St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-08
THE GRAVES FIGHT.
Superior Generalship Scores a
Victory for Duluth and Sabin.

victory 1OF Dulutn ana SaDfn.
Monday morning opened with the
Graves men more than confident of sue
cess. The gains made by them Satur-
day and Sunday had so thoroughly ex-
posed the weakness Of their opponent
that the order went along the line to
push his forces into corner from which
there should be no escape. As a Graves
man SAID early in the morning to Nor
gan advocate: ''There is no quarter in
this fight until you either withdraw or
are beaten outright in the caucus"
1t was the misfortune of Mr.. Morgan
from the first of the contest to be placed
interests. Whether lack of political
sagacity or dire necessity led to this. is
matter for conjecture. But Mr.. Nor
gan's fatal error lay in his alliance
(however it was formed) with the Wash
burn force By so doing, he forced an
issue which contributed largely to his
defeat. Early in December, it will be
remembered that the Sabin men made
it manifest that they were quite willing
not to involve the senatorial contest in
that for speaker. The candidacy
of Messrs. Morgan, Flynn. Graves and
Estes was announced, and Senator
Buckman, who had assumed charge Of
Senator Sabin's interests. good-na-
turedly said, Let the boys fight it out
among themselves" In accordance
with this idea Col. Graves announced
his independence of the senatorial mat
ter, and Mr.. Morgan, through the
columns of the GLOBE, did the same
thing. Had the situation remained un-
changed there might have been a diff
ferent ending to the contest.
Whether with Mr.. Morgan's consent
or not the Washburn men conceived the
idea that because Senator Sabin
seemed the weakest in Southern Min
nesota they might deal him a deadly
blow by forcing fight between South
ern and Northern Minnesota-M Morgan
VS.. Graves. Carried away with admira-
ton of their own brilliant plot
they began to boom Morgan
for all that was in sight. They boldly
threw off the mask and championed
him fortspeaker. In innumerable ways
they made it apparent that the vote for
speaker would be a test of the strength
of the two senatorial candidates in the
house. Until last Thursday they had
their own way without definite opposi-
ton from the Sabin forces. They in
duced Estes to withdraw, and made a
fatfooted claim of fifty-four votes for
Morgan on the first ballot. Every
county in Southern Minnesota proper
w as represented to be with them; also
Hennepin and Ramsey. In pursuing
this course, the Washburn men did not
do so with entire harmony in their
camp. There were those who
opposed this complication with the
speakership, but they were not
strong enough to overcome the Indiana
idea," with which Gen. WashbuTn
had become infatuated, and which
Bob" Evans is said to be father of.
Mr.. Evans knowledge of Minnesota
politics is limited, and his theory that
what could be done i'll Indiana could be
successfully operated here, has proved
a serious mistake. Nevertheless, he had
his own way, despite all counsels to the
contrary.
Thursday morning, on the arrival of
]. G. Flynn and his withdrawal from
the fight in favor of Col. Graves, the
finally decided that, since Gen. Wash
burn had forced the issue. they would
not refuse to pick up the gauntlet
thrown down. They took up the can
didacy of Col. Graves, and in the face
of what was considered to be sure de-
feat, met the Morgan forces. They
called into play every resource, and,
with generalship such as Senator
Sabin is famous for. attacked so well
that at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon a
poll of Southern Minnesota revealed
that there was not county.there which
contained a solid Morgan delegation.
They completely unmasked the preten-