Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-04
j -a.,ess .saay NsFsSS SisSsxes-+ BIGGEST MAN IN KENTUCKY Is Hon. Joe Blackburn at This
 Writing. GOLD IS AT A BIG DISCOUNT The Silver Men Will Have It All Their Way at Lexington and at Staunton, Va,
 Too, Today
iOLD IS AT A BIG DISCOUNT

Lexington, Ky, June 3.-This was a
 day of triumph for Senator Blackburn
 and the free silver element of the blue
 grass democracy. The white metal ad-
 vocates outnumbered their opponents in
 the state convention 3 to l, but they were
 not disposed to be magnanimous and, de-
 spite the pacific advices of Senator
 Blackburn, the gold men were shown
 scant courtesy. State Chairman Charles
 R. Long called the convention to order
 at TAO D. m. in the auditorium of the
 Chautauqua assembly building.
 It was a full convention, for, instead of
 being 910 delegates, there were nearly
 1900 within the enclosure set apart for
 them, all the contesting delegations be-
 ing present in full force. Chairman Long
 was the first to experience the Ill will
 of the silVefiteS. In closing his address
 he said: Grover Cleveland stands to-
 day as the equal in devotion to the best
 interests of our government and faithful
 service of any president that has preced-
 ed him, and the country is indebted to
 the democratic party for his election,
 and I doubt not that the convention will
 give hina its votes.'
 This was the signal for scene. The
 silver delegates yelled and shouted and
 created such a disturbance that the
 chairman could scarcely proceed, and
 when he said John G. Carlisle stands before the American people as one of the purest and ablest statesmen" they drowned his voice with hoots and yells. Nominations for temporary chairman being in order John $. Rhea, for the sill yer men. presented the name of Charles J. BronSton for temporary chairman, and Col. Bennett H. Young (gold) nominated Judge Alex F. Humphrey. He could scarcely be heard and the chairman re- lAIl 1 Bronston won by big majority. The vote, which showed the strength of the silverites in the convention, was: Bron- ston 6S1. Humphrey 206
 MT. Bronston then addressed the con- | yention, and, after he had finished his address, John $. Rhea, the noted free silver orator. was called for. He re- sponded in a three minute speech, coun- | seling harmony. Then Senator Blackburn appeared on l the platform. The delegates rose as one man, waved their hats, umbrellas, hand kerchiefs, or whatever else they had handy, and cheered for several minutes before they would allow him to speak The senator told of his years of service to the party and said that while he had suffered much at the hands of democrats who opposed the policy he advocated he bore them no ill will and had no animos- ity against those who had fought him so bitterly. He counseled harmony and urged his friends to be generous in this, the hour of their victory, and unite with the opposition, but without surrendering any of the principles for which they had fought so bravely
 After the appointment of committees the convention at 4 o'clock took 8 recess until D. m.
 The convention was called to order at S:10 tonight, but the committee on ere deatials not being ready to report, the other committees could not report The
 organization committee also had great
 deal of work to do thoroughly reorganiz-
 ing the party machinery of the state and could not report tonight.
 Speeches were made by Evan b. Settle, free silver candidate for congress from the Ashland district Gen. P. Wat Hardin and others, after which the convention adjourned until 10 a. m. tomorrow.