The San Francisco call., 1896-07-05
considerable pushing to get it through the

The Bland boom did not suffer anything
by this little diversion. His is the only
name that is spoken with any degree of
enthusiasm which seems to fit into the
silver niche. The nickname, "Silver Dick,
has done about as much to make him pop
ular as all the arguments of his advocates.
He is the author of the Bland bill, and
that fact being known to every silver man
in the convention has had Its expected ef-
feet. Outside of the States which have
fsvorite sons in the field Bland seems to
be the only candidate in vogue.
At one time to-day 1 thought that the
Bland boom wobbled just a little bit, and
that was when postofice file Of delegates
tramPed upstairs in what seemed a never
ending procession wearing rabbit path
on the carpet to the door OF Mr.. Boies'
room. That foxy old gentleman, in the
guise of an innocent granger, had slipped
into town just for a day in order, as his
friends said, to confer with his political
advisers here in the van of battle. He is
to go away tonight. When / opened the
door of his room in the Palmer House this
morning l ran afoul of very sweet
spoken gentleman who was acting as this
honest old granger's bodyguard. He
drew ME aside TO one corner of the room,
and holding ME against the wall by the
coat lapel with his left hand, cut great
gashes in the atmosphere with his open
right hand in his most earnest attempts to
impress upon my feeble understanding the
vital fact that Mr.. Boies would not talk
politics and would not be interviewed
upon any subject by newspaper man.
Then l stood the bodyguard up against
the wall while l impressed upon his mind
the fact that 1 had not come for the pur-
pose of interviewing Mr.. Boies, but that 1
desired to press his sunburned, horny
hand and gaze into that guileless face and
upon that noble brow, thatched with the
SHOWS of well-spent years while hoeing
corn on the prairies of Iowa.
When l handed my card to the candi-
date for the Presidency a look of pain
erased the good-humored wrinkles from
the corners of his eyes and he cast an ct
tn Brute glance at his bodyguard, who re-
assured him with wink. / put the old
gentleman still more at ease by repeating
that had not come for an interview, not
having porcine appetite for that which l
could not get, and he smiled upon me
with gratitude. He has a kind face with
a well-formed nose, the point of which has
been whitfield down very fine and sticks
out very sharply on horizontal line
There are smiling wrinkles around his
eyes, and when he smiles otherwise, which
is very often, he displays very good set
of teeth and his cheeks puff out with mer-
riment. He was pleased to say that he
felt in good spirits, that his political pros
poets were bright and that he was going to
return to his home this evening.
The interview was terminated by the
bodyguard presenting fat man from
New York in a linen suit. I had some
difficulty in getting away from the door
through the crowd of people, most of
whom were not delegates, but who wished
to have a talk with and to make them
selves solid with the man who perchance
by happy turn OF fortunes wheel may
become President or Vice-President of this
great county, with q whole lot of post
offices, consulships and other lucrative
offices at his disposal.
"Yes," l overheard man remark in the
New York quarters half an hour later,
"Boies is a nice old fellow and he'd make
a good run, because he has got some hay
seed in his hair. They say he owns a
whole lot of land and that he has callosi-
ties on the palms of his hands from cut
ting coupons"
That was all the wobble there was to the
Bland boom, but that will be more than
overcome if the suggestion Of some OF the
Bland people is adopted, which is to have
Mr.. Bland make his appearance here
within day or two in a casual kind of a
way to confer with some of his principal
advisers. For instance, should he come
here his appearance in the lobby will be
the signal for great outburst of cheering
for it cannot be disputed that all the per-
sonal magnetism which will affect this
silver convention is haloes around the
crown of "Silver Dick" of Missouri.
David Bennet Hill spent the glorious
Fourth in his rooms in the Palmer House
receiving his friends, and it was a very
hard days work indeed. Every man who
visited him seemed to have things of the
utmost Importance upon which TO consult
him. There were so many callers and
the interviews were so prolonged that 1
was obliged to wait for almost an hour
before was ushered into the presence of
this well-known statesman. AS 1 sat in
front of the open door of the inner room
in which Senator Hill received his visitors
1 had a very good view of him and
was able to form a tolerably good idea of
his mental makeup. He has one of the
finest heads l ever saw upon man. His
dome of thought rises grandly above his
eyes. and sweeps back IN a symmetrical
curve to a point behind the middle of his
ears, where it reaches semicircIe of brown
hair. the whole crown of his head being
perfectly bald. There are no Jumps. knots
or gulches in it. tits full and rounded, and
from chronological standpoint denotes
well-balanced mind. The Senator's eyes
are of very light blue or gray, so light
indeed that at times as he turned his face
toward the window there seemed to be no
color in them. They are rather deeply set
beneath a pair of very thin, straight eye
brows and rather close together. His
glance is quick and shifting, like his move
ments and gestures, and he gave me the
impression that he was man OF more
than ordinary guile and cunning. His
countenance does not belle him, for his
record is tha: of a shrewd political strate-
gist, one of those men who are most dan
oarouq In their momantS of defeat for ~