Birmingham state herald., 1896-04-30
THE GEORGIA REPUBLICANS Were Locked Out of the Senate
 Chamber. POLICE WERE CALLED FOR But Boss Buck Finally Started the Machine to
 s Moving. NO RES0LU TONS WERE ADOPTED McKinleyites Were Decidedly in the Ma jority, but for Harmony Sake They Selected One Reed Man as Dell
 egate at Large.
10 RESOLUTIONS WERE ADOPTED

| Atlanta, Ga, April 29.-The state re- | publican convention to name four dele l gates from the state at large to St. Louis, | is in session here today. The attendance l is larger than a any previous convention | in years, and for noise and badges it ex- l ceeds all others. It was called to meet at l 10 o'clock, but at that hour it became ap- | parent that, with the vast throng of noisy negroes present. it would be impossible l to organize. The corridors of the capitol were packed and jammed with lusty l lunged negroes, and cries of Nick .nley" | and counter cries of "Reed!' "Reed!' | rang through the halls. Badges fluttered | from every dusky breast, and the Me l kinley badges were in the proportion of | ten to one. Seeing that it would be i'm l possible to organize and control the con- vention, Boss Buck, the Mckinley leader, called the state executive committee to- | gether in the senate chamber. In the l meantime the doors to the hall in wh. oh | the convention was to be held were | locked and barred. The crowd surged and fought s.de, sending up resound- l ing cheers for their rayorltes They bat tered against the strong doors and snoyed | againSl the Keepers, bu1 to no eftect. At l Il CLOCK IndlTlndH buCh dppCdiCd. <1 | hSt Of delegates mad been made out Dy 1 the committee, and only those 10 whom | tickets were gwen were admitted to the l hall.
 Nearly an hour was spent in admitting delegates. Meantime BOSS buck held levee in front ot the door and gave out l tickets to tavorites He said that no pre- liminary plan of organization had been agreed upon, but it was plain that the
 Mckinley crowd had. They will name the delegates to the St. Louis convention, and if a Reed man is named 1t will be concession from the Mckinleyites in the interest of harmony. The convention will be turbulent enc, however, as there are some troublesome opponents to the Ohio man present. Colonel Buck tele- phoned to police headquarters for com pany of officers, which was sent. The Reed crowd sent a delegation to the chief of police to protest against Bucks plan of admittance by ticket only. short ly after Il o'clock Buck called the con- vention to order and Secretary Deven called the roll prepared by the state com mittee.
 Col. A. E. Buck, chairman of the state committee and leader of the Mckinley forces, was elected temporary chalrnan. Upon motion of w. A. Pledger, leader of the anti Mckinley forces, permanent or ganization was soon effected by electing Buck permanent chairman. The fact that Piedger proposed Bucks name soon developed combination, by wh1ch Pledgers law partner, Il. l.. Johnson, was to be one or the four delegates from
 the state at large, the other three being
 Mckinley men, as follows: A. E. Buck,
 J. H. Devereaux and H. A. Rueker,
 all colored except Colonel Buck. TO
 effect this combination 1t was
 necessary to overthrow the plans of the
 Mckinley men to name Maj. J. F. Han-
 sen of Macon one of the delegates from
 the state at large, thus making solid
 Mckinley delegation. Hansen was until
 recently very prominent democrat, and
 is president of several cotton mills and
 also president of the Georgia Manufac-
 turers' association The negroes, under
 the leadership of Pledger, revolted at the idea of newcomer being made one
 of the delegates at large and the issue
 was thus forced on Hansen. In order to
 avoid conflict and a split in the con
 vention Buck agreed to drop him and
 accept Pledger's law partner.
 When the delegation as named was
 placed before the convention pandemo-
 num broke loose. R. S. Wright pro-
 tested and stated that as a Mckinley
 man he would never agree to even
 awarding one position to the other side,
 and that he repudiated the deal.
 Wright's name was then placed in nom-
 nation for delegate at large. Eight or
 ten colored speakers surrounded the
 chairman's desk, all speaking at once,
 and for half hour bedlam existed.
 Colonel Buck then put the combination
 delega ton to the vote of the convention
 and it was received with tremendous
 shout of aye and vigorous protest of
 mo-" Buck declared the convention ad-
 journed for dinner the meantime E.
 K. Love, one of the colOred delegates,
 put Wright's name to the vote of the
 convention and in the midst of the con-
 fusion declared him unanimously elected.
 Cha Rnclx'c dao1a ri ha
 lar convention as adjourned Love took
 the chair. While part of the convention
 filed out, the Wright forces remained
 contest for the seat of Wright before
 the national convention is inevitable and
 as Buck and Pledger, being the leaders of
 the opposing factions, have. agreed on a combination delega ton 1t is probable that
 Wright will have little showing. Both Buck and Pledger were vigorous in their
 efforts to have the combination delega-
 tien elected in the interest of what they called the harmonious action of the party.
 The convention is overwhelmingly for Mckinley, but had the combina tion not
 been effected by which the opposition was given one of the four places the anti Mckinley forces would have .bolted, and had made all arrangements accordingly.
 The Mckinley men claim that they had nineteen delegates of those elected by the districts. and this gives them twenty two of Georgia's twenty-six. The facts seem to bear out this claim Perhaps one man elected as a Mckinley delegate is a doubtful quantity, and twenty-one to five would be a safe estimate. The though elected simply as anti-McKinley
 men.
 The regular convention did not adopt any resolutions, this evidently being part of the deal The Wright convention adopted resolutions indorsing Mckinley.