Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-01-13

eSdLlOu, Wllcu was W Uc COuIcoIcu.
There was United States Senator
to elect, and Thaddeus Stevens was
slated for the place. The programme
was to admit to seats in the House,
pending their contest, the members of
the Philadelphia delegation returned
as elected on the Wing ticket, orga.
nize the House, elect their candidate
for United States Senator, confirm all
of Gov. Ritner's appointments, and
pass all necessary legislation in re-
gard to them, as provided by the
Constitution and then even if the
Philadelphia members were unseated
and the contest of the Governors
election failure, Gov. Porter would
be shorn of oil patronage in the State
aud the Democrats would have gain
ed barren victory. But for the vi.
olent utterances of the whig papers
Immediately after the election, and an
unwise and revolutionary address is
sued by Burrows as Chairman of the
Wing State Committee, the plans Of
the Wing leaders might have succeed
ed. Burrows closed his address with
these words; "Let Us trea5 the elec-
tion Of the 9th inst as if we had not
been defeated, aud in that attitude
abide the result"
He called a meeting of the Wings
aud Anti-Masonic Senators and Re-
p.esentatives at Harrisburg several
days before the Legislature convened,
at which meeting their order of proce-
dure was agreed upon. The House
of Representatives. met on Dec. 4. Har-
risburg was crowded with all sorts of
people from every part of the State,
as big fight was anticipated. Fran
cis r. Skunk, afterward Governor,
was Clerk of the House, and accord
ing to recognized usage, be called the
House to order aud proceeded with
the roll call. When he came to the
members from Philadelphia he called
the names from the list that had
come from Burrows Secretary of the
Commonwealth After he had read
the list Charles Pray, who claimed
seat from Philadelphia, arose and
said that the list read by Clerk did
not contain the names of the members
legally elected. lie produced GER
titled copy of what he said was the
proper elections, and handed it to the
Clerk. With the four members Ell.
ected, according to the RETURNS from
the Secretary of the Commonw3 3alth's
office the Administrator had so votes
to 4S for the opposition, but if the four
elected by the returns handed in by
Pray were recognized the maj jority 10
the House would be reversed The
claim of the Democrats was that Bur-
rows had suppressed the legal returns
from certain districts in Philadelphia
and sent in those prepared for the oc-
casiOn. The returns that came from
the Secretarv's Office included the
vote of but seven of the seventeen el-
ection districts OF Spring Garden aud
Northern Liberties. aud were signed
by but seven of the seventeen judges
They declared no one elected. but
simply were indorsed as being so
many votes cast for members of AS
sembly," An Office unknown to the
laws of the State. They had been
sent to Harrisburg from Philadelphia
on special locomotive hired at the
suggestion of Thaddeus Stevens, it
being understood that the first returns
received at the Office of the Secretary
of the Commonwealth should be re-
garded as official. The other set of
returns was sent to Harrisburg next
day. The Secretary declared they
were informal and improperly ad
dressed, and they were not opened
by him.
After the uproar that followed the
production of the two sets of returns
in the House had somewhat subsid-
ed Thaddeus Stevens arose and car
ried out probably the most audacious
and unheard of proceeding ever
known in a legislative body. He
made motion that the House pro-
ceed to elect speaker. The motion
being seconded, he put il to a vote
aud decided it carried. He then ap-
pointed two tellers, and they took
their places by the side Of Clerk
Skunk, who was about to proceed
with the election OF Speaker in the
regular way. Amid the greatest con-
fusion the two elections were held
The Stevens party elected Thomas s.
Cunningham Speaker vive voce, Ste-
ven's declaring the result. Cunning
ham was escorted to the Speakers
chair. The Democrats elected Will
liam Hopkins by calling the roll
Cunningham swore in the Stevens
members on a Testament he took
from his pocket. When Hopkins was
escorted toward the Speakers chair
Cunningham arose and announced
that the House stood adjourned until
the next day The Stevens party
then left the hall Hopkins took his
seat, and the Dem ocrats organized
the House in the regular order.
Among the outsiders who had come
to Harrisburg from all quarters OF the
State to take sides in the quarrel was
what Thaddeus Stevens call "a gang
rough ferocious men, addicted to the
lowest habits and vices" The men
thus described by Stevens were from
Philadelphia, and their leader was
"Balty" Sewers. He was a Spring
Garden butcher, which was the top
round in the ladder of fame in rowdy
dom in those days. Sewers original
ly came from Baltimore, and for that
reason he was dubbed "Balty." The
Democratic leaders always disclaimed
any knowledge of the bringing of
Sewers and his gang to Harrisburg,
and the weight of evidence is that
local Philadelphia politicians, with a
deadly grudge sgainst Thaddeus Ste-
vens, were alone responsible for Bal
ty's" presence at the capital during
the excitement. There is no official
evidence to that effect, but the con-
temporspedus testimony of men and