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 MA J. W. A. Stjlf ll, 
 
 PRESIDENT N. C. R. R. CO 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The following letters were written in vin- 
 dication of the consolidation scheme and of 
 my own character from the vile slan- 
 ders of the opponents of the bill. Read 
 these letters carefully and you will see 
 the secret foes of the measure unfrocked 
 and exposed. These worthies pretended 
 they desired to be very careful in guarding 
 the interests of the North Carolina Rail- 
 road Company, when, in fact, their amend- 
 ments to the bill on its passage twice 
 through the General Assembly were in- 
 
 tended to put it in a shape to render it im- 
 possible that the North Carolina Rail- 
 road Company could accept it. It is 
 well known that the Democratic party 
 opposed the measure in this covert manner, 
 falsely stating that they feared the State 
 would be a loser, when, in fact, the State 
 had no moneyed interest in the North Caro- 
 lina road, as a decree of court had already put 
 the income of that company into the hands 
 of the bondholders. I ask a careful reading 
 of these letters: W. A. SMITH, 
 
 THE GREAT CONSOLIDATION SCHEME. 
 Its Enemies Unmasked. ■ 
 
 Princeton, N. C, January 2, 1874. 
 if. J. Fagg, Esq., Asheville. N. Q.: 
 
 Dear Sir : Your favor of the 25th De- 
 cember, asking my views in regard to the 
 Consolidation bill, passed by the present 
 Legislature, came to hand to day, and in 
 reply I must say that'in my opinion the Con- 
 solidation bill, so called, does not amount 
 to anything, and that those who were in- 
 strumental in changing it from what it was 
 when originally offered did the West a great 
 wrong and injury. The bill was maturely 
 considered and well digested by the State 
 Commission and the Directors of the N. C. 
 R. R. Co., who had ability and patriotism 
 equal to the Legislature. Judge Manly, 
 Col. Humphrey, Col. Gaither, Gen. Bar- 
 
 ringer and Mr. Wilson, of Charlotte, to- 
 gether with other gentlemen of high stand- 
 ing and character as lawyers, and eminent 
 as statesmen and patriots, matured the bill 
 as it was originally offered. If that bill 
 had passed, the N. C. R. R. Co. could 
 have easily overcome all other difficulties, 
 and finished the road not only to Paint Rock, 
 but to other Western termini. While your 
 members from the West were for the bill, it 
 only received a sort of quasi support from 
 them. Your whole delegation being candi- 
 dates for Congress, they were too tender 
 footed for the fight for your rights, which, 
 in my opinion, was fatal to the bill. You 
 did not have a man from the West — Repub- 
 lican or Democrat — who had grit enough to 
 
i 
 
 fight Col. Bennett, but sat cringing under 
 his whip, and allowed him to destroy the 
 bill ; or, if they had the grit, they were 
 sadly ignorant of the effects of the amend- 
 ments, which makes them as culpable (if 
 not more so) as if they had opposed the bill 
 openly. In the first place, no one will buy 
 a single bond so long as the clause remains 
 which forbids the sale of the road on a fail- 
 ure to pay interest. Who would buy a bond, 
 when he might have to wait twenty years 
 for his interest? This is one of the fatal 
 amendments, and shows how very ignorant 
 the Legislature was, or how deeply the plans 
 had been laid to defeat the building of the 
 road. 
 
 Secondly. Mr. Flemming offered an 
 amendment, that the gauge should not be 
 changed until the road was finished to Paint 
 Rock, when the very essence of the bill, 
 after arranging the bonds all right, was the 
 gauge. If the N. C. Railroad Co. could 
 have had this power granted, we could, in 
 thirty days from the passage of the bill, have 
 been running from Old Fort to Goldsboro, 
 making money to back our bonds up in the 
 market, while we could have been receiv- 
 ing at least two hundred thousand dollars 
 per annum for the lease of the N. C. road 
 from Charlotte to Greensboro. This would 
 have paid at least four per cent, on the pri- 
 vate stock and upon the construction bonds, 
 which would have satisfied the parties who 
 hold these securities, and all injunctions 
 and suits would have ceased, and the Direc- 
 tors of the N. C. Railroad Co. could have 
 gone to work, at the great enterprise before 
 them, with an earnestness and zeal which 
 would overcome all difficulties. 
 
 Thirdly. In their great zeal to kill the 
 bill, they limit the amount of bonds to be 
 issued to three and a half millions, after say- 
 ing that the private stockholders should re- 
 ceive one-half million dollars for their stock 
 out of the first money received from a sale 
 of the bonds. Four hundred thousand dol- 
 lars of the bonds was necessary in any 
 event, to be placed in our trustee's hands, 
 to meet the present mortgage upon the N, 
 C. Railroad, before we could sell a single 
 bond to be issued. That, added to the 
 amount to be paid for the stock, would take 
 at least one million. Then we are to pay 
 eight hundred thousand for the Western N. 
 C. Railroad, in cash, which will almost con- 
 sume another million. This makes two 
 million already gone, and three million, or 
 nearly so, of construction bonds staring you 
 in the face. 
 
 You will see from the facts and figures 
 that the present bill is a contemptible farce 
 — a most perfect failure ! But, on the con- 
 trary, if the bill had been passed in its 
 original form, with power to change the 
 gauge, &c, we could have (with the bonds 
 
 limited to three and a half millions) finished 
 the road to Paint Rock, and had money 
 left. 
 
 Why? Because I could have compro- 
 mised with the construction bondholders 
 and private stockholders, and satisfied them 
 that their interest was in remaining in the 
 position of stockholders. In fact I had 
 already been promised by many of the large 
 stockholders that they would remain in the 
 old company, as they thought, as I did, that 
 their stock would be greatly enhanced by 
 buying and building the roads spoken of in 
 the bill. The construction bondholders, 
 although not as directly interested as the 
 private stockholders, were willing, and are 
 still willing, as far as I am informed, and I 
 have talked with numbers of them, to re- 
 main quiet, at least, if not to give their aid 
 to the great work. All the private stock- 
 holder, or the construction bondholder 
 desires, is to be assured that his stock or 
 bonds will not be impaired by carrying out 
 our scheme. I know if we had got a liberal 
 charter, and the management of the road 
 had been left to its present directors, that 
 the private stockholders and the construc- 
 tion bondholders would have had perfect 
 confidence, and the work would have gone 
 on successfully. 
 
 Another seriously objectionable amend- 
 ment was in limiting the bonds to 
 be sold at not less than seventy- 
 five cents in the dollar. This has the effect 
 of fixing the price at that rate, when we, 
 without this amendment, could have readily 
 sold every bond at ninety cents in the 
 dollar, as they would have been equally as 
 well secured as any bond in America. Why 
 they should limit the price of the bonds to a 
 price below which they should not be sold, 
 when they had such an honest committee to 
 sell them, is astonishing to me. I was will- 
 ing to leave the price with the committee, 
 because I am well satisfied that Governor 
 Graham, Judge Manly and Mr. Armfield 
 are far too honest, men of too great busi- 
 ness qualifications, and who have the interest 
 of the State and the welfare of her citizens 
 too much at heart, ever to have taken sev- 
 enty-five cents in the dollar for such bonds 
 as the original bill contemplated making. 
 And I well know they could not get that 
 amount for such bonds as the bill passed 
 will make. In mj- opinion thej r could not 
 sell them at all. Some object to having a 
 committee to sell the bonds — I have none. 
 Indeed I prefer that the committee should 
 remain as it is, as it may be of service in 
 giving confidence in some way, but in what 
 way I confess I am at a loss to see. But 
 I am willing to be connected with, or gov- 
 erned by, any one who is a true friend to 
 the enterprise, and who will help me push 
 it through in the most speedy and successful 
 
manner. There is also a small party, (I 
 am in hopes a very small party,) and as far 
 as I know a party of very small influence, 
 which proposes and advocates the exchange 
 of State stock in the N. C. Railroad Co. 
 for the construction bonds. If this is clone 
 your roads will never he built another mile. 
 Why? Because these bonds would be 
 bought up by the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 Co., or some other railroad company ; 
 and even if they paid par for them it would 
 be better for them, and they would prefer 
 to do so than to pay what they at present 
 do for the lease of the N. C. Railroad. 
 Why ? Because, in that way, the N. C. Rail- 
 road would only cost them two million and 
 one hundred dollars. That at eight per 
 cent, would only be one hundred and sixty 
 thousand dollars annually, while at present 
 they pay as rent two hundred and sixty 
 thousand dollars per annum. You see they 
 would get the road in fee simple, and for- 
 ever, for one hundred thousand dollars a 
 year less than it now costs them. But sup- 
 pose they can buy these construction bonds 
 at fifty cents in the dollar, (and I see from 
 a communication from a very learned man 
 from your section — Judge Merrimon — that 
 they can be bought for thirty cents in the 
 dollar,) it would cost them two hundred 
 thousand less per annum than they pay for 
 the lease of the road. And it would also 
 destroy the interest of the private stock- 
 holders in the N. C. R, R. Co., so that the 
 stock in it would be worthless. You may 
 ask, Is this possible 1 and yet our able man 
 advocates it! Yes, sir; it is not only pos- 
 sible, but it will certainly be done if the State 
 stock is ever exchanged for the construction 
 bonds. Any corporation or individual who 
 could get a majority of the bonds could 
 get a majority of the stock. Any one own- 
 ing the majority of stock, which would be 
 only two million and one hundred dollars 
 worth, would control the road. They, of 
 
 course, would run it to advance their own 
 interest, and instead of declaring dividends, 
 they would put their surplus money made 
 upon the road, back upon it again," in the 
 way of equipments, &c, and not declare 
 dividends until the minority stockholders 
 would be tired and worn out with suspense, 
 and sell their stock at a nominal value. And 
 thus the whole road would belong to those 
 who obtained the construction bonds and 
 exchanged them for the State's stock in the 
 N. C. R. R, Co. So that any intelligent 
 man, with any familiarity at all with this 
 matter, can see at a glance that to exchange 
 the State stock in the N. C. R. R. Co., would 
 defeat any road from ever being built through 
 the Western part of the State by the N. C. 
 R. R. Co. Some very great men (especially 
 in their own estimation) have but very lit- 
 tle practical common sense, and it would be 
 much better for the interest of the State for 
 these great men to show their greatness by 
 applying themselves, with their great learn- 
 ing and acknowledged ability, to things 
 pertaining to nations, than thus to con- 
 tinue to damage the best interest of their 
 State by meddling with local and practical 
 things and measures, which they, in their 
 ambition for greatness, have either for- 
 gotten or never condescended to learn. 
 
 I am satisfied, however, that the majority 
 of the Legislature has too much patriotism 
 and love for the dear people not to pass a 
 supplementary act to answer every purpose 
 when it meets again. 
 
 I have answered such points as I thought 
 most important to the bill, but much more 
 could be said upon the subject to show that 
 the opponents of the measure are opponents 
 of the progress and advancement of the best 
 interest of North Carolina. 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 W. A. Smith, 
 President N. C. Railroad Co. 
 
 REPLY TO "FAIR PLAY" AND OTHERS. 
 Turner and his Empty Jugs. 
 
 Washington, D. C, Jan. 23, 1874. 
 Editor "Neivs," Raleigh, N. C: * 
 
 Sir: In my note of the 18th instant, in 
 reply to " Fair Play," of the 17th, I inti- 
 mated that I would answer his communica- 
 tion if he would furnish me with his name. 
 Having waited a sufhcieut time, I am ad- 
 vised by friends to reply to his billingsgate, 
 even if it should appear to gentlemen as a 
 condescension on my part to do so, lest 
 some verdant member of the Legislature 
 might think his twaddle true and calcu- 
 
 lated to injure the great consolidation 
 scheme and cut off the West forever from 
 the advantages of a railroad. To reply fully 
 to "Fair Play" it is necessar3 r to give a 
 short sketch of the history of the North 
 Carolina Railroad Company from the time 
 I took its affairs in charge to the present 
 time. 
 
 I was elected president of the company 
 in July, 1868, succeeding Jo. Turner, of 
 Hillsboro', N. C. I found the road in a 
 deplorable condition in every respect. It 
 
had great need of iron on the track, had no 
 credit, no system ; was running along with- 
 out a head, broken down, almost insolvent, 
 crushed by a debt of nearly a million dol- 
 lars, with less than twenty thousand in the 
 treasury. I found in the office when I took 
 charge an old pine table, a sort of cupboard 
 containing one empty jug and several empty 
 bottles, an old bedstead and mattress, full 
 of chinches, and covered with old dirty 
 sheets. All was dirt and confusion. A 
 majority of the officers and employees were 
 drunkards and unreliable men. 
 
 No sooner had I taken charge of the 
 affairs of the company, than a great hue and 
 cry was raised by the vagabond Turner 
 that the N. C. R. R. would be run down 
 and destroyed. The spirit of blackguard- 
 ism was invoked and its filthy missiles 
 hurled at me, and every conceivable lie 
 that could be invented was put in circula- 
 tion by that unscrupulous, low-down fellow, 
 sustained, more or less, by the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 In the course of time, however, intelli- 
 gent gentlemen discovered that the road 
 was improving, and that at least eighty 
 thousand dollars was saved, the first year, 
 over Turner's administration. Dividends 
 were soon declared and the debt reduced. 
 When this exhibit was made the Charlotte 
 Democrat complimented me on my man- 
 agement, and asked that I should have fair 
 play. After the first year of my adminis- 
 tration I received the unanimous vote of 
 both parties for president, no one objecting 
 to my re-election except Jo. Turner and the 
 Hillsboro' clique. 
 
 And now let us see for a moment what 
 Turner and his board of directors did. 
 They mortgaged the road for one million 
 and a half of dollars, and issued bonds to 
 the amount of eight hundred thousand dol- 
 lars, when there was no necessity for mort- 
 gaging it at all. Why, then, mortgage the 
 road? It was for the purpose of "grab- 
 bing" two hundred and forty thousand 
 dollars of its bonds. As soon as the mort- 
 gage was registered this same honest Jo. 
 Turner (the great enemy of rings and 
 thieves) and his board declared a dividend 
 of six per cent, on the stock, payable in 
 the bonds they had just put upon the road ! 
 Was this honest? I think not, 
 
 This broken-down vagabond demagogue, 
 Turner, continued to lie and make charges 
 against me, whilst the private stockholders, 
 a large majority of whom were Democrats, 
 continued to vote for me. 
 
 At length the Democrats got possession 
 of the Legislature, and then that devil, 
 Turner, commenced on them to disregard 
 the law, the charter of the company, and 
 the constitution of the State, and make him 
 president. The private stockholders be- 
 
 came alarmed and authorized me to defeat 
 his nefarious plans, if possible, as they 
 knew that if this fellow, Turner, got pos- 
 session of the road again, with his drunken 
 brigade, all dividends would cease and their 
 stock would become almost entirely worth- 
 less, as it was when I was first elected pres- 
 ident, A fear that this man, Turner, would, 
 through his Legislature, again get posses- 
 sion of the road, was a chief impelling mo- 
 tive in the stockholders leasing it out. The 
 road was leased to the satisfaction of the 
 stockholders, according to law, and the 
 courts will sustain it, 
 
 "Fair Play," in his cowardly attack, in- 
 sinuates that I have acted dishonestly to the 
 North Carolina Railroad Company. * I have 
 vouchers for every cent that the road has 
 made since July, 1868. My vouchers have 
 been regularly examined by the finance 
 committee, composed of both parties. They 
 have always reported that every cent re- 
 ceived by me was correctly accounted tor. 
 During the time I have been president 
 more than three millions of dollars (I have 
 not the exact figures by me) have been re- 
 ceived and paid out,, and I have vouchers 
 for every cent. Can Turner say as much ? 
 
 I was appointed receiver of the Western 
 N. C. R. R. last spring. That road was run 
 down, and never had to my knowledge 
 paid expenses. In less than six months I 
 had greatly improved theroad, and on the 
 31st of December last had twenty-eight 
 thousand dollars over expenses; and I be- 
 lieve I can, if I had the opportunity, make 
 that road pay six percent, interest upon the 
 debt required to buy it, even if it be not 
 finished. 
 
 "Fair Play',' when he says he is in favor 
 of the North Carolina Railroad Company 
 building the W. N. C. roadies. He knows he 
 is a bought-up man — that he belongs, body 
 and soul, to Mahone & Co. His cry of 
 "stop thief" will not divert the honest, ne- 
 glected people of the West from his devilish 
 designs. If" you, Mr. "Fair Play, " had not 
 been a coward, you would not have written 
 over an assumed name — you would have 
 come out squarely, like a man. But you 
 wrote to deceive — you wrote to humbug 
 verdant and ignorant Democrats, for you 
 know you cannot deceive Republicans, in 
 the Legislature or out of it. The Repub- 
 lican party of the State is for building the 
 Western N. C. road. The Democrats of 
 the eastern and middle counties are against 
 it, They know that if the Legislature 
 will let me I will finish the great work. 
 But they don't want me to finish it, be- 
 lieving, as they say, it will make me Gov- 
 ernor, &c. I would not be Governor ; but if I 
 wanted to be, I could beat any man you 
 have, Mr. "Fair Play," without building 
 the W. N. C. R. R. I am not so poor or 
 
so ambitious as to desire to be Governor. 
 North Carolina has been striving for the 
 last thirty years to get a railroad connection 
 with the"Western States. That her efforts 
 have failed up to this time has been in a great 
 decree owing to the misconduct of some of 
 her own people. It looks as if there were 
 men in our State who were determined that 
 we should always be kept in the rear of Vir- 
 ginia. Last winter a Virginia paper, pub- 
 lished in Richmond, made a grand boast 
 that Gen. Mahone had so managed matters 
 at Raleigh that he prevented the Western 
 North Carolina road ever being built, or at 
 least delayed it for a long period of years. 
 Is he to be allowed to play the same 
 game again? I have been informed that one 
 of his associates said last winter that he had 
 better pay five millions of dollars than let 
 our North Carolina road be built. The in- 
 dividual who sometimes calls himself Apple- 
 ton Oaksmith, and sometimes passes by 
 other names, who was his great manipulator 
 at Raleigh last year, has lately been in New 
 York for some days, while Mahone was 
 there. From there he went down to Ra- 
 leigh. Perhaps he is Mr. "Fair Play, " or 
 perhaps "Fair Play" is only one of his 
 strikers. How much does he get for his 
 share in fooling the Legislature ? If the 
 members, after all that has passed, continue 
 to act against their State, and in the interest 
 of Mahone's Virginia road, the people will 
 not let them off so easily as they have here- 
 tofore done. "Fair Play" attacks me for 
 refusing free passes to the members of the 
 Legislature for going over the railroads. 
 These members compel the State Treasurer 
 to pay them twenty cents per mile for going 
 to Raleigh, and yet they complain of being 
 charged by the railroad less than five cents 
 per mile. They and their good friend "Fair 
 Play," or Oaksmith, or whatever name he 
 may go by, insist upon going to Raleigh 
 
 without paying anything. Then what right 
 have they, by false pretences, to make the 
 treasurer pay them twenty cents per mile 
 out of the money of the heavily -taxed peo- 
 ple? Is not this worse than the "salary 
 grab" of the last Congress, about which they 
 have raised a great outcry ? They can travel 
 to Raleigh for less money now than their 
 predecessors did, who in old times received 
 only ten cents per mile and paid their own 
 fare without complaining. And yet, ac- 
 cording to "Fair Play," the present mem- 
 bers, who get twice as much, must go free ! 
 Verily they may be called "Solomons," and 
 when they and their friends go, "wisdom 
 will die with them . ' ' 
 
 I have reason to believe that those who 
 are acting against the interests of the State, 
 fearing that the pressure of the people will 
 drive the Legislature up to do something, 
 have changed their tactics. They are said 
 to be about making a combination with the 
 construction bondholders, with a view of 
 getting, through the action of the United 
 States courts, the control of the road. If 
 they succeed in this, they may then sell it 
 out to the highest bidder, and if Mahone 
 should be the man, he will, of course, be 
 smart enough, when he owns the road, to 
 prevent its ever being finished. His five 
 millions will then have been well spent, and 
 his friends can then give him a grand ova- 
 tion. But what will the people of North 
 Carolina do with the men who have been 
 his tools or his dupes ? 
 
 "Fair Play" says I wish to be elected 
 Governor in 1876. Was there ever anything 
 more stupid than his declaration that* I will 
 not build the road? What chance would I 
 have to be elected if I were to fail ? But if 
 I get the power I intend to finish the road 
 whether it elects me Governor or President, 
 or leaves me a private citizen. 
 
 Respectfully, War. A. Smith. 
 
 MAJ. SMITH'S EPISTLE TO THE "SOLOMONS.'.' 
 
 To the Members of the General Assembly: 
 
 Sirs: I propose to address to you a few 
 plain parting words ere you sink into mer- 
 ited oblivion. Mercy prompts me to silence 
 as you slink from the public gaze, but a 
 sense of duty impels me to poiut to you, or 
 hold you up in your true colors, that those 
 who are to come after you may learn a 
 lesson and shun the disgrace you have 
 brought upon yourselves. 
 
 My remarks shall be confined to such of 
 you as are responsible for this expose by 
 reason of your gross attacks upon me, per- 
 sonally, without regard to color or previous 
 condition of party servitude. I need not 
 
 say I have the highest regard for many 
 members of your body. There are good, 
 clever gentlemen among you — Cunning- 
 ham, Welch, Humphrey and others, I could 
 name — but they are powerless in a mob of 
 mere numerical strength. 
 
 Right-thinking men regard you as an im- 
 becile, graceless set. The annals of the 
 State will be searched in vain to find your 
 like as a legislative body. The famous 
 " terrapin Legislature, " in comparison with 
 you, becomes a respectable, dignified con- 
 cern. You are unique in your littleness 
 and meanness — you stink in the public nos- 
 tril. Language is inadequate to picture 
 
6 
 
 you. You will be remembered in years to 
 come as profligate economists, destructive 
 reformers, mock statesmen, blind or corrupt 
 judges, hypocritical patriots, faithless ser- 
 vants — the North Carolina " Barebones 
 Parliament. ' ' 
 
 You went into power on a platform of 
 economy, and you have run riot in squan- 
 dering the people's money. 
 
 During your term of office you have 
 raised no monument to the honor or profit 
 of the State; but, on the contrary, have 
 torn down and laid waste, and you can 
 point only, as the results of your labors, to 
 such deeds as the establishment of cross- 
 roads grogshops and the incorporation of 
 petty towns and singing-schools. 
 
 Your statesmanship has been of the Peter 
 Funk order — 3'ou promised to enact bene- 
 ficial public laws and you have deceived 
 the people. 
 
 You have undertaken, in the littleness 
 and bitterness of your souls, to destroy my 
 private character and to break me down in 
 the estimation of the people, because you 
 are afraid of me, and you condemn me 
 without a trial and without evidence. 
 
 Your patriotism is a hollow pretext, and 
 you have shown it to be purchasable with 
 a dead-head ticket on a railroad. 
 
 You have, in everything ' that concerned 
 tliem, deceived the people. 
 
 You are a scurvy set — a veritable "Bare- 
 bones" Legislature. 
 
 I have said you attempted to destroy my 
 character and break me down, and in doing 
 this you have shown yourselves to be blind 
 or corrupt judges. You were blind in sup- 
 posing you could break down any man of 
 even ordinary character. The voice of the 
 people, as they flocked around me on the 
 occasion of my recent visit to my home, 
 where I am best known, and at the depots 
 along the line from Goldsboro' to Greens- 
 boro', the young and the old, the Demo- 
 crat as well as the Republican, and aged 
 ministers of the gospel, attested your blind- 
 ness, as they appealed to me to become 
 their next Governor; or, if I would not, to 
 do something by means of which you could 
 be driven from the capitol into your obscure 
 holes. Or you were corrupt in condemning 
 me without a hearing and without a witness, 
 refusing me a right conceded to the mean- 
 est criminal. You took an oath, on assum- 
 ing the position you have disgraced, to sup- 
 port the constitution of the State, and in 
 doing your best to ban me, to disable me 
 of a right guaranteed by that constitution, 
 you foreswore yourselves, and are there- 
 fore, as I am advised, perjured men. Your 
 predecessors caused Jo. Turner to be tried 
 and convicted by one of their committees, 
 for defrauding the State of over three thou- 
 sand dollars, in overcharging for the public 
 
 printing. Now you attempt to force him 
 into public confidence by re-electing him 
 public printer. This act you did with all 
 the facts before your eyes, and you thus 
 constituted yourselves accessories after the 
 fact. In your blindness or corruption you 
 seem to have forgotten that the people re- 
 member these things. 
 
 You attempted to ban me for the alleged 
 reason that I refused to answer certain ques- 
 tions put to me by Fat John Graham on 
 committee, and you did that knowing, as 
 you must have known, that the allegation 
 was false. You knew that in 1871 the 
 directors of the North Carolina railroad 
 leased that work to the Richmond and Dan- 
 ville Railroad Company. As president of 
 the road you knew I had no vote on any 
 question before th« board except in the case 
 of a tie. You knew that every director 
 present, four of whom were Democrats, the 
 remainder Republicans, voted for the lease. 
 You knew that in this I had no vote ; yet 
 I was charged by Buttermilk Jo with doing 
 the whole thing, and that bribery and cor- 
 ruption were in it. You knew that at the 
 first annual meeting after the road was 
 leased the stockholders, nearly all Demo- 
 crats, voted to confirm the lease, few ob- 
 jecting, save Jo Turner and Tom Webb, 
 who each desired again to become president 
 and run down the road and waste its income 
 upon himself, You knew that at that 
 meeting the foul Turner-charges were 
 brought up by Tom Webb, and that I there 
 and then denounced Webb, or any one else 
 that repeated them, as a liar and coward. 
 You knew that I there asked for a committee 
 to investigate these charges, Webb to be made 
 its chairman, and the convention refused to 
 appoint that committee. You knew that I 
 then called upon the President of the Rich- 
 mond and Danville Company, who leased 
 the road, to state to that convention whether 
 his company had paid or offered to pay, or 
 had promised at any future time to pay me 
 anything for the part I took in leasing the 
 North Carolina road to his company. In 
 answer, you knew that Col. Buford said his 
 company had not paid, or promised to pay, 
 any officer or employee of the North Caro- 
 lina Railroad Company one cent to consum- 
 mate the lease. All this you knew, and yet 
 you attempted to ban me and to disable me 
 from holding a public office because, as you j 
 allege, I had refused to answer certain ques- j 
 tlons touching this very matter, propounded - 
 to me by Fat John Graham on committee. 
 
 I was called before that committee, of 
 which Graham and Dr. Worth were mem- 
 bers. I refused to answer their questions, 
 as you knew, because I did not recognize 
 their right to investigate the personal affairs 
 of any man, and not, as you knew, because i 
 of the character of the questions asked. If 
 
the committee had authority to question me, 
 they had the power to make me answer. 
 But the fat chairman did not desire answers, 
 his object being to manufacture capital for 
 his campaign for treasurer — a campaign 
 which enabled the people of his own county 
 to show their estimate of him by voting him 
 to the bottom of his own ticket. 
 
 What now becomes 01 your pretext for 
 the dastardly attempt to ban me ? Was it 
 not your real purpose to destroy my politi- 
 cal influence in the State, and in a cowardly, 
 covert manner to defeat the Western North 
 Carolina road, and is it not your purpose to 
 disable all men in favor of that work? 
 Would not a guarantee of deadhead tickets 
 for life have changed your course? But 
 enough of this. 
 
 I might single you out and attempt indi- 
 vidual portraits of hideousness, for some of 
 you are worse than others — some bigger 
 fools, others greater knaves, and still others 
 with strikingly mixed mean characteristics, 
 but I dislike invidiousness. 
 
 I might instance Merrimon, the flea-bitten 
 flee of Buncombe, who is ever aiming at 
 something smart because he has a big 
 brother, and whose tact, in making every- 
 body he comes in contact with hate him, is 
 about to consign him to the mud-hills of 
 Georgia, and he leaves his country for his 
 country's good. Alas, poor Georgia ! 
 
 Dr. J. M. Worth, the "William Pitt" of 
 Randolph, might be selected by reason pf 
 his wonderful financial powers. Financial 
 ability runs in the blood of the Worths as 
 long ears in that of the ass. But I could not 
 do that subject justice. 
 
 The Moreheads would be worthy of a 
 sketch. Of all the self-styled great men of 
 the Legislature the most conspicuous is the 
 little fellow who goes by the name of "More- 
 head of Rockingham, ' ' though ' ' Less-head' ' 
 would be a more appropriate name. He is 
 a small-souled, flat-headed, adder kind of a 
 fellow, ever striking at those around him. 
 He is a fractious little miss, and puts on airs 
 and demands passes over railroads by reason 
 of his being a director on a dirt road. He 
 is, too, an avaricious varment. One would 
 think he would be satisfied with what he 
 has already received from the public works 
 of North Carolina. Col. Whit-ford, ex-pres- 
 ident of the Atlantic and North Carolina 
 road, can tell whether the Moreheads are 
 entitled to the last hundred thousand dol- 
 lars the} r got out of that poverty-stricken 
 work. It is safe to say that but for the rail- 
 roads and public buildings of North Caro- 
 lina, Turner Morehead and his brother John 
 would to-day be plowing a steer at eight 
 dollars per month. And these are the men 
 who hate me because I will not say they are 
 big men, and Turner, the spiteful little soul, 
 votes to ban me. 
 
 'John Morehead was one of Jo Turner's 
 directors who voted the scrip dividend 
 which put the North Carolina road $240,- 
 000 deeper in debt ; and after it was issued 
 he went round buying up the scrip of small 
 stockholders at from sixty -five to seventy 
 cents in the dollar. 
 
 Having strong affection for the teat which 
 has yielded them so much pap, the More- 
 heads desire to grab the North Carolina 
 road. Therefore Turner,* the senator from 
 the Virginia line, offered an amendment to 
 the Consolidation Bill, giving the private 
 stockholders seven directors, and the State, 
 which has three million dollars in the Avork, 
 five. I suppose he and John, or rather 
 John, himself, had talked the matter 
 over with Mahone, who promised, if that 
 amendment could be slipped in, and he get 
 the whole road for $250,000, to make John 
 president. Is not this worse than my re- 
 fusing to answer the impertinent questions 
 of Fat John ? But Turner is a Morehead 
 and a little-head, and Buttermilk Jo pats 
 him on the back, and says : "Go it, little 
 one ; I'll say nothing about your tricks, be- 
 cause you stood by me in my em quad game 
 on the State treasury, by which I came 
 within one of getting over three thousand 
 dollars. I'll stand by you as long as you 
 stand by me on the em quad. ' ' 
 
 The smooth-faced, Plymouth-rock-look- 
 ing fellow, McGehee, of Person, would 
 require a large-sized picture to do him jus- 
 tice. He thinks every man dishonest who 
 has energy enough to make a living, and 
 rise above him without friends, schooling or 
 money, and, like other little heads, he 
 would blast my character without giving 
 me a trial. Not content with undermining 
 the men of his own party who stand be- 
 tween him and a seat in Congress, he strikes 
 at me because he has heard that, like other 
 great men, I am about to move to Greens- 
 boro to make that district republican. Poor 
 little Mac ! You can never elevate yourself 
 by pulling others down. But you hate 
 brains and energy and progress, Mac. You 
 hate especially every man who has sprung 
 from the mass of the people by his .own 
 exertions and become your superior. Your 
 donkey -looking dignity does not cover your ■. 
 smallness. Men designed by nature to be 
 great are beyond the reach of your puny 
 shafts and can smile at the malice of such as 
 you, the flea-bitten chap of Buncombe and 
 the Pitt of Randolph. Go on with your 
 banning amendments. Such acts carry 
 with them a compliment grateful to me, but 
 unobserved by you, for they show that you 
 are fully convinced that extraordinary 
 means are requisite to put me down. Do 
 not stop, I warn you, at disabling me from 
 being president of a mere railroad. Before 
 you turn loose the people's purse and go 
 
ling els€~; for \v.ith such yelping at niy 
 keels I may be induced to take rapid strides 
 from where I now am to the chair of State, 
 thence to the United States Senate, perhaps 
 to the presidency of the nation. Look to it, 
 I repeat. I am not to be trifled with, and 
 '. any one of these additional steps would 
 'break your hearts. 
 
 And now, sirs, adjourn sine die and go 
 home, and for once gratify the people. I 
 have aske# nothing, I want nothing from 
 you. Begone, I say, and may the Lord 
 lfave mercy upon you, for you are damned 
 /n the estimation of the honest people. 
 
 I£{he,West want their road finished they 
 must send .Republicans to the Legislature. 
 If the people of the State generally desire 
 their debt arranged and provided for, they 
 must puf progressive Republicans m power. 
 .Daddy Graham's .party will 'never do any- 
 
 > «; 
 
 v thing for North Carolina. Something must 
 e done, and that quickly. Suits are being 
 brought to enforce the payment of claims 
 against the State. The railroads }pf the 
 State, if well managed, can save the State in 
 time ; but legislation must be taken out of 
 the hands of imbeciles, and be conducted 
 with brains and enterprise. » 
 
 W. A. Smith* 
 
 *Since the foregoing was written, I learn 
 it was sleepy-headed Jim Morehead who 
 introduced this amendment. Well, that re 
 minds me of an anecdote. On one occa- 
 sion, in the mountains, a man was before 
 a 'squire charged with larceny. "Squire," 
 he pleaded, "a great many people steal on 
 the credit of our family." 'And the credit 
 of the family is damned good for it," re- 
 plied the^squire. W. A. S. 
 
 I * 
 
 r 
 
 r » 
 
 
 THE LEGISLATURE BUSTED. 
 
 . * BY TIMOTHY TAKBTJCKET. 
 
 The "Solomons" have all gone home, 
 . The Halls are being dusted; 
 
 The peanut trade is all broke up, 
 '„.. For the Legislature's busted. 
 
 ■ V". • * 
 
 They sat atid sat and ate their peas, 
 
 And drewrfive dollars a day; 
 
 Bu'C what they'' did for the people- g'good 
 
 Is what'no one can say. 
 
 They all love^ North Carolina so, 
 
 They swore they would protect her; 
 The only few .they passed was this: 
 ^ Bill Smith shan't be a Director. 
 
 * Bill Smith he Galled thffltn "Solomons," 
 Which made them very mad, 
 For they had no kin of that 'ere name, 
 And swore' they never had. 
 
 N*w to- their homes they're all gone, 
 The HallSfare being dusted,' 
 
 The peojje, sing and clap their hands 
 For the Legislature's busted. 
 
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