Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-25
THE LATEST ALABAMA NEWS A Young Man Employed to Cir
 cuIate a Clarke List. MEETS MANY REVERSES Everywhere He Went He Found Johnston Men Thicker Than Peas-The Clarke Bus
 ter Is Weakening.

Montgomery Feb. 24-(Special )-The Johnston sentiment in this city is grow ing stronger every day and the Clarke bluster is correspondingly weakening. The Clarke boys are dying hard, however, and are leaving no stone unturned to try to save their bacon. A young man has been enga ged to make house to house canvass in search of men willing to slgn as members of the Montgomery County Clarke club recent experience ot this enterprising young man is sad to relate. He started from Court street up Monroe street and when he had reached the cor ner of Lawrence and Monroe he tackleu prominent manufacturer and asked nm to sign. but was met with flat refusal. It was distressing and the young fellow in all seriousness said: Well, there must be a lot of Johnston men here. lou are the twenty-second man l have asked to sign the Clarke club list and out of that number l have secured two names. or course am doing my best, and that is all that 1 can do.'
 This same enterprisng young man went to a railroad office and presented his list for signature. The first man ne struck signed it without question, With out looking at it, and the young fellow felt considerably hoped up. He had struck a good thing. The gentleman who signed expressed hope that he was nav ing no trouble in obtaining signatures, to which the young man replied: Yes, am; there are a. great many more John ston men here than I had any idea of. This was dead give way. The man who had signed the paper was staunch Johnston man. He had signed the St without paying any particular attention to it, supposing that his opinion was so well known that no one would have the nerve to present him anything but Johnston list to sign, and he immediately proceeded to scratch his name off.
 There is some talk among the rabid Clarke men here that Clarke will carry Henry county, and of course a Montgom- cry county Clarke man knows more about Henry and every other county than the people who live in that or any other coun- ty. But take the Abbeville Times, pub lished at the county seat of Henry coun- ty, and see how it sizes us the situation in that neck of the woods. In the issue dated last Friday 1t says "All that is needed is for Johnston men to turn out and this county will go for him three if mot more to one" That looks like Clarke hasn't such an awfully good thing in Henry county.
 The Democrats Will Return.
 A gentleman who has just returned from visit to Russell county states that there is no doubt that that county is now solldly in the ranks of Captain Johnston,
 
 ship. "The men," he says, "in Russell who followed Kolb out of the party in 1892 and in 1894 are good men and sub- stantial farmers, nearly all of whom own their own farms They went out at first because they felt that Kob represented principle, and they stayed out because they felt that they were treated outrage ously. Now that they are given fair chance to, come back without stultlfyine themselves, they are perfectly willing to take advantage of the opportunity, and theysare coming in to vote for Johnston. and, mark my word, Johnston can be elected easily over any one nominated by the opposition by anywhere from 20, 900 to 3O,00O votes, and the result will be so apparent that there will be no question as to the fairness of the election"
 Mrs. Oates Still Ill.
 Mrs. oates, who was brought back from Philadelphia by Governor Oates Is quite sick at her home on Church street. It is believed that the treatment at Phil adephia has benefited her, but the fa- tigue of the trip home has thrown her back tor the present.
 The Mission Will Conclude on Wednesday.
 The mission which has been in progress tin the Catholic church here since the 18th, conducted by Fathers Power and O'Con- nor, closes on Wednesday night. The various services of the mission have been largely attended, and one evening, last Sunday, the crowd desiring admission was so large that not more than one-haIf the number could get inside the church.
 Montgomery Has the Bicycle Craze.
 The bicycle fever has taken hold in Montgomery in dead earnest. Everybody is on wheels, or wants to be on them. The boys and girls are riding them; the men and women are riding them; the lawyers and doctors are to be seen on them; judges and preachers are pedalling for dear life; even the candidates for county offices are enrolled in the grand ryvnx pf h 1v,0n Qrxyhn ndx ic tttr.t1 ing a wheel, and all seem to be happy on the way.
 One of the late recruits to the bicycle brigade is a prominent Dexter avenue at- torney, who went into the business on wholesale scale. He wanted good ma chine, and of course his better half had to have one of the same kind. The result was that the bicycle dealers had a picnic in the sale of two $100 machines. He was in the market. He was good thing, and the boys with bicycles proceeded to sup ply his wants. He quit the game about $200 out of pocket and he had two crack erjack wheels to show for the invest ment He is now engaged in the study of balancing, and to listen to his tale of woe one would think that balancing was more complicated science than law, philosophy, theology and medicine con- bined. But the study of the wheel has broadened his mind and has made him observant of small matters. One morn- ing recently on his way to his office he saw where some vandal had thrown in the street a broken 'eer bottle, which threatened dire destruction to every pneumatic tire which passed that way. The act struck him as one of the most reprehensible acts that fiendsh human ity could be guilty of, and, with imminent risk to the crease in his trousers, he went out into the street and gathered up the bits of broken glass. which he threw over