Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1892-06-11
THE MINNEAPOLIS CONVENTION.
HARRISON N REID.
The tenth republican national con-

ZETTE benjamin Harrison was noml-
mated in the evening for President, and
last night Whitelaw Reid for Vice
President. When the convention met
in lis fourth days session, no further
opposition was made to the majority re-
port of the committee on credentials,
and the report was promptly adopted:
Richard Thompson, of Indiana. placed
Harrison in nomination, and the
seconding speeches were made by
Chaurcey Depew, Senator Spooner and
Others, Blaine was nominated by Sen
ator Wolcott. and the nomination was
seconded by ". II. Eustis, Warner Mil
Ter. and Others. One ballot decided 1t.
The opposition divided, Half of the
so-called Blaine men went TO Mckinley.
The ballot resulted: Harrison 535t votes,
Blaine lS2 is, Mckinley Isl, Reed 4,
Lincoln |. Upon motion Of Governor
Mckinley, the vote was made unani-
nous. The convention, after a scene
of great enthusiasm, took a recess until
evening, when Whitclaw Reid was
placed in nomination for Vice-Presi-
dent by delegate O'Connor, of New
York. General Horace Porter made
the seconding speech, and Mr.. Reid
was chosen by reclamation for the
second place on the ticket. The con-
vcntion then adjourned sine die.
HOW IT WAS DONE.
II was Just All o'clock in the even
ing. The vast convention hall had for
five hours been packed from floor to
ceiling with a iierccly excited, intense
ly interested and wildly enthusiastic
multitude. The banks OF onlookers
which encircled the body Of delegates
had exhausted breath and patience in
applauding speeches, and, above al, IN
cheering for the rival candidates. For
exactly one hour the roll Of States had
been in progress, and vote after vote
had been recorded, steadily swelling
the column Of President Harrison's
strength. The presidential lightning
had been playing around the head OF
Governor Mckinley. When Ohio
was called ex-Gov. Foraker cast : votes
for Harrison and A for Mckinley;
Major Mckinley demanded a roll call
of the State and when his name was
reached he voted for Harrison. For
aker voted for Mckinley, and when the
end of the roll was reached, it gave one
vote to Benjamin Harrison, and forty
five votes for William 3icINinley, jr.. a
loss of one to the President by reason of
polling the delegation. Pennsylvania,
despite the dramatic depression to Nc
Kinley, had, in part, broken away from
the leadership of Senator Quay, and
had given nineteen, instead OF nine,
votes for Harrison. The Southern
States already called for had shown
that the anti-Harrison raid had been
unsuccessful. Tennessee had just cast
seventeen of her twenty-four votes for
Harrison, giving him at that moment a
total of four hundred and forty-ive, or
only eight votes less than a majority OF
the convention.
Excitement was at fever heat, for the
next State was Texas, with thirty votes,
OF which, everybody knew, a large ma
iority would certainly be cast for the
President. For five minutes confusion
reigned supreme. Leaders were hurry
ing hither and thithcr over the floor
consulting, dGlcg: 5 were in their
chairs cheering in anticipation of the
result; other delegates were grouped III
corners exchanging regrets that they
had not fallen into the procession carl
ier in the roll call. Senator Quay and
e Senator Platt stood in the aisle say
inc to each other that all was over.
Depew, Hiscock and Colonel Shepard
III: hood. Jonathan IN
exultant congratulations; eX-Speaker
Tom Reed famed himself with the
utmost placidness, and an army Of mes
senger boys with t%luttering kilograms
in their hands rushed from the press
platform to the telegraph Office. Chair
man Mckinley, who five minutes be-
fore had seen the presidential laurels
lowering above his head, only now to
vanish like a dream, pounded IN vain
with his gavcl for order.
At last. however, the confusion sub
sided enough for the resonant voice OF
tie secretary to send ringing through
the vast space of the auditorium the
name "Texas.n From far away in the
rear corner of the delegates floor there
arose in reply. a voice:
Texas % votes for Benjamin Rar-
rison." The Texas spokesman got no
further, with his announcement; instant
" pandemonium reigned, for every
person in the hall had kept u tally and
knew that these twenty-five votes had
named the next President of the United
States. The air was rent with a series
of scattered wells, which grew and min
gicd into one tremendous overwhelmn-
ing shout. The men who had been
most conspicuous in securing Presi-
dent Harrison'n success climbed from
their chairs and wildly waved umbrel-
las, hats, handkerchiefs and flags in the
air.
These enthusiastic delegates, in their
first flush of triumph, seemed, indeed,
to regard h~cad-gear as a thing to be
treated with scorn, despite the promi-
n which the hat will have as a
symbol during the coming campaign;
for, with reckless extravaganza, many
of them threw their tilesfhigh nthe air,
and banged them wildly, in baseball
fashion, with their canes. During the
tumult which followed for the next hf-
teen minutes, Gov. Mckinley called
Colonel Elliott Shepard to the chair,
and, after many efforts, succeeded in
moving that the nomination be made
bv reclamation. Here the last vestage
Of opposition made itself manifest.
40. no. came from Senator Wolcott,
of Colorado; who jumped excitedly
from his seat and paced up and down
the aisle, shouting TO Mckinley not
to put the motion. Mckinley paused
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