The herald., 1896-08-17

undoubtedly be full of interesting situa-
terest is being manifested on all sides
as to the outcome.
The friends Of the rival candidates are
confident that the result will bring sue
cess for their favorite. The managers of
l.. j. Rose claimed last evening that they
had secured accessions which would be
sufficient to make Mr.. Rose winner on
the first ballot that would be taken to-
day.
On the other hand, the Patton men
claim that their man cannot possibly be
defeated, as they have thirty nine vot es
assured.
Under these circumstances and with
the complicated condition in which
matters surrounding the convention are,
it Is practically impossible for any one
to make an intelligent prediction as to
who the nominee will be-
FORECAST OF THE BUSINESS.
After the convention is called to order
this morning about the first thing that
will be done will be to settle on the mat
ter of proxies.
1t is safe to say that there will be but
few proxies in this convention. Almost
every delegate will be present in person
to do his own voting.
However, there will be some proxies.
Parties who gave them for the Ventura
convention may have revoked the au-
thority given for that gathering and is
sued later written authorizations. If
this be the case, these later proxies will
probably be submitted to the conven-
tion and referred to the committee on
credentials for investigation and report.
l.. -, sv,r tf.t II
matter the convention will probably take
q recess.
When the committee Is ready to re-
. port then the body will be reconvened TO
hear it. About this time matters and
things will be lively. But after the war
is over the convention will get down to
business and to- balloting.
CHAIRMAN MERRITT ACCUSED.
The adh<rents of Patton at the Ventu-
ra convention charged Chairman M. r,
Merritt with having voted proxy he
held from John Irvine of Salinas for
L. J. Rose. when Mr.. Irvine had in
writing instructed Mr.. Merritt to vote
1t for Patton. This charge is substan-
tiated as far as Mr.. Irvine's testimony
goes by letter received from him yes
terday by Mr.. Patton, in which he says:
Il instructed Merritt in writing to vote
for you"
Mr.: Irvine has since sent his proxy to
AtSht, VI lIllSdllOIl dCJ Idulc,
and with 1t came a revocation of the
proxy given to Mr.. Merritt
The Patton people now claim that the
proxies held by Mr.. Merritt and other
Rose adherents were voted for Mr.. Rose
contrary to instructions, and think that
possibly this was the case with those
OF Messrs. Green, Gordan and ZabalIa
of Monterey
MERRITTS STATEMENT
Chairman w. r. Merritt has arrived
In the city and was yesterday quartered
at the Nadeau. He has an entirely
different story to tell about the Irvine
proxy which he voted at Ventura. He
denies most emphatically that he vio-
lated any OF the conditions under which
the proxy was given to him.
When the gentleman was seen bv a.
Herald representative last evening he
drew forth from his inside pocket the
following statement:
The proxies of s. B. Gordon of Pacific
Grove, c. z. Herbert and P. E. Zabalia
of Salinas, F. J. Leahy of Slack's can
yon, H. A. Greene of Monterey and John
Irvine of Santa Rita. All these, Mr..
Merritt stated, were given to him with
out any reservation, and he voted them
for Rose at Ventura as it was under
stood that he would do. Having heard
no complaints as yet from any of the