Republican Pow Wow

The Republican machine is in good working order in this county. As the delegates to the Republican County Convention began to arrive Tuesday morning it was seen that the machine was all right, that Boss McMillan's lieutenants were awake and that THE POSTOFFICE CONTINGENT had been particularly active. We did not enquire what candidate the different postmasters were for,as that was not necessary, but among the postmasters present were: Postmaster Wheeler, of Salem; Postmaster Nestell, of Manchester and Postmaster Judson, of Chelsea. Then there was R. H. Marsh, husband of the postmistress of Saline, W. S. Carpenter, son of the postmaster,at Ypsilanti, and the Courier had two delegates in the convention and one of the Ann Arbor carriers was represented by a proxy. Very evidently the postoffices were in it. Dr. W. B. Smith as chairman of :he county committee, stated that ie had beeninstructed tocallGeorge S. Wheeler, of Salem, to the chair. Mr. Wheeler was a Rich man. He proceeded to lay it down that it was :he meanest and most despicable eind of a politician who wouldn't support the nominee of the Republican convention, and otherwise to covertly threaten the anti-Rich men. Joshua G. Leeland, jr., of Northfield, was made secretary. The chair then proceeded to appoint the strongest kind of RICH COMMITTEES as follows: Credentials - William Judson, George H. Pond and J. B. Wortley. Permanent organization and order of business - Samuel Post, H C. Waldron and W. S. Crafts. Resolutions - E. P. Allen, George H. Pond and A. J. Sawyer. When the motion to appoint the committee on resolutions was made Mr. Sawyer moved that the committee be instructed to bring in the Republican national platform as their report, but in putting this motion Mr. Wheeler changed it to make the platform part of their report. This was to permit of Rich instructions if the committee thought prudent. But nothing came of this as the committee made no report at all. Webster township had held no caucus, but two sets of men came up claiming to be delegates. After some jangling two of each set were admitted. Hon. E. P. Allen was made permanent chairman and J. G. Leeland, jr., was continued as secretary. Mr. Allen made a rousing campaign speech, in which he said that the Republican party commanded or should command the intelligent approval of the entire community. He recognized the honestyof the Democrats in their belief and said it was the duty of Republicans to bear with them with patience, while enlightening, educating and converting them. The convention has a very important duty to transact. We made A FEARFUL MISTAKE two years ago in staying at home He nominated James O'Donnell for congress and said he would carry the district, the Republicans would storm the citadel of Democracy in Washtenaw county and capture some of the offices. As will be seen his views were very rosy and a few moments later he remarked that he expected to live to see the Republicans carry Freedom. The convention then separated into districts to name delegates and THE BEAR DANCE began. No scène like it was ever before witnessed in the Republican conventions. There was no quarter shown. There was no consideration shown any worker. The question was solely, is this man on the slate or is he a Pingree man. The Rich men held a caucus in Lawrence's office during the noon recess and came in with handfuls of PRINTED TICKETS bearing the names of each of the eighteen men they had decided to send to the convention. All the work laid out for the convention was to ratify the slate. This the convention proceeded very largely to l do. THE KIRST DISTRICT contained 43 Rich delegates and 17 Pingree delegates. Major Stevens was put in the chair and G. Frank Mlmendinger was made secretary, Nathan Pierce and John R. Miner icting as tellers. Mr. Sawyer placed Dr. W. B. Smith in nomination and Henry Waldron nominated John F. Lawrence. The Fingree men had to iorrow paper to write their ballots, jut the Rich men began throwing ittle printed slips of paper in the uit, regular tissue ballots, printed on paper so thin that it would take several of them to make a thickness of ordinary book paper. The result was: [ohn F. Lawrence 43 Dr. Willard B. Smith 17 For tfee second delégate the ballot resulted: Henry C. Waldron 43 O. C. Burkhardt 16 G. Frank Allmendinger 1 Mr. Sawyer then made a motion that -Sé ñames of those on the printed slips be declared elected delegeer and furtber time saved. This was defeated and a third delégate was elected by ballot as folows: George H. Pond 43 As J. Sawyer 4 G.' Frank Allmendinger 1 The Pingree men had evidently ceased voting. John R. Miner then renewed the motion that the names on the remainderof the printed slips be announced and the election made by acclamation. This motion carried and the delegation filled out as follows: John F. Lawrence, Henry C. Waldron, George H. Pond, W. E. Boyden, Henry S. Dean, William C. Stevens, Thomas Jewett, William Judson and George S. Wheeler. When the congressional delegation was named an earnest attempt was made by the Rich men to place A. J. Sawyer upon it, but Mr. Sawyer refused to have it. Mr. Allmendinger declined, but Col. Dean insisted that he should stay on. Mr. Sawyer got in the first motion on this election and it was that John F. Lawrence be empowered to name the nine delegates. The delegation elected was as follows: Dr. Fleming Carrow, John W Bennett, William Bacon, G. Frank Allmendinger, S. A. Moran, Lester Canfield, A. C. VanSickle, A. R Beal, O. C. Burkhardt. An attempt was made to keep S. A. Moran, the editor of the Register, off the delegation which was quieted by the cooler Rich leaders who were striving not to sit down too hard on the Register. THE SECOND DISTRICT convention was longer drawn out and, if anything, less harmonious than the first. The machine ruled here as in the first and tissue ballots again ruled the day. Ex-State Oil Inspector Henry C. Platt was the chief leader of the Rich forces. E. P. Allen presided impartially and W. S. Carpenter was secretary. The slate was slightly broken. The first move to break it was by Supervisor Edwards, of Ypsilanti. He moved that E. P. Allen and ƒ. B. Wortley be named by acclamation. This was done. Allen was on the slate, but Wortley, though a Rich man, was not. A. A. Wood, of Lodi, and H. D. Platt, of Pittsfield, were next elected. The York delegation put up Charles S. Blackmer for delégate. H. D. Platt moved to amend by substituting the name of John Cook, of York. Dr. Pyle, of Milan, said the York delegation feit that Vork ought to be permitted to have jomething to say about who should )e her delégate and the delegates 'rom that town wanted Blackmer. n spite of Platt's protests Cook was cnocked out. Then a gray haired delégate wanted to know if the convention knew where it was drifting. They had met to send Rich delejates. Blackmer must not be illowed to go. Platt also made several speeches and was informed )y the York delegation that he was alking about something he (Platt) 3idn't know anything about. But ilackmer's nomination by acclamaion was defeated by a vote of 32 to 13. A ballot was ordered and John Cook, once rejected, was selected, he ballot standing: Cook, 31; Blackmer, 10; Farrell, 7; Whitmarsh, 3; Bachelder, 1; Crafts, 1. The Vork delegation had a little meetng, all by themselves, at which one of the most prominent Republicans moved that the delegation withdraw rom the convention in a body so as not to be bound by the action of the convention. This was secondcd ad carried and YORK WITHDREW FROM THE TION. The convention had selected as York delégate a man who had tried to come to the county convention but had failed in his home catjcus, but his name was on the Republicant slate and of course the díctate of the machine must be rammed djown' the throats of York Republicanj. The next ballot resulted: R. H. Marsh, of Saline, 33; Farrell 7 Smith 5, Whitmarsh 1. Then new was received that the first district caucus was over and in the hurry to get out, T. J. Farrell, of Manchester, Perry Townsend, of Superior and W. S. Crafts, of Sharon, were rushed through by acclamation. The delegates to the congressional convention elected were: M. L. Raymond, Peter Cook, W. J. Wallace, S. R. Crittenden, Charles Lewis, M. S. Lawton, V. S. Carpenter, H. P. Thompson, George Wiard. When the convention reassembled and the delegates elected were reported to the convention, Hon. A. J. Sawyer arose and stated that the Republican party in the coming contest wanted the votes of the Germán and Irish Republicans and he wished to cali the attention of the convention to the fact that in the list 01 delegates to the state convention reportedthere was NOT A GERMÁN OR IRISH REPUBLICAN. At this statement the delegates looked aghast. A funereal gloom descended over their countenances. The Rich slate didn't want to break their ranks for such a consideration as this. Finally Dr. Flemming Carrow came to the rescue. He was a delégate to the congressional, not the state, convention and withdrew his name. moving that the name of John Heinzman be substituted for his. This was carried with cheers, the Rich delegates in their relief not thinking that the slate delegation remained without a Germán or Irish Republican on it. The convention then ratified the list of delegates. Mr. Sawyer called the attention of the convention to the fact that there was present in the hall a Mr. Britten, a young stump speaker from Illinois, whose voice would be heard on the stump this f all. Mr. Britten was called for and took up a position behind the judge's desk, close to the chairman, and let loose A FLIGHT OF ORATORY, which ended the convention in a roaring farce. He was glad to address so intelligent an audience- he meant, he continued, he was glad to address so intelligent looking an audience, their clothes looked intelligent, intelligence shone right out thröugh thcir rlothes. He came from the proud republican state of Illinois, and dwelt on the word proud for a half minute. Here Capt. Allen in an aside told him he couldn't speak but five minutes. The delegates were getting under shelter out of the torrent of eloquence. Britten continued: "I say to you and I hold it on my honor, Illinois sends you greeting." He predicted a Republican majority of 40,000 or 50,000 in Illinois this year, but he didn't say whether he held the majority on his honor as he did the greeting. "I would say that republicanism is a thing on which we can base our religión." Htre Captain Allen pulled his coat tail. He was getting on ticklish grounds. The Patriotic Sons of America might be his topic. And although the five minutes had not expire?, the speaker was informed that the ctelegates would have to take the motor line. He carne to a stuKih'Tj close and left the hall utteiung 1 strenger word' than we -can ' 'tray in type. T THE RES.ULT. The Rich raen claim the entire delegation. The Pingree men claim twó op three ín }he .second district, the convention was the most shameless piece of machine work ever put up in Washtenaw county. The Httle slips Of tissue ballots printed at the Courier office did tlleir deadly work. The delegates were naraed before the convention met. All 'the convention had to do was to ratify the plan of the Rich leaders. The machine had no use for the chairman of the county committee because he did not wear the machine collar, preferring to use his own judgment, and declined to let him go to the state convention. Col. H. S. Dean, who was unable to get on the county delegation from the first ward, turned up as a delégate from the third ward, his removal to that ward having been accomplished over night. E. F. Johnson, secretary of the county committee, who had hitherto lived in the first ward, turned up as a delégate from the fifth ward. Many of the Pingree delegates in expressing their dissatisfaction, said that the Republican machine must be broken and the only way to break it was at the polls. They didn't propose to have a machine ram a candidate down their throats, revile them while doing it, and aid the machine to maintain its powei by ratifying its nomination. Hank Platt was happy. So were the postmasters. So undoubtedly is Senator McMillan. Great is the boss, great is the machine in Washtenaw.