The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1876-07-27
Democratic Congressional
Convention.
A Prolonged and Bitter Strug-
gle.
Arbitrary Ruling Of the Chair.
Salem 7b. DistrancMsed
DICkfY NOMINATED ON THE s5TH BALLOT
The Neal Men indignant.
Ross County Refuses to Make
The Nomination UDantm
Prospects of Dickey's Defeat


Convention for this district was
held in this place on Wednesday
and Thursday of last week. The
: attendance of delegates and outsid
ers was large, and the contest be
tween the friends of the respective
candidates was long and obstinate,
continuing till nearly the close of the
second day.
The candidates presented were
Hon. L. T. Neal, of Ross county,
the present member, Hon. 81. L.
Dickey, of Highland, ]. W. Shinn,
of Adams, DR. E. R. Allen, of Pike,
and L. B. Leeds and E. NJ. Fitch, OF
Brown.
The friends of each candidate
showed remarkable tenacity in stick
ing to their man, and persistently
refused to allow the usual rule to be
adopted, of dropping the lowest can
didate after a certain number of bal
lots.
It was well understood before the
Convention met, that desperate eff
fort would be made to defeat Neal,
on account of his seeking a third
term, and that the fight would lay
between him and Dickey, who was
the next strongest candidate.
The Dickey men succeeded in get
ting one of his warm friends, Uric
Sloane, of this county, selected to
preside over the Convention, and he
did not fail to use to the utmost the
advantage thus obtained, for the
benefit of his favorite candidate.
In his speech on taking the
Chair, he managed to hit Neal a
severe blow, and throughout the ses-
sion of the Convention his hostility
to Neal was so open and undisguised
that no one could fail to notice it.
The first ballot resulted as follows:
adams - Shinn %. Broom =
Shinn 3, Leeds a.. Fitch s, Dickey
2, Neal 1877. Highland-Dick-
ey 25, Neal 7-32. Pike-Allen 10.
Ross-Neal 81, Dickey 5-42. To
tai number of votes, 152. Necessary
to choice, II. Shinn 25, Leeds IA,
Fitch s, Dickey 80, Allen 19, Neal 81.
After the result of the ballot was
announced, Mr.. Springer, of the
Gazette, who was delegate from
this township, rose and stated that
the 2 delegates from Salem tip. had
voted for Neal, contrary to their in
structions, and asked the Chair to
rule that the chairman of the High.
land delegation had a right to cast
the vote of Salem tp.
The Chair asked Mr.. Hughes, the
chairman of the Highland delegation,
to read the instructions to the Salem
tip. delegates. They we're read, and
were in substance, that the delegates
should cast their votes for High
land county candidate, if any was
presented who was worthy of their
support. Mr.. Calvin Stroup and
a Mr.. CLANCY were the delegates
from Salem, and voted for Neal, as
they stated, because they did not
consider Dickey candidate worthy
of their support" 1t is plain, there
fore, that in voting for Neal, they did
not violate their instructions, for it
was left entirely to their discretion
to decide whether the candidate pre-
sented by their own county was or
was not worthy of their support"
Mr.. Sloane, however, peremptorily |
decided that the chairman of the
county delegation had the right to
cast the vote of Salem tp. contrary
to the wishes of her delegates, and
accordingly, on the second ballot,
and all the subsequent ballots, they
were cast for Dickey, by the chair
man of the delegation, Hon. j. L.
Hughes, of Marshall tip.
This palpably unjust, arbitrary
and unprecedented decision deprived
Mr.. Neal of 2 votes in this county to
which he was clearly entitled, and
gave them to Mr.. Dickey, and ulti-
mately secured the nomination of
the latter, as he had barely majori-
ty on the final ballot, and without
the two votes thus unfairly taken
from Mr.. Neal, he could not have re-
ceived majority.
Azo,o oe tbo rboir oppoDnnod