The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-08-19
THE COUNTY CAMPAIGN.
The Lessons of the Rival ConVeh
Bowen Ahead in the Race for
Prospects OF the state Conveh''"
Diabolical Rumor.

OF the two main events that nave 'e.
lied upon TO decide the issues OIL 'he o" Wesors
In Charleston County, as between - n n,oce.
Bowen and Mackey, one has now taAen p.o1e aon
and the other is close at han0. The county ~
yentlons OF last Thursday p'gnt .,,on iotu or
of those events, and the state cou' r,hIo
conventions, which will assemo'e a. nd
IN Wednesday next, will be tne o'"e., 's ~ NV
unahah,r decisive one. II Is well enousii "n-
sons,ooJ that the prize for which ooln o' tllese
..o,orts ore surviving is the shrieValts VI
III. comfy. with Its immense palronase anu
'ns and the fact that they have ranged
iS",nsslves pv" respectively with the two warning
| f.c,,ons in the State campaign Is haroly more
than incidental to their own struggle nearer
home. in which they have 30 much greater per-
oonal interests at stake. the rival conVen-
tions of Thursday night afforded an oPportu-
tunity to draw a comparison between tne
chances of the two candidates, almost as COM
plete az though the two factions nad met
toyetber and measured their swords on the
floor of the game convention, and IL must oe
admitted that, so far as those conventions iur-
n,sb a criterion, the chances have been sho"n
to he all in favor OF Bowen. The Mackey
| party claim their strength in Charleston C''y
| and admit, in their own secret councils' tna'
Rowen has an overwhelming majorityin IN Inc
country nrecincts. The Bowenites Calm all
that and more, tor they insist that In tne city
| nrscincts their strength Is at least equal u
that of The Mackeyites. In addition 10 these
,,,o main divisions OF the Charleston RADICALS
there is another organization, calling nseil
he Progressive Republican Assoclaton' w'''cli
is led by Major NJ. R. Delany. ln's pouy
10 sanparenlly small in numbers and Imperfect
in organization. but It's leader mas very
,arue voice. and is very black man, with
mnch bettpr education than most OF Inc
blacks. and no doubt has considerable lh-
auence aud following among inc coioreo
VOTERS. At all events the accession OF MS or
panization to either of the contestlnS lactions
won,d obviously be of advantage 10 that
faction 10 lust the extent Of its vote in con-
yentlon or at the polls. The ProgresslVlsts
were attracted to the Mackey convention, and
40 far this circumstance appeared 10 give Tue
Mackeyites an advantage, but In the convention
it was soon found that they wanted IN return
for their votes a considerable representation
unon the delegation to Columbia. The men
that they particularly insisted upon were NJ. H.
Delanv and Gilbert Pillsbury, and when 1t was
found that those men, as we'll as James P.
Howard, A. A. Aspinall, John Clyde, William
Murrlll and Charles Vapderhorst had been
wholly excluded from the Mackey ticket, there
was tremendous row in the wlgwam. From
that moment there was scene of uproar and
confusion, and 1t was only saved from dlsso-
lution by the utmost adroitness on the part OF
its engineers. 1t is evident that the effect OF
such convention can only be to split and dis
organize the faction, and 1t Is very certain
that the Macksyites have lost IN strengtn ana
Influence by It's being held.
The Bowen Convention, on the same night,
In H,bernian Hall, was marked contrast to
the other one. It contained, of course, the
same number OF delegates, and might have
represented the same number of constituents,
although it Is claimed that 1t represented from
five to ten thousand more. 1t was certainly
more compact, harmonious and thoroughly
organized body, and its deliberations clearly
revealed the fact that It's members and the
men by whom they we're elected were with
Bowen drst, last and all the time. There were
no angry discussions, and no evidence at all
of any split or any serious dlssenslons. The
only differences of opinion manifested was as
to the proportional distribution OF delegates
among the various precincts, and these were
lol AihlrAnna
these two parties, as shown by the two con-
yentons, is that the Bowenites are compact,
we'll organized and thoroughly loyal body,
while the Mackey faction Is sadly divided and
entangled iu internal feuds.
The question of which will be successful In
Its purposes In the Slate convention Is dlfa-
cult question to answer until next Wednes-
dsy. Both factions appear equally confident
of admission to the regular convention,
although each has adopted different plan to
accomplish that. The Mackeyites have adopt
ed resolutions declaring emphatically but IN
general terms for Stale reform, and being
careful to accuse no particular official OF the
State rascaliLies. 1t Ia sald that this was done
because the Ring, or syndicate" as 1t ls now
called, has adopted the vague cry Of reform
itself, and expects to capture the Radical Re
formers themselves by that device. The Bow.
enltes on the contrary adopted no resolutions,
and lett their delegates tree to inslnuate
themselves into the convention in any
way they please, and do what they
please after they get in, holding that
Bowen's personal integrity and devotion to
their interests" will be sufficient guarantee
for them. 1t Is certain that both delegations
will he 10 some convention or other, ths pros
poets being still good for serious bolt, led
either by delegates from Charleston or Beau
fort, which county has also sent double dele
cations, headed respectively by Whpper and
Smalls. There has been some idle talk Of
device on the part OF one Of the Charleston
delegations to very effectually prevent the
seating of the other by either getting up ter
rible fight on the train which Is to carry the
latter to Columbia, or by just throwing the
train of the track, and in the language of the
person who mentioned the rumor, ''sendiDg
'em to the hospital and insane asylum Instead
of The convention" 1t Is not probable, how.
ever. that there is the least truth In the ru-
NOR, and The suggestion is so maliclously dia-
bolieal that we decline to stlgmatize either
faction by stating which 1t was that was ru-