Colorado Citizen, November 2, 1882, November 23, 1882, February 1, 1883 (which contains the last known mention of the Free Politician). In his lengthy diatribe published on November 2, 1882, Towell also stated that Nelson had informed him "that I was unfit to represent the people of Colorado county . . . [because] I could not play billiards, play cards, chew tobacco, smoke, or drink whisky."
    The city elections of the period should briefly be mentioned. In Columbus, Benjamin M. Baker was elected mayor in 1879, and Mumford Kennon in both 1881 and 1883. Kennon won the 1881 election by only five votes over John Calhoun Harbert, a candidate endorsed by local blacks, but he ran unopposed in 1883. In late 1883, Kennon resigned and was replaced by Baker. In Weimar in 1879, Jerry J. Griffin was elected to replace the recently resigned mayor, J. E. Poole. Later that year, Griffin resigned and David M. Estes was elected to replace him. Estes won the office again in 1880, 1882, and 1883. The only black man to serve in either city's government was Edmund Eason, who was elected to the Columbus city council in 1879, 1881, and 1883 (see Colorado Citizen, June 5, 1879, June 12, 1879, July 17, 1879, September 25, 1879, December 25, 1879, January 1, 1880, September 23, 1880, June 2, 1881, June 9, 1881, September 28, 1882, April 5, 1883, December 6, 1883, December 20, 1883).