Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-17
SATURDAYS CONVENTION.
Most Of the Country Delegates to Rspub-
ican Convention Refuse to be told
How They Must Vote.

CSsOuAuhys Vuo 1Aeu, " OAO1V AOuA0SSA'
delegates to the senatorial convention
to be held at Sterling on the 21st inst,
but lack of space will COMPEL us to give
only a brief outline of what was done.
Hon. D. N. Heller and Morgan Car
away, both of this city, are the Barton
county candidates for senatorial honors,
and their supporters were about equal
in number among the delegates. MIR.
Heller captured the entire Great Bend
delegation, and being early on the
ground on convention day his support
ers got the inside track on the start by
capturing the temporary chairman of
the convention, A. j. auckland, with
James Clayton as secretary. The COM
mittee on credentials was, Of course, a
Heller committee, as Mr.. auckland
acknowledges. Upon converting in the
afternoon the report of committee on
credentials was read, showing delegates
with proper credeptials from all town.
ships but Logan, Independent and
Comanche. There were, however, del
egates present to represent these town
ships, and after the report of the COM
mittee had been accepted six delegates
from Independent township presented
their credentials to the convention. It
appears that in Independent town.
ship, the republicans failed to get a
meeting together to elect delegates,
and that the committeeman appointed
the delegation and gave them such Gre
dentials as had been given and recog-
nized by republican conventions in the
past. The Csraway men were in favor
of admitting such delegates, but the
Heller men were not--and then the
fun began. After few hours Of hot
speeches, charges aud counter charges,
Chairman of the central committee,
Keeney, offered as a motion that
the delegates of the three town.
ships in question be admitted to the
but that they be instructed to
divide their cote, half for Heller and half
for Cara,cay. That motion passed by
a vote of 20 to 46. The convention
14O delegates, taking II to
make a majority, but the motion was
declared carried. That was the straw
that broke the camel's back. The del
egates from those three townships were
for Caraway, and they objected so
strongly to being dictated to as to how
they should vote that they and most all
the rest of the Caraway delegates got
up and walked out of the court room.
After they had withdrawn the con-
vention went on swimmingly. An in
formal ballot was taken, resulting in
84} votes for Helzer and 81 for Cara
way. A formal ballot was then
taken. Just before the result was
announced, Mr.. Murphy, of north
Homestead, appeared in the court
room, stating that the Caraway men
had come together at another place,
and asked if the Heller branch of the
convention were willing to compromise.
The compromise he wished to offer was
that seven delegates for Heller and
seven for Caraway be sent to Sterling.
He was met with loud "Nol No!!''
and the result of the first formal bal
lot was made known-79 for Heller
and 20 for Caraway. The vote was
made unanimous, and Mr.. Heller en-
powered to select fourteen delegates
to the Sterling convention.
In the meantime the Caraway men
went on with their convention and en-
powered Mr.. Caraway to select four
teen delegates to the Sterling conven-
ton.
Both factions are strong for their
man, and will probably have full dele
cations on hand on the 21st. The
Heller men are trying to reason the
other fellows into the belief that they
the Caraway men-were not imposed
upon, but the latter stand firm in their
claim for ''equal rights"
The result will be that Barton county
has an excellent chance to loose the
republican nominee for state senator.
OF course the old ringmasters may
succeed in patching up the break and
swinging the dissatisfied members of
the party back into line. They will
make streng effort to do SO. The bell
weather of the gang has been making
| nightly trips to Great Bend since con-
ventiOn day, and as he has boosted in
the past of being able to manage
any republican convention better than
anybody his efforts may succeed.
A Senseless Criticism.
A.~.,;,~ <Lo .o-..hY: