Evening star., 1896-09-11
CONGRESSIONAL DEADLOCK
Why a Nomination Was Not Made at Oak
r.-- land.
HaGner and Pearre I'm the Lead-0ne
or the Other Likely 10
be Chosen.

The republican congressional convention
CT tine sixth district of Maryland, which, as
stated in The Star of yesterday, was II
session at Oakland fer two days, and aG-
joulned al 2:l3 p.m., after taking GS9 ba!-
lots, but without making a nomination Tor
the success Crship TO Senator-elect George
l.. Wellington as a memter of the lowrr
house of Congress, will, as also state I,
meet in Rockville Thursday morning next
at IL o'clock, with the expectation that a
choice of a standard bearer will then be
made.
Meanwhile the contest between the
friends of Mr.. A. r. Hagner of Hagers-
town and those of Col George A. Pearre OF
Cumberland will keep up the struggle for
their favorite for while tn re will he men
ton made of other names in the convention
when IL assemblies next week at Rockville,
ii is conceded by almost all the leaders of
the party who were AT Oakland that the
choice lies between Hagi.er ard Pearre
Five minutes before the convention adj
Journed yesterday afternoon IL well
understood 10y many OF the best Informed
Ia the body that the nomination would 20
10 Hagner before 3 o'clock. a delegate
IRON Washington county was, he said, N
possession OF evidence that left Io room for
doubt that Mr. Wellir gtoE wanted Hagnrr
TO be the Choice of the convention for tie
place.
That Mr.. Haener was the preference OF
MIR Weiiirgtcn the majority of the dele
gates were 10y This action fully convinced,
and il was conceded on all sides that there
would be haste 10y the delegates from Ale
Sany and montgomery TO get In out of the
wet before much more Time elapsed.
shrewd Moves.
At this junctCre Col George A. Pearre.
"ho was sitting with the delegation from
Alesany county, noticed what was going
that the tide had set in HagIcr's favor
asked his six delegates 10 vote for Ra-
venscroft Of Garrett, fer VIII pm the dele
gates from the latter ,ounty had voted
steadily more lhan 1p times. Col. Pearre's
request was, OF course, complied with. and
The effect was exactly what had been al
ticipated by Col. P.arTe, namely. 10 draw
the votes of Garrett from Hasner, for
whom they had during several ballots i'm
iae diateiy preceding been cast, and give
them back to kaNcnsCroft. This left Mr..
Hasner with but eight votes. OF five shor.
OF enough TO get the nomination.
Efforts Were then made TO have Ravens
croft withdraw from the field. and il WAS
Understood that the latter had no obJsc-
t"n 10 doing SO. as ii was plainly evident
that RaNenscruft had not the slightest
cfafce of success. provided HaSncr could
get TWO more votes from another source.
Almost Eercalean efforts were made to in
duce the delegates from Mon somery to
IL ave Mcdonald in a body and vote for
h"sie', NHich "ooid nave given hlm III
S"a Noies, two more than the requisite
!';.rni'r, but Gea. Rutherford, the chair
man OF the delegation, said he Woald not
vote for any one else tnaa Mcdonald and r
any circumstances. Unta nc was released
from the pledge ne had made TO that gem
Ce-nan, and IL was reported that the gen
eli.l had even gone so far 10 threa n
10 holt the convention under certain cir
cpmstances. Ii well known oY thc
lrit nds OF Mr.. liagLer that on. uf the most
Influential members of the Montgomery
delegation had said that afier having votel
icr Mcdonald over GD tIm.s all claims On
the score of friendship ought to he con-
Sidered as fully met. and tla; It was time
for the good of the parry to he looked
alter. II Tds also expected that another
treatment Montgomery delegate would
soon ccme 20 the support of Harner, but
unfortunately for the latter IN. re mad been
ten complimentary votes cast for The dele
he at once conceived the idea that il WIS
possible ne might get three more votes
irom some other source. and become the
star dard bearer himself.
Una,niIfng Efforts.
Some of Mr.. Hagner's friends tried 10
convince The Montgomery man that he did
not have the slightest chance of winning
the nomination, and that the votes h. had
received were given him as a compliment
IN recognition of his able efforts to secure
and keep the spirit of harmony i'm the con-
Nenticn. but he refused to accept this view
of the situation.
All efforts to win him over TO the Hagner
side were, however, unavailing. and il was
then seen that the program to nominate
HaSner before adjournment could not lie
carried out, and as quiet threats were made
ny number Of delegates to remain in ses-
sion for week, If necessary, to prevent
the nomination of any one but the man who
was preferred by the delegation of each
county, respectively, Il was seen that as
the members Of the convention were wea-
ried with the monotony of halloting il
would be better for all concerned TO adjourn
at Oakland and meet later at some other
place in the district. BY unanimous agree
ment on the part of the chairman of each
county delegation, General Rutherford then
moved an adjournment of the convention
until Thursday of next week, when it
viii assemble at Rockville.
Possible Brcak.
When asked by n Star reporter what
would have been the effect had Gen Ruth
erford bolted the convention, as il was re-
ported he was at one time contemplating
doing, one of the most prominent members
of the convention replied: Most likely dis
a:trous in TIE extreme, and 1 do not know
Lut what the district would in November
have gone for the democratic nominee Mr..
Blair Lee. Had Gen. Rutherford left the
convention he would undoubtedly have
hoen accompanied by portion, If not all,
OF the other members OF the delegation
from his county, and it is almo ST absolutely
certain that the delegation from Allegany
would have gone with their colleagues from
Montgomery"
This would have given the bolters ten
votes, almost one-half of the entire men,
hership, Chairman Cook having decided,
as heretofore published in The STAR that
tie sitting delegation from Frederick
though numbering six men, We're, on ac-
count of the exclusion of the Moiter dele
cation from that county, entitled to but
three votes.
A convention would then most probably
have been held by the seeding counties
and a congressional nominee put i'm the
field by the latter. This would have li-
vided the vote of the republicans of the
sixth district to such an extent that the
democrats, with ordinary good manage
ntent, could have elected their man
1t is confidently predicted that the prize
will in the end fail TO Mr.. Hagner. He is
regarded an excellent lawyer and hard,
though quiet, worker.