The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-01-16
HARD ROW TO HOE.
The One Leading to Nebraska's
Executive Chair.
BOYD ALMOST GRAsPs THE VICTORY.

ings of the Joint Legislative Session
Make Interesting Reading-A Threat
of Bayonets and "a Final Defiance Of
the Declared Result and of the SUI
preme Court.
| LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 0.-There was an
other monkey and parrot of a tiTe in the
legislature yesterday The first thing that
developed was that the Alliance men with
the habit of early rising inculcated and
and practiced by the well-regulated
granger, had captured the house chamber
ut o'clock in the morning, put their
speaker in the chair and surrounded him
with guard of assistant sergeants at
arms. Then tho speaker issued an order
| for the arrest of Lieutenant Governor Mel
| keljohn, the ground of this remarkable
proceeding being charges that the lieuten-
ant governor was guilty of misconduct in
office and breach of the peace.
Def and Breakdown.
1t might be asked of this order-"What
was begun for to be so soon done for"
as when the attempt was made to arrest
Meikeljohn he defied the writ and would
not submit to arrest, whereupon the speak
er's officials pocketed the writ and also the
def, and the lieutenant governor walked
to the front of the chair, which was occu-
pied by the speaker. and announced that
he was ready to call the joint convention
to or er. The situation was decidedly
ticklish. There were assistant sergeants-
alarms by the score on both sides of the
quarrel, and Denny brook fair proceeding
haNa haa fn ituta
Referred to the Supreme Court.
This was observed by the cooler beads of
the opposing forces and it was decided to
appoint a committee from each side,
which should go before the supreme court
and submit the question at issue-whether
the canvass of the vote for state officers
was the first thing i'm order, and who had
the right to preside-to that body. The
committees were appointed and proceeded
to perform their duty, and the hostile
forces declared truce until the report
was made. In the meantime Governor
Thayer ordered out a company of state
militia, which proceeded to the capitol
and stacked arms in the corridor.
Decided Against the Alliance.
1t did not take long for the supreme
court to decide the points submitted to it,
Alliance men. A mandamcs was issued
ordering the speaker to proceed as the
lieutenant governor had decided should
be done Wednesday, and sustaining the
anti-Alliance men on every point But in
order to serve the writ the sheriff and his
posse had to fight their way through the
speakers sergeants-at-arms, and during
the Iracas a number o. hats were smashed
and few heads made sore, while the
sheriff was nearly denuded of clothing in
the struggle. The writ having been served,
Meikeljohn declared the session ad.
journed.
Some Legislative Scraps" !
But the Alliance men were only some.
what disfgured: they were still in the
ring, and it required n few regular knock
onts before the adjournment was effected.
The Alliance man who kept the door at
tempted to lock the ants up in the cham
Der when they attempted to leave. Then
there was blood on the moon. The "man in
the door" got his claret tapped straightway,
and this brought him to books Then a
series of free fights occurred, and Nat
Brown, of Omaha, handled his "lukes" so
effectively that another Alliance man
threw up the sponge. On, it was an "ille-
CANT time" for willie, but the excited
statesmen finally arrived mt their hotels
and prepared Tor the duties of the after
noon by Dourshing the inner man,
The Changers Early Again.
Before the anti-Alliance men could go to
the chamber in the afternoon the Alliance
men had repeated the morning tactics and
taken possession of the hall They were
proceeding TO organize by themselves wnen
the attorney general advised them to sub
nit to the order of the supreme court.
They paid no attention to the advice. and
elected Speaker Elder chairman of the
joint session and started to begin work, I
when the lieutenant governor appeared at :
the door and wanted to get in. The door
keeper refused to let him pass.~
The Governor Threatens Bayonets.
The lieutenant governor appealed to |
Governor Thayer, and the governor or |
dered that unless Meikeljohn was admitted
the militia would take him in mt the point
of the bayonet. Meikeljohn was adj
mitted, and walking directly to the
speakers stand he demanded: "Mr.
Speaker, do understand that my passes
will not be honoredS"
"That's all right" replied the speaker.
IL want these passes honored rs you
agreed they should be upon your honor as
a man." declared Meiklejohn.
@Pll see that it's DONE" replied the
speaker.
Meiklejohn's passes had been refused at
the door by the Alliance sergeant at
arms.
A Scmblance of Order Secured.
Then the anti-Alliance men appeared
and took their seats, and at 2l5 Speaker
Elder called the joint session to order The
Republicans and Democrats were i'm their
seats and answered the roll.call Nickel |
john held his position in front. of the
speakers stand, which was crowded with
Alliance men. Chaplain Diffenboicher
prayed that the Almighty would give the
Legislators there assembled grace to con-
troll themselves and faithfully perform
their duties. Then Meikeljohn immedi-
ately assumed control of the joint assem-
bly,. This was scarcely objected to by the
independents, most of whom were becom-
ing Disguised with the tactics of the lead
ers A committee notified the secretary
of state that the joint session was ready to
proceed to canvass the state vote
A Word from the Supreme Court.
The returns were taken in charge by
Meikeljohn, who handed them over to