H.C.Powers, the candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, and H.Musgrove, the candidate for Auditor of Public Accounts, were successful cotton planters from Noxubee and Clarke counties respectively; while H.R.Pease, the candidate for State Superintendent of Education, had been identified with educational work ever since he came to the State.

It could not be denied that it was a strong and able ticket,--one that the Democrats would find it very difficult to defeat.

In desperation the Democratic party had nominated as their candidate for Governor a brother-in-law of President Grant's, Judge Lewis Dent, in the hope that the President would throw the weight of his influence and the active support of his administration on the side of his relative, as against the candidate of his own party, especially in view of the fact that Dent had been nominated not as a Democrat but as an Independent Republican,--his candidacy simply having been indorsed by the Democratic organization.

But in this they were disappointed, for if the President gave any indication of preference it was in favor of the Republican ticket.

General Ames, for instance, was the Military Governor of the State, holding that position at the pleasure of the President; and Ames was so outspoken in his support of the Republican ticket, that in an address before the State Republican Convention that nominated General Alcorn for the Governorship he announced, "You have my sympathy and shall have my support." This declaration was received by the convention with great applause, for it was known that those words from that source carried great weight.