Not Parson Brownlow’s Son
Knoxville, Tenn., April 26, 1905.
Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.
Dear Sir: In your article on “Politics and Economics” in Tom Watson’s Magazine for May, you speak of the salary grab of congressmen as follows: “Tennessee will not be shocked to know that ‘Slippery Jim’ Richardson voted for the grab. She may be shocked to know that Brownlow did the same thing—Brownlow, the son of the famous Parson.”
You are entirely mistaken about Walter P. Brownlow, to whom you refer, being a son of the “famous Parson.” Parson Brownlow has only one son living, Colonel John Bell Brownlow, who commanded the regiment in which I was an officer, the Ninth Tennessee Cavalry Volunteers of the Union troops during the Civil War, and who lives in this city and is not a member of Congress now nor has he ever been.
Please publish this in full in your issue for June and greatly oblige me.
Respectfully,
W. R. Murphy.
P.S.—I am a constant reader of your magazine and am enjoying your articles very much; and not only yours, but those of Frederick Upham Adams. Many of the truths which you utter through the medium of your great magazine will prove to be precious seed sown in the rich soil of the national conscience, and the fruitage will be invaluable.—W. R. M.