Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-09-21
NUMBER 20.

nation. With that sublime egotism
which will sometimes call forth admira-
ton even for its very audacity the EEK
boss assumed that #, myself was
the choice of all the district except that
county which was the home of Mr..
Hazelton. A few trips through the diff
erent counties thoroughly convinced
him of his error, and he is reported rs
saying to a correspondent that he
was surprised to find such hostility exist
ing towards him in the western coun.
ties of the district. But he had entered
the lists to win by fair means or foul and
failing in the former the secret wires of
the latter were brough, into requisition.
Reyes was made aware early in the cam
paign that Grant, Iowa and Lafayette
counties would send solid Hazelton dele
cations to Monroe. As this would give
Mr.. Hazelton twenty-five totes in the
convention, or enough to nominate on
the first ballot, it was found necessary TO
resort TO those nefarious tactics by which
the will of the people is often nulliiied
and in which Reyes is so thoroughly at
home. A tool ready for his hand was
found in the person of Tom Balm
bridge a Shiny politician of the western
portion of Lafayette county.
1t has been the usual custom in La
Fayette county to elect delegates to con-
g%ressional district conventions through
a county convention held at Darlington
the county seat. Delegates are sent to
this convention from every precinct in
the county and after choosing senatorial
delegates, they separate into two bodies,
one composed of members of the first
assembly district and the other Of menu
bers of the second assembly district and
each of these conventions elects two as
sembly district delegates. The County
Convention was called rs usual this wear
to meet at twelve o'clock noon, at Oar
lington. The Republican district com
mittee for the second assembly district
also published a call for a district con-
v%ention to be held at the same place, in
Darlington, at two o'clock in the after
noon, on the same day. The county
convention was called to order at the
time appointed and II temporary organ
~ization effected. Then, on motion of
cambridge an adjournment was had
until two p. nj. The proceedings of the
convention, up to this point, had oceu-
pied but flew minutes and the majority
of the delegates started for the hotels to
dinner. Mr.. cambridge, however, had
other game to dispose of and as soon as
the delegates were out of sight he
called together a select coterie of Keyes
delegates stated by different accounts as
from eleven to nineteen out of forty-five
members which were elected from the
western assembly district, and held a
quiet little convention of his own, which
elected Tom B~ainbridge and Thomas
Bright as delegates to the Monroe con-
~vention and then. thinking to do still
further service for the ''boss,'' elected
a senatorial delegate in the person of
William Warton
AT two O'Clock, the hour to which the
regular county convention had been adj
journed it met and chose two sena-
torial delegates, Joseph Blackstone n
Hazelton mar being the delegate from
the western district. At half past two
the western assembly district convention
was called to order by the chairman of
the district committee and elected
William Mates and Benson Spensely,
both Hazelton men. as delegates for
the district to the Monroe convention.
At this convention thirty-four dele
gates were present ii of the forty
five elected from the district. The
Hazelton delegates therefore were regu-
larry chosen in accordance with the
terms of the call issued by the Republi-
can committee, and being regularly
elected there was not a ghost of a show
for contrasting their seats in the conyen-
ton ut Monroe.
But as Mr.. cambridge afterwards
significantly put it, he chad delivered
the goods and if Reyes could not hold
them it was his fault" From what fol-
lowed it will be seen that the sex boss
did his share towards placing the stolen
property at par. The plot was well
laid, and could It be carried to a success
full conclusion Reyes was nominated, as
he had the delegates from Dane and
Green counties, or twenty votes while
Hazelton had only ten from Grant, six
from Iowa and three from LAFAYETTE,
nineteen in all.
Upon the calling of the convention 10
order the Hazelton senatorial delegate
from Lafayette county was seated by
the chairman of the congressional
committee who, although a Keyes
man himself. could not countenance
SO outrageous a fraud. This gave
the two candidates each twenty votes.
On the ballot for temporary organiza-
ton the Hazelton men finally carried
their point through the DETECTION Of
Stickncy. a Dane county delegate who
voted with them and the temporary o.
%ganization Of the convention was effect
ed. After "a long delay, during which
the committee on credentials examinl u
carefully the claims of the contesting
delegations, developing the facts as
stated above, they reported in favor Of
the regularly elected delegates giving
Hazelton the twenty-five votes 10 which
be was entitled. After the adoption of
the report the Reyes faction wished to
adjourn till the next morning at eight
O'Clock alleging that they wished to con-
suit on the situation. The Hazelton
men agreed to this providing the per-
manent organization of the convention
was carried out first. As the conyen-
ton had been in session already two
days this request seemed not unreason-
able but the Keyes men refused to ac-
eede to the proposition and withdrew
for ten minutes 10 consult. At the ex.
mira fion If that time fhey rafrzaJ IN 20.