The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-01-10

GEN. GoFE.s GREAT FIGHT.
IKE Contest I'm West Virginia About to
Begin

GEN. GOFF-S GREAT FIGHT
IKE Contest in West Virginia About ft
Begin
CHARLESTON. w. VA, December % =
D AS the date for the converting of the legis
lature approaches the signs multiply that
there is going To be a most unusual and
, interesting time. not only in tie contest
for the election of a United States senator
to succeed John E. Kenna, but as we'll IN
the organization of the Senate and House
of Delegates. not to mention the settle
ment of the gubernatorial contest-a little
matter for which both Republicans and
Democrats haye made the most exhaustive
preparations. 1t will be fought out to
the end, and must result in The final tri-
umph Of Gen: Golf. Not more than two
or three non president members are now in
the city. but still there is much excite>
ment in political circles, and the liyelest
anticipatiOns for the Immediate future.
Attorneys are hard at work in the interest
OF the rival claimants of the goyernorship;
J representatives of the TWO State commit
tees are watching each other s move
ments, and SOARING for an opening where
by one or more Of the memb ers elect On
the other side may be won over, or some
equally decisive advantage gained; dete c.
tives are coming in from the various
counties with evidence of crook edness in
the manipulations of return s. or fraud at
the polls, and every mail brings an assert
| ment of ailidavits, allegations, or proofs
| positive concerning facts to be brought
| out by one side or the other, either before
the legislature, the courts, or in the con-
| gressional contests in the House of Repre-.
| sentatlves at Washington. BY Monday Or
| Tuesday the legislators will be arriving
freely, and the last of the coming week
will see them all here, and the tug will
have fairly commenced.
AS the organization of the Senate and
House will be the first thing in order, a
glance at the situation and summing up
of the probabilities may not be unlnterest-
ing. Ia the House Of Delegates the Dem
/ ocrats have majority of three-''barrin'
accidents" La the Senate there are thir-
| teen straight Repub licans. twelve straight
| Democrats, and an unknown quantity in
| the person Of Robert Carr, of this Ka-
| nawha) county, who was elected as
| Labor Union candidate, but who has
| strong Republican tendencies, With Carr
On the Republics side, the Senate will
| have d Republican majority of TWO, and
! the Democrats a majority of one on joint
| ballot. With Carr voting with the Demo-
Gratis, the Senate will be d tie, and there
would BE- a Democratic majority on joint
ballvt-enough to secure them the selec-
| tion OF G senator.
| Carr is approaching his Importance at
its full worth, and IS receiving the best
attention and the utmost Difference from
| both sides. II IS understood he will cast a
vote for Senator w B. Scott, of Wheeling,
Republican national mitteemen from
this State, for president of the Senate,
Scott being relative by marriage: Or, he
will consent to preside over the body him
self, if the Republicans will elevate him
to the chair, whence he would step into
the governorship in the event OF the cleo
tion Of Golf to the Senate. It is conceded
Carr would stick to the Republicans right
along in consideration of this honor, and
if he insists en- these terms he will proba-
bly, get what we wants.
This would narrow the Democratic ma
jority On joint ballot down to one, and the
senatorial contest would be thing worth
watching. There is a growing suspicion
among Democrats that one or Two Of their
representatives are not as we'll grounded
in the faith as they should be at such
critical time, while they are exceedingly
nervous over the prospects of revival of
the bitterness Of feeling engendered in
the memorable senatorial fight of two
years ago, when Faulkner was elected.
Governor Wilson, who at that time was
an active opponent Of Faulkner, and who
finally appointed Dan Lucas on the failure
Of the legislature to elect at the regular
session, is now an ayowed candidate, and
his friends may demand his nomination
in caucus as the price Of their support; or.
taking another plan Of wreaking their
vengeance, they may say they will vote
for any other Democrat sage Kenna, or do
a number of other things, any one of
which will inevitably result in Republican
success. General Golf, governor elect.
; will receive the solid Republican vote for
senator, and his election is thus not i'm
possible.
The governorship contest between Golf
and Fleming will have to be settled by the
| 10 r;c ell .fur T. fnto ;,
40 less than Goffs, has completed his
: legal preparations fer contest, in re-
spon:e to the pressure brought to bear by
the Democratic committee and press, and
fight will result which will be full of
interest for the people of the country at
large. Fraud will be the burden of the
Democrats song before the investigating
committee, and to meet the issue to be
thus raised, the Republican State Execu-
tive Committee has prepared a mass of
evidence, which cannot but overWhelm
Fleming and his party in the State, and
convince the county that Republicansm
ei'ly was a sweeping triumph in the
, STATE.
The action Of Governor Wilson in with
; holding the certificates of election from
Congre ssman McGinnis. ia the Third dis
trict. AID Smith in the Fourth both Re-
publicans, while issuing similar papers to
Pendleton and Wilson, Democrats, in the
First and Second. is an indication of the
desperate frame of mind the Democrats
are in, There is no question of the elecs
ti0n Of McGinnis and Smith, as there was
:. none Of the election of Atkinson, Republi-
can, in the First, but having failed to
count ont the two former. as they did the
= latter, their certificates are to be withheld
in the hope Of throwing the House of Rep.
: resentatives> into Democratic control.
whether this will he successful remains
to be seen.
=, Demosthenes, the Gfecian orator. cured
his stammering by having his mouth full
> of pebbles. and many are the modern ora
! tors who lave cured their hOafseness by