The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-09-13

~sesks~s4AAJ W.
severe uttered by their opponents.
When twelve o'clock arrived, the
anti-Strait men found themselves
considerable confused, out of hum
or and demoralized and, apparently,
they went in to the convention ut
terly destitute of any concerted
plan of action. The Strait men, on
the other hand, were united and
knew just what to do. 1t was not
strange, therefore, that the latter
gained control of the convention
from the start and maintained it
throughout its sessions. In the in.
terval of the recess for dinner, some
outsiders essayed another effort at
compromise, but the anti-Strait dele
gates were not in the humor forl it
and it had to be abandoned. It is
doubtful to US whether MIR. Straits
friends would have listened to any
overtures at that time, as it had be-
come obvious that only about two
thirds of the opposition were really
in favor of Mr.. Thatcher; and they
concluded that the latter and his
friends had no reason to complain
of Mr.. Strait, because it appeared
that, if he were not a candidate,
Mr.. Thacher would hardly be able
to secure the convention. Eighteen
of the anti Strait delegates were also
opposed to Thacher, leaving him
twenty-five short Of a majority.
When the convention re.assem.
bled at two o'clock, the first move
made by the Thachtr men was ex.
ceedingly unfortunate. This was
the effort to shut out the Renville
county delegation on the pretext
Of fraud. They were not possessed
Of particle of evidence to prove
their assertion, and the move be-
came mere inexcusable assault up
on the delegation exciting only
sympathy for the attacked party. If
it had been successful it would have
amounted to nothing, so far as MIR.
Straits nomination was concerned,
and it was, therefore, exceedingly
unwise to attempt it. In the bad
humor resulting from all these causes
the convention proceeded with an
informal ballot, the result showing
that while Major Strait had fifty adj
herents, Mr.. Thatcher had but twen-
ty, the other eighteen anti.Strait
votes being divided as follows: Rice
10, Chandler S, Hall I, Austin I,
Cole I. Mr.. Chambers name being
used without his consnt.
Here was another mistake. The
Thacher men had claimed thirty
eight votes, and yet they allowed
this exhibit of weakness to be made
on an informal ballot. As nine of
these votes came from Wabasha and
one from Swift county, twas demon
strated that Mr.. Tllacher Gid not
even hold the entire Goodhue DELE
cation, two members of which must
have voted for Mr.. Strait. Ofcourse,
this exhibit disposed the convention
to hasten to a formal ballot, and as
the other names had been withdrawn
meanwhile, seventeen of the eigh-
teen scattering votes were divided
between Strait and Thatcher, the
former getting seven and the latter
ten. The other one was cast for
Austin. This gave Mr.. Strait ma
jority Of twenty-sevcn in a vote of
lightweight, and proved that if he
did obtain the nomination by unfair
means, he had been careful to make
a sure thing Of it.
There is no doubt i'll our mind
that Mr.. Strait could have been de-
feated in this convention, but it was
very clear on Tuesday evening that
Mr.. ThaCher could not be nominated.