Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-09
WHERE GRAY'S STRONGEST
The Ex-Governor and His Friends
Not Shouting for the Ticket.
STEVENSON HAS HARD WORK TO DO
Harrity CutspOken in His Opposition to
McAleer's Reformation.
SELECTIONS OF COUNTY CONVENTIONS

Stevenson was In tnls city just 10 minutes
to-day, from IL o'clock to 11:1a. He will
have to return soon, though, for it will take
several months to bring his business here to
q satisfactory conclusion. The way Uncle
Isaac Pusey Gray and his friends in Indiana
have been throwing up their hats and yell
ing for the ticket since the Chicago Con-
vention has been calculated to inspire any
thing but enthusiasm among the rank and
file of the mossback Democracy of the State
Ever since the day the colors of Gray W ere
dragged in the sawdust and mud of that
celebrated wigwsm on the lake front almost
absolute apathy has reigned among the
rural Democracy in Indiana, and even in
Indianapolis, where the Cleveland senti-
ment was strongest, the efforts at club or
ganizstIoa have been sporadic and feeble.
1t will be ssmembered that prior to their
State Convention in April the Democrats
we're embroiled in an exceedingly bitter
hght between the Cleveland and Gray fac
tions, precipitated by q speech delivered in
this city by ]. g. shanklin, editor of the
Evansville Courier. then candidate for the
gubernatorial nomination.
How tho Fight on Gray Began.
1t had been taken for granted all along
that Indiana would send to Chicago a solid
delegation to urge Gray for first place, in
the hope of capturing for him the tail end
of the ticket, but Shanklin kicked this SUD-
position into cooked hat by sarcastically
declaring that Indiana had made tool of
herself often enough by going to conventions
with birthplace pretension and tail-end eI-
pectations; that the people of Indiana
were Overwhelmingly for Cleveland and
ought to have the opportunity to express
themselves"
This was In March, and it was followed up
q day or two later by the Indianapolis Sen
tn.a, the State organ of the party, which
ing Gray to clear the track and declaring
that it had made careful canvass Of the
situation and fully 80 per cent of the Demo-
Gratis of Indiapa were for Cleveland.
Then the fight began. Uucle Isaac did
not clear the track. He and the rest of the
ten per cents went to work. Mud singing
began, and backhaDded courtesies were
exchanged with freedom that was inspir-
ing. The warfare grew so bitter that Sena-
tor Voorhees, took hand, and upon his
suggestion the State Committee and leaders
of the opposing factions were called to-
gether just before the convention, and q
truce was patched up, by the terms of
which Gray was to be given three OF the
four delegates at large, and the remarkable
instructions we're prepared for the conven-
tion to pass, which declared Cleveland the
logical nominee, but instructed the dele
gates to vote for Gray.
Gray Ahead for q Little While.
In the district meetings Gray captured Il
of the 16 delegates thus elected, which, with
the lions share of the delegates at large,
gave him 15 Of the 80 delegates accredited to
the State.
In the convention Gray's followers cap
tured everything; defeating Shsnklin with a
vicious cheer; nominating Claude Matthews
for Governor, and smashing a Cleveland
head whenever one appeared above the sur
face. At every point they took delight in
showing how much stronger they were than
the ''90 per cent"
But what the Cleveland crowd could not
accomplish by strength they gained by
strategy. Though Gray had on the dele
cation such keen politicians as Senator
Voorhees,, ex-Congressman John E Lamb,
James E. Murdock, Charles L. Jewett and
James II. Rice on the outside, they were
led into q mousetrap at Chicago and Gagged
just as neatly as could be wished at the crit
ical moment for the German movement
Gray's friends were then given an
intimation by Whitney that If they
would declare for Cleveland, Cleveland's
friends would zee to it that Gray got second
place. That deal was intrusted to
Dougherty and Morse. They called upon
Whitney and were assured that he would
do sll he could for Gray.
The Bait Guiped Down Whole.
Dougherty swallowed the bait, with the
understanding that this meant that all the
Cleveland forces would come to Gray.
Indiana declared for Cleveland the day
before the convention met, the rest followed
like pack of sheep, and the German boom
went up in smoke. Then when the vote for
Vice President came Dickinson threw
Michigan's vote away and Villas did the
same with Wisconsins, and Gray was
defeated.
''I told you they were traitors" howled
Lamb, as the votes were changing pell-
NELL to Stevenson, and the rest of the
Gray contigent echoed his sentiment They
came home sick and sore, and ratification
meetings in Indiana have been tew and far
between.
Since then there have been outcroppinps
of the smould-ring snti-convention fight.
The Gray people have accused the Cleve-
land newspapers ofnot supporting the State
ticket, and the Cleveland people have
truthfully pointed to the fact that all Gray's
prominent friends, and Gray himself, have
taken to the woods. Few of them have
displayed the least interest in the cam
paign, and as they number among them
nearly all the more experienced Dem
ocratic politicians of the State, the party
work is left in green and weak hands.
Democracy Dead to the World.
In the rural districts, where Gray's
strength lies, Democracy is dead to the
world. 1t is this condition, not theory,
that confronts the Cleveland managers, and
naturally they view it with alarm. Ap-
parently it occurred to them that the man
whom circumstances made Gray syicto-
rious opponent was the very person to
bring the olive branch to Isaac Pusey and
his malcontent friends Hence the ''busi-
ness" which brings Cleveland's running
mate to Indianapolis.
plan was TO arrange meeting between him
and Gray, and find out what Office within
Clevelsnd's gift, should he succeed, would
satisfy the latter. They shrewdly sus-
pected that he could be readily brought
into line with the promise of a good Office.
But this time they counted without their
host. Isaac PuseY Gray is growing old,
and be believes that the Chicago conven-
tion was the end Of his political career. He
declined to meet Stevenson, and by Q strange
coincidence, all hi sfriends likewise declined.
They would not consent even to 20 to the
depot and shake hands with him. Chair.
man Taggart, of the State Committee, and
Cho;r wi e