The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-07
The New York Delegation Holds the Key Of
the Situation, and Can Easily Die
tate the Nomination.
A Coed Deal of Talk About an Indiana
Man for Second Place on the Ticket.
The Tremendous Noise Made by the Butler
People Reception of the General by the
Chicago Labor Organizations.
THE GENERAL SITUATION

4
THE GENERAL SITUATION
Cleveland in the Lead, and the Butler People
Making a Great Deal of Noise.
Special to the indianapolis Journal
CHICAGO, July 6.-Chicago is virtually turned
over to the tender mercies of the representatives
Of the great political party whose laudable in
tention seems to be to nominate q ticket and for
mulate platform that shall. eventually give the
Democracy control of the government That is
the general idea. but when it comes to reducing
it to particulars the visiting statesmen are ahoat
on wild, turbulent sea of uncertainty. The
delegates are about all here, and they are ac-
companied by thousands of local politicians who
have come. many from curiosity and more from
a desire to enhance the chances of
some particular candidate. The hotels are
all full, and belated arrivals find it almost inn
possible to get accommodations near the seat of
war. The Palmer House is the headquarters for
the national and local committees and the State
delegations and all day and the greater part of
the night the corridors and lobbes are so crowded
that locomotion is attended with difficulty and
much physical discomfort. The walls are COW
cred with pictures of prominent candidates, and
the bar is doing business that promises to make
the proprietors millionaires within week. The
New York delegation has the main par
lor, and the two adjoining are occu-
pied by Indiana and Ohio, with nearly all
the other States on the same floor. All the
headquarters are handsomely decorated with
emblems, notices and pictures of the favorite
candidates, and they are filed night and day,
mostly by curious lookers-on.
The chief feature of interest yesterday was
the arrival Of Ben Butler. He came over the
Michigan Central, at o'clock in the evening and,
owing to misunderstanding, the arrangements
for his reception were in much confusion. A
procession Of 5000 Knights of Labor was at the
Lake Shore depot TO meet him, but
he escaped them and drove to the
Palmer House. They found their way
there an hour later, and Lake and Monroe streets
were soon filed with surging turbulent crowd,
numbering about 5000. Butler was carried on
the shoulders of enthusiastic friends from his
parlors to the balcony where he was received
with most enthusiastic demonstrations. tenn
porary platform had been erected on Monroe
street. and from this for two hours he attempted
to make himself heard, but it was a futile effort
He went back into the hotel, where he received
the committee from the labor organizations,
who presented him with an address, to which he
responded in lengthy speech.
The arrival of Butler, as was expected, has
stirred up his supporters to degree of enthusi-
asm that is almost unprecedented. Whenever
he goes out of his room crowds of men take him
on their shoulders and carry him about the hotel
amidst deafcning yells and cheers He is un-
doubtedly thus far the lion of the occasion, and
the boomers of the other candidates are begin
ming to be somewhat alarmed over the outlook
Butler is the man you have got to beat,p is a
common comment, and the opinion is prevalent
in many quarters that there is consid-
cradle truth init. Throughout the day he has
been privately receiving prominent delegates
from the various States, and his headquarters
are continually surrounded by crowd anxious
to get look at him.
THE INDIANA PEOPLE
The Indiana delegation have not yet made a
good start towards securing the nomination for
Mcdonald principally because they have had no
recognized leader. Much is expectedo of Senator
Voorhees,, who arrived late to-day, and who will
hereafter virtually direct the canvass Governor
Hendricks, who came in last night, has modestly
kept himself in the background, and Major
Menzies has thus far directed all the work that
has been done. Nothing definite in the
way of a detailed organization has
been effected. At an informal caucas, held
yesterday afternoon, Mr. Dougherty urged the
Importance Of going to work at once, and pro-
posed that each man present should take State
and devote himself to working among its dele
gates. This was successfully opposed by Oscar
b. Hord and others, whp said there was plenty
of time to do such work Another meeting was
held at o'clock without any decisive action.
Aside from the Indiana men, Henry Watterson
and Gen. j. @. Black are doing the most work
for Mcdonald At the instigation Of the first
named subcommittee have been inform
ally appointed and campaign plan
mapped out Mr. Watterson presided over the
afternoon meeting, and, in a lengthy speech,
gave those present the points to be used in their
missionary work, summarizing the objections to
Ueveaands nomination under three heads He
was opposed by Tammany, by the laboring ele
ment, and by the Catholic element, all of which
would be arrayed solidly against him, making
his defeat in New York certain. Mr. Watterson
charged the Cleveland men with taking advant-
age of Mr.. Tildens letter Of declination, in with
holding il while they used the machine
to select ostensibly Tilden men, but
who were really for Cleveland. When
their plans had carried the letter was