The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-04-06
THE THIRD DISTRICT.
EXCERPTS FROM THE CONVENTIONS.
Tho AsnIuus Of tho Fight Pttwttn the Dennis
Iad Mathews FaetlOas-A Similar Quarrel In
Republican Raaks-rhe I@portnaeO
Of Jndss BiowA's Canvass.
lhe ElIlor q thq Inlelllgcncer.

Prom the Editor Of the luteiligenCer.
CHARLESTON, W. Va, April 3.-It il
three days since the Republican Conyen
ton, twice as long since the Democratic
Wherever two or three are gathered to
gether both are matters oil comment ant
the ultimate result is the subject OF hop'
and speculation. ,ii la sssi
The gathering Of the Democratic clam
was disappointing to the Old Timers wht
had got into the habit Of looking torwafc
to the Democratic Congressional Conven
ton as the coming pandemonium.
'sAh," said one Of the Old Timers, who
didn't know me, aud wouldn't have careG
if he had, "'taint like It used to be. Tn,
boys used to come in full OF It, and tel
YOU it was warm" By"full Of il" ! sup
pose my Democratic friend meant the en-
thuSiasm OF the occasion.
"PshaY This amt nothin' ~ said back
countryman who struggled without success
to express his disgust.
PowLERs rusllADI. 4l
The only CLEAN OF hope was when
Fowler, mounted on q chair, the Mathews
men surrounding him, made bis savage
lunge at Dennis. The tactional fight be
tween the Greenbrier chieitains was at its
height, the speech was directly aud bitterly
personal, leaving no, ground for compro.
mise, i meant war to the knife, the knife
TO the hit By some it was taken as an
iutimation that II The convention saw fit TO
nominate Dennis 1t might count the
Mathews men out for the campaign. The
confusion was great, but +, Willis Wilson,
one OF the best presiding officers have
ever seen in convention, held so steady a
hand that ii couldn't get away from him,
and the last spark OF hope had fled. My
nameless friend, the Old Timer, looked up
at me with forced smile, and said, I've
know'd the time when that would a.
meant fight" Senator Kenna admitted to
me that things were not US aforetime they
were. wonder whether any vandal foot
with iron heel has been crushing theproud
spirit OF the Third District Democracy?
THE DENNIS MATHEWS WAR.
After the convention l asked Fowler
what 1t all meant.
"wby, I'll tell you what it means. Last
winter we couldn't get reply to aletter or
a telegram from Dennis on u railroad mat
ter Of vital interest to our people-our own
Senator sat there at Wheeling and we
|touldn't get a line from him. That, what's
the matter, and our people won't forget II"
Just then somebody snapped short the
interview. But believe the trouble was
over the Norfolk and western extension
from Mercer TO Mcdowell, through the
Virginia county ol Tazswell which thrusts
V shaped point between.
The Dennis faction and the Mathews
faction went home angry, each because the
convention would not accept its candidate
so that its victory over the other might be
more complete.
A DEMocRAr WILL VOTE TIE TICKET EVERY
A". TINE. .nsN.
There are Republicans who hope to gain
something from this i'll feeling in the east
ern end OF the district, aud 80 we may from
lack OF enthusiasm. But l do not think it
sale to rely on much il any support Of the
Republican nominee US the result OF this
iactional bitterness. Democrats vote for
their nominee or abstain from voting. /
speak OF Democrats who take enough in.
tereAt in nominations TO get fighting mad
over the, defeat OF their iavorites. AS q
rule these Sares:the thiCk.and-thin party
men. From the class which looks on iroui
the outside, isgenerally with the party but
always with the mental reservation that
there is difference in men-from this
class there is reason 10 look for votes for
Judge Brown. am able to say that the
party managers would have preferred either
OF the candidates urged upon the cOnven-
tion (as Judge Brown was mott and his was
the nomination which they hoped would
not be made. When came upon the
ground l saw that Judge Brown ought to
be the man.
TIIR REPUBLICAN FACTIONS.
There are-I hope We may now say there
were-two factions in the district, mostly
but not entirely confined 10 Charleston.
Unhappily each faction had drawn itself
up under the standard Of one OF the
two candidates. Judge McWhorter was
backed by what is known as the Atkinson
faction, taking its name from tue United
States Marshal, and the Slack or Tibbetts
or some other faction was "whooping 1t
up" for Colonel Davis. Here, as in the
Democratic convention, Greenbrier, to
make sure OF raising n rumpus, came for
ward with two candidates. From which 1t
NAV be inferred that Greenbrier does not
want 10 be honored and Is bent upon kill.
ing of her great men. The nomination Of
Davis or MCWhorter would have been, in
a sense, what the nomination Of Judge
Brown was in no sense the triumph OF a
faction. Thanks to one Of those lucid in.
teryals which sometimes come TO political
bodies, the convention caught at the men
tion OF Judge Browns name, stopped the
balloting while kanawha stopped the
wrangle, and the member from Kanawha
who made 80 favorable an impression in
Wheeling last winter had the nomination
forced on him. The party was well out Of
an ugly snarl. +
WOULDN'T sHIRK HIS DUTY.
Doubts were entertained Of Judge Browns
acceptance. l had talked with him the
night before and knew his mind. He sin.
cerely wished that he might not be asked
to accept the nomination, though he had
been urged to be a candinate. II have
said no 70 everybody" he remarked, and
in the spirit OF cand0r characteristic OF him
added, "but have never declined to act
where my party assigned me to duty" II
conscience had permitted, Judge Brown
would have worked as hard to keep the
nomination away from him as he will now
call out every vote be can command.
There Is q general and generous approv'
al Of the work Of the convention. Colo
mel Davis told mo that he hoped Tor large
gains in the eastern end. Judge McWhor-
Ter said the same thing.
THE FIGHTING CHANCE. H.
The party secs its chance, and, I am en-
couraged to believe, Is going to make the
best Of It. II VIII be fruitlcSs campaign
n opr friends In this district perfect an