The Brookhaven leader., 1888-10-11
ELIINE'S ~" THEORY.
! Queer Study of the Names Of
Presidential Candidates, RE
vivcd by the Act of tho
Chicago Convention.

PIMA lines, printed u very ftIldlh-
aole article regarding some of James
e.. BlainC's fatllistiC notions; and this
has just received vastly increased
interest from the Republican nomira-
tiuu~ of this year.
After referring to the parallel be-
tween his case and Henry Clay's, the
article proceeded To aver, from the
present knowledge of the writer, that
3 Mr.. Elaine had theory that the Re-
puhlicauS could count on good luck
whenever they nImi iatcd for Prcsl-
dent man whose name ended with
the letter Gu" He had further
theory, according to this account,
based on the supcrtuOus, but none
the less fatal "c," which robbed his
own name of final "n," that if he
ever secured the Republican nominal
ton he world 10y some mshap he lie
feated at the polls. while If the Re.
publicans should ever win he would
have been previously defeated in the
nominating convention.
"A critical examination OF the re
suits of presidential elections, such as
perhaps only Mr.. Blaine himself would
think of making, showed him that
upon every occasion of Presidential
election the candidate whose name
ended with the letter N was elected,
and as the letter N theory of Mr..
Elaine may play Il conspicuous part in
the campaign of next year. fatalists
aud superStitious politicians will do
well to study the lesson Mr.. Blaine
has already learned. in 17SS George
Washington, IL letter n man, defeat
ed John Adams by an electoral vote
OF 60 to 81, and in 1892 Washington
again defeated Adams by Il vote of
132 To II. In 1904. as Thomas Jctter-
son and Aaron Burr each had 10 cleo
toral votes there was no election 10y
the people, and upon the thirty sixth
ballot in the honSe of representatives
Thomas Jefferson was elected. In
1SOS Thomas jefferson and George
Clinton defeated Charles Colcsworth
and Rufus King by an electoral vote
of 1852 to II in this case. the first in
which candidates for president and
vice president were nominated and
voted for, the last letter of both of
the successful names ended III n. In
1872 James Madison for president and
George Clinton for vice president had
l22 votes To Il each for {. c. fincknry
tor president and Rufus King for vice
president. Madison was reelected
four years later. In lS2S Andrew
Jackson and John {. Calhoun. both
names ending with III, defeated John
Quincy Adams alH Richard Rush for
president and president by an
electoral vote of lis to So. In 1882
the candidates for president We're An
drew Jackson, Henry Clay, John
Floyd and William Writ, of Mary
land, and the candidates for vice
president were Martin Van Buren,,
John Sergeant, William Wilkins,
Henry Lee and Amos Ellmakcr, and
of the 2SS electoral votes east, Jack
son had 219 and Van Buren, 1S9, both
letter II fellows again winning.
.,ln 1886 Martin Van Buren defeat
ed William Henry Harrison by vote
of 40 to -, and Rickard NJ. johnson
was elected viceprcSident over Fran
els Granger, john Tyler and William
Smith, of Alabama; but in 1910 Gen
cral Harrison defeated Van Buren, by
Il vote Of 234 to 90. The next letter
N candidate WAS James Buchanan,
who defeated John {. Fremont and
Willard Fillmore. In 1860 the candi-
dates were Abraham Lincoln and
Hannibal liamlin-both letter N
nominees. Breckenridge and Lane.
Douglas and johnson aud Bell
and Everett, and in 1864 Lin
coin and Johnson against Nc
Clrllan and rendlcton. all names end
ing with the letter IN, the Republicans
winning by a vote of 2l2 p. The
next letter N candidate was Samuel
j. ridden who defeated Hayes before
the people by vote of POP to 167, but
which an electoral commission, with
Senators Norton and FrelnghuyScn,
both letter N statesmen, changed to
lS5 for Hayes to lN4 for Ti'dcn. There
have been no letter N candidates
since 1876. and only bad luck, death
and defeat has attended the Republi
can candidates since then.
"SoOn after the nomination of
Grover Cleveland met James G.
Blaine and Strolled with him fire.
qucntly on the banks of the kenHc-
bee. On one of these occasions, after
he had been planning industriouSly for
hours to secure his election, he said in
a tone of dependency that was pain
full: They call me the Henry Clay of
the Republican party. believe am,
and, Ike Clay. am destined to defeat.
Twice Henry Clay was defeated for
the nomination when he could have
been elected, and |, too, have been
twice rejected when an election was
certain. Clay was nominated upon
the third trial and defeated by IL no.
body, and it seems certain that am
to be- beaten by man who five years
ago was the sheriff of sixth class
city
''Roscoe Conkling is represented as
saying, when this Blaine theory of
good luck attending candidates whose
names ended with the letter N was
called to his attentions: AS the
success of Madison and Clinton, Jack
son and Calhoun, Lincoln and Ham
lin, and Lincoln and johnson was so
pronounced, why not make it double
N ticket in 1882 And that is why
the ticket of John Sherman for presi-
dent and Robert +. Lincoln or Ali
son or Harrison fOr vice-president is
is gaining SO rapidly in favor in the
State of New York"
This curious statement of Blaine'S
notion was published more than four
teen months ago. If it represented
him truly, the famous Republican
leader must already have unused on
In hn Ii -