestead. You have seen the record of some of the candidates. You have seen the high crimes of which the Democratic party has been guilty Ask the "still small voice" of conscience if you shall support these men.