THE STATE
Page Eleven
Love
mber 18, 1933
Says MacNeill Article Is “a Malicious Lie”
IN the November 4lli is¬
sue of The State, Ben
Dixon MacNeill writes
wliat lie terms ‘‘The Inside
Storv of the Master Poli¬
tician Col. A. D. Watts."
In this article lie sets forth
certain alleged conversa¬
tions between Col. Watts
and himself during the time
returns were coming in
from the first Democratic
Primary in June, 1920,
hen Judge W. P. Stacy,
tulge W. J. Adams and
the late Judge B. F. I-ong
were running a very close
race for the place on the
•upreme Court, made vacant by the
oluntary retirement of the late Jus¬
tice George II. Brown. At the time.
Judge Long was leading in the re¬
turns, Judge Adams was second and
Judge Stacy was third. MacNeill de¬
scribes Watts as being very much dis¬
turbed over the relative order of the
three candidates and quotes him as
supporting Judge Long and being
afraid that it would lx* more difficult
for Judge Long to bent. Judge Adams
than Judge Stacy.
MacNeill then makes the following
amazing statements: On page 22, first
| column : ‘‘Left to itself the race would
have eliminated Stacy, I believe. Col.
Watts thought so too. I am morally
certain that he manipulated Adams be¬
cause he was afraid of him — and be¬
cause he had promised Judge Long."
In column two, same page, after say¬
ing that he doubted that Col. Watts
was guilty of the charge of stealing
the nomination from Gardner in 1920,
MacNeill continues: ‘‘If he was pull-
»ing wires — and 1 have no doubt he
was — they ran to the boxes where the
votes for the Judges were stored. I
have no idea how he accomplished the
elimination of Adams. Left alone, I
think the returns would have made
Adams high man. Long and Watts
are dead. Stacy and Adams are on
the Court. 1 have not concerned my¬
self over much about the morality of
Watts’ intervention." In column three,
same page, he further states: *‘He
(Col. Watts) had no very large no¬
tions of, for instance. Judge Long. He
regarded him ns a mediocre man. hut
for some obscure reason lie was willing
to rape the electorate for him."
MR. LAND, of Statesville, the author of the
article on this
роде,
writes us: "I consider the
article by Ben Dixon MacNeill, dealing with
Col. A. D. Watts, as damnable. He charges
that Col. Watts had Judge Adams counted out
in the primary in 1920 in order that Judge Long
might benefit as he then thought. It is a ma¬
licious lie and I have written an article which I
enclose, replying to MacNeill and setting forth
the real facts in the case."
By EDWARD M. LAND
The gist of MacNeill’s article is that
Col. Watts manipulated the returns,
held by the State Election Board in
Raleigh, so that Judge Adams was
counted out and Judge Stacy in, thus
fixing the second primary between
Judge Stacy and Judge Long.
A more vicious slander never came
from a muckraker's pen.
In the first place Judge Stacy led
slightly in the final returns with Judge
Long second. Surely Col. Watts was
too wise politically 'not to know the
immense advantage the leading candi¬
date in the first primary has over his
opponent in the second primary and
therefore had he the desire or oppor¬
tunity to change the returns, then in
the hands of the election Board at
Raleigh, surely he would have given
Judge Long some lead over Judge
Stacy since in truth lie was support¬
ing Judge Long.
In the second place, it is a direct
charge that the State Board of Elec¬
tions, whom 1 personally know wore
honorable men, stooped so low as to
wittingly permit some one to tamper
with the election returns then in their
keeping for tabulation.
In the third place, I know of my
own knowledge that it is a false state¬
ment. Judge Long was my father-in-
law. I then lived in Goldsboro and
had been very active for him in that
section of the State. The day after
the primary, 1 went to Raleigh and
took a room at the Yarboro Hotel, re¬
maining there several days. During
this time L received by letter or by
telegram complete returns from every
county in the State. I have most of
them now. Judge Staev was also in
Raleigh and bo and I ex¬
changed information about
complete returns in a n
у
times. I am sure Chief
Justice Stacy will now re¬
call this. From these tele¬
grams and letters, 1 made
accurate tabulations of the
vote and I knew that the
final official returns would
show Judge Stacy in the
lead, with Judge Long sec¬
ond and Judge Adams out
of the second primary some
time before the Election
Board completed its work
of tabulating official re¬
turns. In fact l wrote
numbers of letters asking for support
for Judge Long before the official
count was finished by the State Elec¬
tion Board. The late Judge
О.
II.
Guion, the Hon. N. J. Rouse and the
Hon. N. V. Gulley wore also candi¬
dates for the Supreme Court in the
first primary, making six candidates —
all honorable, splendid gentlemen, and
learned, able lawyers.
I do not know all of the political
activities of Col. Watts throughout his
life. But I do know that he did not
pull wires ‘‘to count Judge Adams out
in the primary in June, 1920." It is
a canard of the lowest type — a charge
against a dead man, who cannot reply.
I sometimes wonder how long an in¬
telligent public will put up with one
who slanders those who have “gone !**-
yond.”
While Col. Watts had faults which
hurt him personally, he was loyal to
his friends, did not slander the «load
or tell falsehoods about tin* living —
traits which some people could well
emulate.
MacNeill says Col. Watts regarded
•bulge Long as a mediocre man. That
is the reverse of the opinion 1 have
often heard the Colouel express to me
and scores of others. In any event,
Judge Long's reputation as a j tulge
and as a man is too well established
in the memory of those who knew him
and too indelibly written on the pages
of the history of this State to Ik* af¬
fected by statements of men like Ben
Dixon MacNeill.
Edward M. Land,
Statesville, N. C.