The Opelousas courier., 1886-09-25
a Spirited Contest.
t'upitnlian-Advmate, Sept l6.

Lltteii delegations from ot. LahuEy, WAS
thr exciting feature of last nights pro-
cecdings of the district convention. At .
about 7 o'clock the committee OH ere
,len.ials entered the hall and made their !
report, the majority recommending the !
seating of the Estilette delegation and
the minority tile seating of the Littell /
delegation. On motion made by !
Judge Brame, of East Feliciana, which /
was amended by Col Thorpe, Of Avoy-
elles, the contesting delegations were |
allowed one hour each and two speak
ers to submit their case, the Estilette
delegation to be allowed to open and
close the discussion on the ground that
they had somewhat acquired pTtin0
facie recognition by virtue of the majo-
rity report of the committee ON cfeden-
tials.
Hon. E. d. Estilette was the first
speaker.
After referring to his long connection
with the Democratic Executive Com
mittee of St. Landry, and lifelong sup
port of the party, with whose rules and
precedents in his parish he Was tho
roughly conversant, he stated the posi-
ton OF the delegation, of which he is
chairman, to be substantially as follows:
At the general parish convention held
i'm 1888, tn nominate State Senators,
Representatives and parochial officers,
and to send delegates to the State NOM
mating convention which nominated
Governor McEnery, the Executive Com
mitteee, over which he presides, was
created to serve under all the usages
until the next general parish conyen-
ton. The delegate to the State Cen
trail Committee elected by his commit
tee had been seated and would remain
a member thereof until the next State
convention created another. A few
months afterwards, in 1884, the Esti-
lette committee called convention for
the special purpose of selecting dele
CATION to attend district convention.
The democracy of the parish therefore
had no warning that any attempt would
be made 10 create another committee,
and sent delegates to that convention
to elect delegates to the Congressional
convention in the interest solely of a
candidate before that convention. De-
/ spite the protest of Hon IL. l.. Garland
and other Democrats, new committee
now known as the Litteli committee
4 was created. That committee called a
4 convention which sent the delegation
headed by Mr. Lewis. To prove that
they had not the support OF the Demo
cracy, out of 300 votes. in OpelOusas
only 20 votes were cast. At Grand Co
teau, Rayne and Grand Prairie, notably,
all equally large precincts, not II single
yote had been cast Finally. out of a
total Democratic strength of five or six
thousand, only about two hundred and
fifty votes had been cast. According to
precedent his committee had elected the
} delegates that the majority of the com
miitee on credentials had recommend.
ed to be seated. They were men most,
3 IL who had been nominated aud elected
by the Democracy, at the last election
as senator, representatives, sheriff, etc
! He could not see how any one could
] doubt that they represented the Demo
cracy of st. Landry. He was guided
by party usages in his parish which h
had learned during "a lifetime of servi
ces in the Democratic party. Among
the contestants were men whose Demo
cracy was of recent date and be wa
;, 10th to accord them better knowledg
= = of its usages than himself.
Mr.. Frazee, of the Littell delegation
i made strong speech aud argued in ia
: yor of the right of every parish conven
!. ton to select new executive commit
: tee. He claimed that Mr.. Estilette ha
i. i acquiesced in the change of committe
Z by requesting the signature of Mr.. Lit
!. tell, III bis official capacity, to an al
: plication for Federal appointment
: that number of members of the Esti
y lette committee had recognized the Lit
tell committee and that he had in h
possession their Remuneration of the
. former places, which he would show
% desired that only four persons, wit
= the proxy Of another, representing til
y y EstiIette committee, had met and al
= pointed the delegation of Office holde
!. = who claimed seats in this convention
= The Littell delegation came directl
70 = from the people.
Gen. Lewis spoke briefly in the sam
= sense, aud concurred iu the statemel
I of Mr.. Frazee.
~ Mr.. Laurent Dupre closed the dlscu
&c sion with vigorous and able speec
" ~ in " Lich he argued that Mr.. Estilet
!" had not acquiesced in the creation
the new committee. He stated th
there were nine wards in bis parish r
nd presented each by two members in t
ch executive committee. That the nur
at ber constituting ii quorum thereof h
nd never been laid down. That it w
in customary to regard the presence of 0
ap member from a majority of the war
We as a quorum. Five wards, majorii
err were represented, four in person a
one by proxy, at the meeting, viii
according to precedent had elected {
bur representative delegation which clai
led ed to rightfnlly represent the Democl
cu- cy of ST. Landry in this conrenti'
ext The Office holders referred to had
in endorsement of the Democracy at
old last election, to support their clai
les, Disciaiming any intention to reflect p
fes, sonally on the contestants, whom
ev- regarded as his friends and as worl
ble men, he felt constrained to call att
tion to the fact that the chairman OF
. delegation, Hon. e. IT.. Lewis, had q
ticipated III the Democratic caucus b
for during the recent Legislature ON
sals police jury question, and that he
ned disregarded its decision and voted
kin opposition thereto, in open Senate.
les. other gentleman was chairman Of
sad Republican Parish COMMITTEES as lat,
ney the State election of 1854
,oy Judge Brame moved TO amend
majority report by inserting the