Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-07
Democratic Caucus.

Nomination of fCommIssioners-Repo eporters Excluded-The Convention All ''At Sen" A Confusion of Tongues Equal to the Building of the Tower of Babel.
 Last evening at o'clock the Democratic
 members of the Board of Aldermen held & meeting in the Aldermen's chamber to de- eide upon their candidates for commissioners of the several boards of the city govern ment. From the start it was evident that there was to be fight for the places on the commissions, and to this end the Aldermen end their adherents centered all their ener- gies. The caucus organized by electing AL derman Law of the First ward for chairman and Alderman Stevens of the Fifth for sec- retary. Then the ''circus" commenced. The first question that came up was as to how many commissioners could be elected, whether the Democrats could select two and the Republicans none. After lengthy dis
 cussion it was decided that the Democrats, or this caucus at least should select two mem- bers for each board and then ascertain whether they had a right to elect them. In the selection of a Police Commissioner there was strong fight, the candidates being Catlin (the present incumbent) Frank Her nance and Pat. Gallagher. Several informal JEALOUS were GaReu ana on the cOnC4uSlOn or each further discussion followed, in which many were talking at the time, illustra- tive of the confusion of tongues at the build ing of the ''tower of Babel.'' Finally the informal ballot was announced, which showed 7 for Catlin, , for Hermance and for Galla- gher. Another ballot showed for Catlin and he was declared the unanimous first choice
 for Police Commissioner. On motion Frank Hermance was declared the second choice for Police Commissioner n% When the question of member of the Board of Public Works was reached there
 was long discussion, all the candidates hay
 ing favorites present to advocate their claims.
 ballot resulted in the choice of Jonathan W. Pond, the present president of the Board,
 for first choice, ,and J. W. Barlow of the Win
 chester armory for second man.
 When Fire Commissioners were reached there was big fight, in which the "confu- sion of tongues" was more apparent. The
 friends of Commissioner English were loud
 in their praises of that gentleman, while the
 friends of ex-Alderman Redmond were equal
 ly loud in their praise of that gentleman's
 abilities. At last vote was reached and it
 was found that MT. Redmond had received
 nine votes, the others being given for Mir.
 English. This was an informal ballot and
 some member moved to make it formal,
 which was carried. Later some member dis
 puted the right of the convention to make
 the ballot formal by Ui0G v0ce vote, and after
 discussion formal ballot was ordered. In
 this MT. Redmond received eleven instead of
 nine votes, which e'settled it." For second
 place MT. English for Fire Commissioner
 was nominated almost unanimously.
 On adjourning a member of the caucus
 stated that the proceedings had been very
 harmonious, on the presumption no doubt
 that it was believed by the COURIER represen-
 tative. Information gained from other
 sources, however, led him to believe that the
 surface was not only ''rutled," but at times
 quite boisterous.