Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-09
BAYONETS AT LINCOLN.
GOVERNOR THAYER, GUARDED BY
TROOPS, HOLDS HIS OFFICE.
He Claims His Successor, Boyd, Is Ineligible
"A Mandamus ForcIbly Served Upon
the Alliance Legislature-An the State
Officers Duly Sworn In.

LINCOLN, NEB., Jan. S.-The Alliance
members had taken possession of the House
| at o'clock in the morning. They placed
the Speaker in the chair and put Gordon OF
assistant sergeants at arms around him.
When Lieutenant Governor Mieckeljohn
appeared be was not allowed TO take his seat,
but stood in front of the Speaker, ready to
call the joint session to order.
At9o'clock the Speaker issued an order for
the arrest of Lieutenant Governor Mieckel-
| john on the charge of misconduct in office and
| breach of the peace. The Lieutenant Governor
defied the officer and was not taken into Gus
| tody. Both sides has force of sergeants at
| arms within call, and any attempt on either
| side to proceed with the canvass of the vote
would have precipitated row. To avoid this,
committee from each side was sent, with a
| statement of the case, to the Supreme Court.
| At l2:l5 it was learned that the Supreme
| Court had issued writ of mandamus. direct
| ing the Speaker of the House to canvass the
returns. The Sheriff of Lancaster county, with
| deputies and bailin of the Supreme Court,
burst IN the doors of the House and fought
| their way through the crowd of Alliance men
| guarding the entrance. The writ has been
! served on the Speaker A motion to take a
recess until O'Clock was declared carried by
| the Lieutenant Governor, and the Democrats
and Republicans filed out of the hall. The
| Speaker of the House declared that no recess
| has been taken, and the Alliance members pro-
ceeded with the roll call.
The mandamus sobered the radical Alliance
men, and spirit Of moderation was manifested.
After the Republicans and Democrats left the
hall. the Independents remained. doing some
unimportant business, and making an effort to
amend the rules of the joint convention, to
make the Speaker of the House the presiding
| officer, instead of the Lieutenant Governor
An adjournment was then taken until 23O
O'Clock.
At that hour the Independents were in their
seats, but tranacted no business until the full
body was present and the Lieutenant Gov
ernor appeared and called the convention to
order. A number of conciliatory speeches were
made, and the Independents, seeing that they
could not gain their point by instituting their
contest before the canvass of the vote, offered
no further obstruction to business. The
Speaker of the House proceeded to open the
returns, and the Democratic Governor, Boyd,
and the full Republican State ticket, with the
one exception, was found elected on the face
Of the returns.
A resolution was passed receiving the full
Alliance vote, declaring that the canvass had
been conducted under protest, and that the
Legislature in nowise recognized the election
of the officers who had been returned as re-
ceiving the highest number of votes. The Off
GERS. however, were sworn in promptly by Chief
Justice Grubb. The Contest will now go as
prescribed by law. There is prospect that the
legislature will unseat everyone of the new
officers.
Matters were further complicated tonight,
At o'clock Governor-elect Boyd called on
Governor Thayer, and was informed that the
latter would not give up the office on the
United States, and was, therefore, not eligible
This tangles the situation until nobody dares
predict what the outcome will be.
Governor Thayer has barricaded the Execu-
tive Office and remains inside with police and
a company of militia on guard. 1t is impossible
to reach him to ascertain his purposes, but it is
understood that he viii remain Governor, If
possible, until all questions affecting his sue
cesSOr are settled.