(POLITICS) Murrell William Letter offering to organize the c

Sale 2471 - Lot 325

Unsold

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(POLITICS.) Murrell, William. Letter offering to "organize the colored people" of West Virginia for the Republican Party. Letter Signed to Stephen Benton Elkins. 4 pages, 10 x 8 inches, on 4 sheets of printed letterhead from the Colored National Press Association; mailing folds, minimal wear. Washington, DC, 26 June 1884

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

William Murrell was the general manager of the Colored National Associated Press, and claimed to "have under my control . . . 126 newspapers run by colored men throughout the United States." Here he writes to Stephen Benton Elkins of West Virginia, executive chair of the Republican National Committee, a few months in advance of the Cleveland-Blaine presidential election. Murrell states that he had been visiting West Virginia and found that "there were hundreds of colored people who have never registered or taken any part whatever in politics. . . . If these people are looked after and registered, it is the unanimous opinion of all classes that we can carry West Virginia. . . . I would like to go to West Virginia quietly and organize the colored people." Murrell also warns of a shadowy new anti-Catholic group called the American Union run by J.F. Lipphard, a "dangerous institution" which would cost the Republicans votes. We don't know if Murrell was put to work, but the Republicans lost West Virginia by four thousand votes, and lost the overall election to Grover Cleveland by just 37 votes in the electoral college.