St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-10-18


ON Church street. The fire WIS 50 hot
that attention was necessary to prevent
damage.
The st. Johnsbury Caucus. Large At
tendance and Exciting Times.
The caucus to elect delegates t" the
second District Convention the I'D. WAS
called III this place on Tuesday evening,
the 10Th. At the hour appointed the
town hall was packed full of people. il
good many persons not voters. and Il
mumhrl from other towns. coming hi t"
see tll, fun
Promptly al seven o'clock the meet
img wa, called t" order hl Henry Z. lie.
chairman "t the town committee. Vino
remarked that ~ the caucus WAS likely
ia Ice an exciting one. he would ask the.
atIdirur" To Ice a> quiet and cnn>idcrHtc
~ possible until il WAS organized. lie
then read the call tur the meeting. and
immediately y. VI. johnson. another
-
up 10y the side of Mr.. Idc. and moved
that Horace Fairbanks lac elected chan
man of t.!r meeting. and VIM. l.. Fair
banks secretary. {. :. Dana AROSE. ON
the platform and objected said such Il
pr"cccdin" as rlccting both chairman
and secretary together was unhrard of
and ont of order. and asked the Poland
men To vote no. Meanwhile the chair
man. without pay ing the least heed t"
the objection. put the vote. amid great
moist and confusion. some calling i"I
ballot. others cry in%. '"mr 1T time
and declared the motion of Mr.. johnson
carried and asked the gentlemen cleo
ted I" come forward upon the platform.
The chairman elect did NOT respond
at once. and Mr.. Dana attempted I" call
tlc attention OF the meeting to the ms
poItancc of the office OF secretary stat
inc that he had I" >i@u the credentials
"t the delegates elected and that in
some raucu>c> in this district where
Poland delegates had been elected. the
secretary. being Il steele man. had re
fused l." sign their certificates of clcc-
ton. Therefore. while there wa> II"
Objection t" W. =. Fairbanks PERSONAL
~. he belonged t" the other panty. ami
he Poland men wanted Il secretary of
their own kind. Dining these REMARKS
"t Nh. Dana. he WAS told several times
10y Henry {. idc I" >it down. and the
rrhhlc tdkim" mp the cry. h"wlrd him
down.
After some further delay. and other
vain attempts at >prrci-mal>ing. Mr..
Horace Fairbanks came forward and
took he chair. making It few remarks
in which he stated briefly. thai this was
Republican caucu>. and il WIS ely
pcrtrd that none hut Republican LEGAL
voters would take part in it. ~ all 9th
els had no rights here. He then called
iuI ballots fur = secretary of the meet
img. Mr.. Idle said they had already
elected secretary 10y the >,lmc vote
that elected the chairman. aud that if
one WAS NOT elected then the other WIS
not. The chairman appointed Calvin
Morrill, and f.. u. Bl"dgctt to take
charge of the ballot box and receive
the votes. \ motion Was carried To Vote
hv the check list II. {. Idle and y. VI.
Johnson gof po>>c>>iom of the cheek list
and said they should NOT give it up I'M
til forced to do 81. The chairman
directed those in charge of the ballot
huN To receive the votes offered without
reference IL III. check list. which WAS
done.
III about this point IN III" proceedings
y. VI. johnson lost +" explain why he
made he melton he did 1t the opening
OF the caucus. which WAS. mainly. that
he Steele party found THAI votes i"I
Horace Fairbanks Ii chairman hnd been
printed. and H. he Va~ satisfactory, 10
THEN side. they pr"p"~cd t" add Are
iiImr ot thrr can dictate foI secretary .
and elect both al once Ia facilitate the.
organizations.
about this time. +. &. Rcdimgtun got
= hearing. He believed ". l.. Fair
banks WIS legally elected secretary and
he also thought him to hc an honest
man. and that he would give the dcic-
gates entitled t" them proper crcdrm-
tial>. The only reply I" amy of these
later speeches was the order from the
chairman to .'F"rWard Your ballots ful
secretary of the meeting which the
crowd were doing a. fast a. they could
squeeze their WAY to The ballot box.
During this ballot there WAS great
excitement. the younger men III the
>trit, taking up their party cries. and
the rough and rowdN element croWdimg
their WAY towards the polls in Il man
nrr di>gIacct'ul to them iI> we'll ~ dan
gcrnrl> t" the life and limb OF those who
were unfortunate enough To Ice caught
with them
After the ballots were all in. the chair
man stated that there had been some
informally in the voting. that it had
been impracticahlc t6u>e the check list
and he wished to take the SENSE of tn,
caucus before the boxes were turned
~ many ~ were in favor of accepting
the decision al the vote Just taken and
lrgnliIing this ballot. would say aye
1t WAS carried almost or quite mmani-
m"u>lN. The chair then appointed \.