The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-15
LEWIS WAS THE BOSS.
How the Democratic County
Ticket Was Named.
BRAINS WE'RE WELDED OUT.
John Collins and Secretary Gleason,
Aided by Judge Lichtenberg, Gre
ated Saturdays Convention.

The Democratic county convention
which began in this city at 1879 o'clock
Saturday and lasted until O'Clock yester-
day morning was a remarkable gathering
and withal an interesting one to the stu
dent of political causes and effects.
No Democrat will pretend that the
motely mob which for more than half
day turned Ranke's hall into Pande-
monium and finally left the room looking
like pig pen was fairly representative of
the intelligence and strength of the De-
mocracy Of King county; and no one will
pretend that the actions of this crowd will
receive the Endorsement of the intelligence
and strength of the party.
The theory of a convention is that the
voters of each precinct choose their best
men to meet and. after due consideration,
to select those candidates who, if not the
ablest. are at least certain of hearty sup
port at the polls. But band of painted,
bowling Sioux, reeIing in savage frenzy
through a ghost dance on the plains of
Dakota, is almost as deliberatiye an as
sembly as the convention just closed. The
very method by which the delegates were
elected precluded the posi- bility of DELHI
Grafton after the convention met.
James Hamilton Lewis. who is ambitious
to receive the Democratic nomination for
governor, has in his candidacy
for that honor the enthusiastic and I'M
majority of the Democrats of this county.
1t is true that some of the leaders of the
party here. Judge Thomas Burke, d. III.
ofI
posed to him; but they are minority in
significant but ior their personal charac-
ter. When they offered resis lance to the
plan of having the convention instruct it's
state deleg ates for Mr.. Lewis the latter is
sued the edict that only those willing to
adhere to him with blind and unquestion-
ing zeal through thick and thin, should be
allowed in the county convention. OF
course such an order could not be carried
out to the letter; and so. in spite of Mr..
Lewis and his lieutenants, few delegates
of individuality and intelligence crept
in. But the cry "Down with the enemies
of Lewis!" was SO effectively raised that
the rank and file of delegates were a crowd
of nobodies, incapable of acting indie
pendently, and unwilling to do so even
had they been capable.
AS if Mr.. Lewis had not done enough in
the way of wedding out brains and back
bone, his henchmen tried the job. When
John Collins wanted to go as delegate to
the national Democratic convention at
Chicago he was opposed by F. A. Melon
aid, w. H. White, ID. O. Finch and others
of high standing in the party. Mr.. Col
Inns induced the county convention of
last spring to indorse his ambition by q
majority of one or two. Ever since then
the report has quietly gone the rounds
that Mr. Collins used his official position
as chairman of the county central COM
mittee to compass his personal ends.
Added to that has been the charge that
J. p. Gleason. his secretary, has attempted
to dictate the politics of several of the
wards. Though these reports and charges
have been denied. there has, nevertheless,
been q concerted movement to GUST Col
Inns and Gleason. Both have shown stout
resistance, and in order to entrench
themselves they adopted the same means
employed by Mr.. Lewis - any man
who did not like Mr.. Collins and Mr..
Gleason must stay out. While Mr.. Lewis,
Mr.. Collins and Mr.. Gleason have not been
able to labor in perfect harmony, still they
have agreed fairly we'll in the policy of
emasculating the convention, and Mr.. Col
Inns and Mr.. Gleason have carried still
further the undertaking so we'll begun by
Mr.. Lewis.
Furthermore, Judge l. J. Lichtenberg,
though no enthusiastic admirer of either
James Hamilton Lewis, John Collins or J.
z. Gleason, added his work to theirs.
Several of the oldest Democrats of the
King county bar, and many others, not
lawyers, have been strenuOusly Directing
to the judges denomination. He, on the
other hand. has been making frantic and
almost pathetic appeals to be allowed to
stay on the bench. and in his search for
friendly delegates he has trodden in the
mire of Democratic ward politics.
1t is therefore no wonder that so good q
presiding officer as Kelleher was utterly
unable to preserve order on Saturday for
intervals of more than five or ten minutes
each, nor is it wonder the mob, incapa-
bic of organization or concentrated effort,
should have spent fourteen hours in doing
the work of six.
None but James Hamilton Lewis men
were to go to the state convention at
Olympia next week, and here are the
noble thirty:
John Collins.
Daniel kelleher.
DR.. F. W. Harrell, of Gilman.
l. c. Gilman.
Matt McElroy.
Adolph Krug.
F. A. Mcdonald.
u. o. Finch.
G. d. Stevens, OF Yesler.
Luke McRedmond, OF Redmond.
j. p. Gleason
Will II. Thompson.
n {. Rosenfeldt.
J. +. Randolph.
John w. Considine.
S. s Carlisle.
George Moore.
Joseph Livingston.
J. s Brace. .
James Campbell
Robert Nash.
James I. Lentzy.
J. o. Gagnon.
J. H. Shoals.
W. II. Dill, of Ballard.
b. f. Bennett.
Henry Collins. of Newcastle.
John Kelly, of Euumcaw.
T. J. Hawley. of Kent.
Joseph kraus, OF Black Diamond.
In justice to these delegates il must be
said that but few OF them are men of no
character But while they NAV be honest