But, let the causes, circumstances, and conditions be what they may, there was not a Democrat in Mississippi in 1884 who did not believe that Mr. Cleveland’s election to the Presidency was a foregone conclusion.  That he would have the support of the Solid South there was no doubt.  Those States, they believed, were as certain to be returned Democratic as the sun would rise on the morning of the day of the election.

Although I accepted the nomination for Congress, I as chairman of the Republican State Committee, devoted the greater part of my time to the campaign throughout the State.  Mr. Blaine had many warm friends and admirers among the white men and Democrats in the State, some of them being outspoken in their advocacy of his election.  In making up the electoral ticket I made every effort possible to get some of those men to consent to the use of their names.  One of them, Joseph N. Carpenter, of my own home town, Natchez, gave his consent to the use of his name.  He was one of the solid business men of the town.  He was not only a large property owner but the principal owner of a local steamboat that was engaged in the trade on the Mississippi River between Natchez and Vicksburg.  He was also the principal proprietor of one of the cotton-seed-oil mills of the town.  In fact his name was associated with nearly every important enterprise in that community.  Socially no family stood higher than his in any part of the South.  His accomplished wife was a Miss Mellen, whose brother, William F. Mellen, was one of the most brilliant members of the bar that the State had ever produced.  She had another brother who acquired quite a distinction as a minister of the gospel.

When the announcement was made public that Joseph N. Carpenter was to be an elector on the Republican ticket, intense excitement was immediately created.  The Democratic press of the State immediately turned their batteries upon him.  Personal friends called upon him in large numbers and urged him to decline.  But he had consented to serve, and he felt that it was his duty, and ought to be his privilege to do so.  Besides, he was a sincere Blaine man.  He honestly believed that the election of Mr. Blaine would be conducive to the best interests of the country, the South especially.  To these appeals, therefore, he turned a deaf ear.  But it was not long before he was obliged to yield to the pressure.  The fact was soon made plain to him that, if he allowed his name to remain on that ticket, the probabilities were that he would be financially ruined.  He would soon find that his boat would be without either passengers or freight; his oil mill would probably be obliged to close because there would be no owners of the raw material of whom he could make purchases at any price, and even his children at school would, no doubt, be subjected to taunts and insults, to say nothing of the social cuts to which his family might be subjected.  He was, therefore, brought to a painful realization