The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-04
CONVENTION GOSSIP.
Things a Correspond Saw and
Heard and Told About.
New York Sun.

New York Sun.
1t was in the dining room of the Deni-
son. The table was full. At its head sat
an old man with grizzly beard. a growing
voice, and a very emphatic manner of
speaking. He had been talking about many
things of a general nature, when he app
preached the subject of 'possums some
thing like this:
II say. did you ever get any 'possums
down this way? I tell you. friends, pos
sum is about the finest thing that ever
was put on a table to eat. Possum is de-
licious. 'Possum, sweet taters, hoe cake.
n honey, n piece O. watermelon is a
dinner for the gods.
What You never eat 'possum?" he said
to the man his right. why, you don't
know what living is. And you never eat
possum? he said to the man on his left
why, what kind of crowd have 1
most see his mouth water he rolled the
word around in his mouth. There isn't
any game in the world. he went on, equal
to possum with sweet taters; n hoe cake
N honey always goes with it. Well. good
morning. gentlemen, he concluded as he
got uD and left the table
Who is he?" asked the man at the foot
of the table. That? Why that is General
Bragg. You must know General Bragg,
here" General Bragg" gasped the man
at the foot; General Bragg, possum, sweet
taters, hoe cake honey, watermelon.
General Bragg, Gosh. and / was going to
vote for him in the convention, too"
1t was just $50 tonight when the streets
of this town rang with the rebel yells. They
could be heard from one end to the other.
and from one side to the other and that
is saying a good deal when you consider
the fact that Indianapolis covers almost as
much ground as Chicago. 1t was an en-
thusiastic bowling: shreking mob of three
hundred. 1t came from Georgia and Ala
bama- 1t carried banners and was headed
by Il band in white duck suits. From the
moment it struck town there has not been
a moments peace. This three hundred are
out for the soundest kind of sound money
and want everybody to know it. They are
going around tonight predicting that Geor-
gia and Ala Oama are all right, and that
Mckinley will carry both of them if a good
ticket is put up here. They are not like the
Arkansas folks. They say that if they are
going to vote they have got to vote for a
Democrat, and they here to see the
very best Democrat on earth put up.
For four hours before the arrival of the
New York delegation to-day the Bates
House deluged with kilograms from
points along the Big Four road over which
the delegation was coming, that read some
thing like this: NO COTS we won't have
cots; give us beds
The New York delegates had read in the
papers coming West of the trouble the ho-
tells had to provide accommodations and
they were worried. Just how many tele-
grams came is not mentioned but it was in
the neighborhood of nine hundred When
the crowd arrived the clerks at the hotels
were trying to swim out from the mass.
The kilograms were unnecessary, for the
accommodations had been reserved for the
New Workers and every man had bed
He was little old man with long white
beard. He stood in the corridor of the
Bates this morning and shook his head. He
looked as if something was troubling him,
and the reporter approached and asked if
there was anything the matter.
No" he said. No, nothing the matter.
L was only thinking. just thinking, that's
1901 was; yes, SIR consumed old fool.
Now, | have been member of the In
diana Legislature a good many times, and
was just a thinking. voted for Voor-
hees three times for Senator when Ben
Harrison was running, and voted against
Ben Harrison for President, and l was just
thinking what d consarned fool L was. and
| was wishing and wishing that i might
just live long enough to take back those
that if l had a voted the other way on
those four. occasions the country would
than it is. You see. my conscience is troub-
ling me a little. that's ALL"
Ex-Mayor John Hopkins, of Chicago. the
boss boomer of Watterson, volunteered this
morning to escort d party around To the
hall in which the convention is to be held
and show them through it. They had just
left the hotel when a small boy yelled:
Murray for Mckinley, Say. youse peo-
pie is bully; helping Republicans
My SON." said the Mayor, patting the
youth on his head, you are fifty years old
If you are a day. You grow old quick here,
don't you?'
1t was Delegate Crawford from Texas.
He was in the corridor of the Bates, sur
rounded by Il crowd. and there were two
or three free-silver men in the crowd who
were talking about the Boy Orator. Dele
gate Crawford had given two three hun
dred reasons why the Boy Orator should
not be voted for and finally he declared
emphasizing his declaration by banging one
fist into the other. Il want TO say to you
people that the people of my State. the
State of Texas, don't want no elocutionist
in the White House and you might just as
well understand it,
The hotel clerks here suffering from
hoarseness in a very severe form. They
can hardly speak above whisper. One of
the clerks at the Bates asked this
morning what was the trouble, and he man
aged TO say huslStly:
Say. I've lost my voice saying there
amt bathroom left in the house. These
are funny people here. We ran out of
baths on the first batch of kilograms, and
I've been getting hoarser and hoarser ever