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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1900)
12 Conservative THE CONSERVA- A MEETING AT , T1VE maV b ° tt trifle tardy in re porting the proceedings of a political gathering at Browuvillo in Nemaha county which stirred up a tremendous amount of excited oratory. The aud ience was large , intelligent and combus tible. It was convoked by the announce ment that Bird B. Chapman , Allen A. Bradford , Col. J. L. Sharp , B. P. Rankin - kin , Napoleon B. Giddings and Gen. John M. Thayer would address their fellow-citizens on that evening , in Octo ber , 1855 , upon the political topics of the day. day.The The auditorium in which all those pioneer politicians were to spell-bind the plain people was an unfinished cottonwood - tonwood school house. It had been roofed , sided and floored. But it rejoiced in no windows , no plastered or ceiled walls and no seats except rough boards resting upon stumps and blocks of wood. There were neither oil lamps , gas jets nor electric bulbs to illuminate that frontier forum. But into the studding , upon which the lath were to bo fastened , had been driven nails between which tallow candles glowered and glimmered in a weak sort of way , to make light for the occasion. There was much abuse of Bird B. Chapman in many of the speeches. But Col. Joseph L. Sharp avoided all personalities and waxed elo quent for an hour or more upon the ac quisition and annexation of Cuba. His remarks were replete with valuable and interesting data as to the agricultural , horticultural and commercial possibili ties of that then most fertile and beautiful island. It could , the Colonel said , be bought for thirty millions of dollars , and , at the mention of that mighty sum , the citizens of the United States then and there present were aghast with be wilderment. Col. Sharp , however , ex plained how easily the United States could extract those dollars out of the tobacco and sugar trade of Cuba in a relatively short time. Then the audience were witli him and whooped it up for immediate annexation with great power and warmth of lungs. The thirty mil lions of dollars minimized under the persuasive handling of the artful orator. Then others spoke , and finally Bird B. Chapman , who was running for delegate to Congress , addressed the multitude. He was a pleasant-voiced man. His features were regular and refined. His manner WHS mild and fetching. He had not been long upon his feet before his influence upon the men before him could be seen by all. With agreeable words and attractive tones ho was win ning the voters over to support his can didature. This visible effect aroused the wrath and malignity of Judge A. A. Bradford. In those days , in the early fifties , there were many apostate Mor mons scattered along the valley of the Missouri. They were denounced by their church , hated by their geutile neighbors and persecuted by nearly everybody along these borders. So common had the hatred of these poor people become in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa and Missouri that no term of opprobrium was more cutting or offensive than "Mormon. " Therefore Judge Bradford , in his anger , arose and , pointing his pudgy , fat finger at Chapman , screamed in a squeaking voice : "Bird B. Chapman , be it known unto you that I , here , in this presence , pro nounce you a d d renegade Mormon. " Immediately the tallow dips between the nails in the studding were extin guished. Darkness settled down upon a struggling mass of men who were fight ing and swearing among flying bricks which some of those who had been for tunate enough to gat out of doors were heaving in through the windows. THE CONSERVATIVE was timorous , and only a tenderfoot then of twenty-three years of age , and discretion directed him to proceed with celerity to the log tavern of the Rev. Joel A. Wood and to ascend' , with all possible alacrity , the ladder of hickory poles leading up into the half-story sleeping apartment of that primitive hotel. No time was lost. The Wood domicile was reached , the ladder climbed , the bed found end THE CON SERVATIVE adjusted under the cover lids in less time than it takes the pencil to trace the fact. Self-congratulations as to an escape from danger and bodily harm were rioting in the head that had planned and executed the retreat when a voice from a bed at the opposite side of the loft said : "Pretty warm time down there in the dark with fists and bricks flying about promiscuously thought I'd come to bed. " It was Colonel Sharp , twice twenty- three years of age and more ; he had made better time to safety and bed than anybody and was as tranquil and con tented as the lovely skies he had de scribed in his Cuban speech , forever hanging over and smiling down upon that delicious isle. The first political meeting held at Brownville in the autumn of 1855 time unceremoniously adjourned , sine die ; and the speakers and the audience , with here and there a stahvart exception , years since went out on the long trail over which trains and troops of men , women and little children are always going and none is ever coming back. COKEY TO HANNA. A copy of the following letter was addressed to Senator Hauua by J. B. Corey of Mr. Quay's state : My Dear Sir : The public press credits you with the great honor of having prevented that political mountebank in the executive chair of the Keystone state from succeeding in setting at defiance the constitution of our state by perpetra ting such a travesty on decency as the appointing of thatpriuce-of-boodler-pot- house-politicians , M. S. Quay , to a seat in the United States senate. If you are entitled to the credit of having rendered the people of Pennsyl vania , and of the United States , such a distinguished service , you certainly are entitled to our lasting gratitude , and will receive the thanks of every patriotic man or woman in the United States for having prevented the continued degra dation of this highest branch of the legislative department of the govern ment of the American people. You will also permit me to add , that in this distinguished act of true patriot ism , you do in some measure , and to some degree atone for that greater travesty upon the American people and charged to you , that of having fastened upon the highest office in the gift of the American people , the presidency of the United States , that prince of political demagogues , Wm. McKinley. I am dear sir , Very truly yours , J. B. COREY. 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