The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-15
FIXED FOR BAILEY
CONTEST COMMITTEE COMES GLAD
LY TO THE RESCUE.
Beaten i'm the Primaries Two TO One,
but hat Never Daunts n DEM
ocrat Seeking Office.
RIOTING At THE PRIMARIES
GENERAL FREE-FOR-ALL FIGHTS IN
MANY OF THE MEETINGS..
Free Train VIII Take Both DemuIists
and POpOcrats to Franklin to
the Convention To-day.

If the riotous proceedings at last nights
Popocratic primaries can be taken as an
earnest of the temper of the mob that will
invade Franklin to-day, ii behooves the
residents of that peaceful little city TO bar
their doors and windows and keep off the
streets until the trouble is over. The pri-
maries were, for the most part, largely at
tended, and while occasionally a peaceful
meeting was held, most of them were
noisy riots from start to finish, and result
ed in contesting delegations. The worst
element of the city was out in force, and
Heier's Hessians. went from primary to
primary helping out with perfect impair
TALLY whichever faction had made the ne
cessary business arrangements for their
services. They were for the Bailey crowd
in one ward and in another were whoop-
ing it up for the anti-Bailey combination.
In the primaries Bailey was beaten, but
at this writing he is fast winning back all
his lost ground through the work of the
contest committee. appointed In his interest
by John ROCKFORD, the man whom he
made county chairman. The three other as
pirants for the congressional nomination,
Cooper. Moon and Stuart. had entered into
a CompdCt 10 UOWn MIN, WITH the unuer-
standing that all should work together in
the primaries. and that after the first bal
lot the weakest of the three should with
draw in favor of the strongest and the
other should follow. This means that Moon
shall withdraw first i'm favor of Cooper and
be Immediately followed by Stuart. This
combination proved too much for Bailey.
and they had him beaten all over town I'M
til the contest committee got in its work.
The sound-money Democrats held aloof
and permitted the push to fight 1t out
among themselves. Thomas Taggart was
the only one OF the original "goldbugs'
that had the temerity to put his nose in,
and he got it promptly put out of joint.
The Mayor does not seem TO realize the
fact that he Is a dead bird in local Demo-
cratic affairs. laboring under the impress
sion that his handspring back into line
would bring to him all the influence that
was his before he made the .'muff" that the
Cadi Is so fond of telling about. Last
nights experience. when he was able to
count but twenty followers out of 14O vot-
erS at the primary in his own ward, may
serve as an eye-opener. The push" trusts
him not, and one Of the things that helped
to give a popular majority against Bailey
was the fact that Taggart and the city ad-
ministration were quoted as for him..
In the Second. Third, Sixth, Twelfth and
Thirteenth wards the Bailey people did not
have enough TO put up a show OF a fght,
but in all the others they got up bolts and
took the fight before the contest commit
tee, composed of T. T.. Johnson, Judge Cox,
Pierce Norton, Henry T. Hudson and Bar
ney Kelly, and these gentlemen did not
do a thing to the combine but cast it into
outer darkness. With contesting delega-
tons from the First. Fourth, Fifth. Sew
enth, Eighth, Ninth. Tenth. Fourteenth
and Fifteenth wards 1t was a fairly easy
as the city was concerned, though he had
no ~uncontested delegates TO start on except
those from the Eleventh. But giving him
all these. he must have some. support from
the country precincts or from johnson
county or fall by the wayside. In all these
contested wards the anti-Bailey crowd had
the voters, bat the Bailey people, nothing
daunted, followed the old Democratic plan
of making SO much noise and reating so
was going on until it was announced that
1t was all over. Wherever this was car
ried through the combine faction promptly
bolted and held another primary, and
where II was blocked the Bailey crowd
bolted just as promptly. The silver howl
ers are great people for boiling when they
cannot have things their own way, and
when they fight among themselves boiling
.straightway becomes a popular fad.
Boilers galore, boilers of both factions
and boiters in all stages of drunkenness
filled the Cleveland clubrooms, where the
contest committee met Immediately after
the primaries They, were Jostllng and
pushing, swearing and calling each other
harsh names and displaying a very ugly
humor.
After hearing part of the contests the
committee was unwise enough to announce
its decision in the Fifteenth. seating the
Bailey delegates. Flynn's crowd, when the
Higgins gang had them beaten two TO one.
This precipitated a riot Commodore Hig-
gins screamed at the committed, shaking
his fist at them through the glass doors
and applying every vile epithet he could
lay his tongue to. His mildest effort was
to curse them as "scoundrels. rascals and
traitors to the party" They shut the door
in his face, but the crowd gave three
cheers and boosted Higgins upon a chair
and he hurled his billingsgate at the COM
mittee through the transon. His speech
was utterly unfit for publication and so
pu~nctuated with ribald oaths that the at
mosphere was blue. Finally the commit
tee was unable to stand 1t longer and re-
tired out OF sight In the officers room,
sending out word that they would an
nounce no more results until morning.