The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-14
COL. BEACH'S WATERLOO.
A Tangled Rope Lost Him q Great Vic
tory at the State Convention.

Visitors to the State convention last week
noticed large picture of General Harrison
glide down from the ceiling over the chair
mans seat along late In the day. 1t was
greeted with a cheer and the convention
went on about its business Of nominating
Governor, the question of instructions and
delegates at large having been long before
disposed Of. Thereby hangs a tale, and II
COL Bill Holloway and Captain jack
Gowdy had only known how near their
Mckinley boom came to being eternally
knocked out by the Dreadful Vaccinations
OF no less a genius than Col" William
G. Beach they would have suffered all sorts
OF cold chills. Colonel Beach had been SELL
ing Harrison buttons at great and profita-
BILE rate. and he felt personally outraged
when the friends Of General Harrison de-
clined to fight instructions. Colonel Beach
conceived great scheme. He would fight
them himself. He could not control any
votes In the convention by the brutal force
Of command, but many fight before this
had been won by strategy, and to strategy
Colonel Beach determined to resort. He
conceived a Great Scheme He kept 1t
strictly to himself He succeeded In raising
about $40 or $50 by telling his friends that
he had the greatest thing on earth and in
ducing them to contribute to a sort of
blind pool He hunted up an artist on the
South Side and had an enormous picture of
General Harrison made. Then he succeeded
in getting the good will Of the custodian
or Tomlinson Hall and got access to the
chicken loft of the great structure There
he sawed board out of the ceiling Just
long enough to let the picture slide through,
rig9ing, fixed 1t in such shape that by pull
ing the string he could drop 1t down over
the chairman's table. Colonel Beach hired
to the bosom of his confidence. All through
the weary hours Of the night before the
convention he and his assistant wrought
manfully in the chicken loft.
The next day when Colonel Thomson
arose TO address the convention Colonel
Beach was lying alone In the loft with his
left eye screwed tightly to an auger hole
which bore directly upon the venerable
chairman. There he waited. and time
dragged by with leaden feet. while Uncle
Dick babbled and talked on in his remi-
niscent address. II shall only name one
candidate for the presidency said he. to-
wards the close of his address, .and his
down Colonel Beach's back. Harrison's
name was not to be mentioned. and there
was to be no opportunity to spring the
however Colonel Thompson mentioned the
magic name of Harrison. Colonel Beach
jerked the string and ran as If his life de-
pended on his getting out of the chicken
loft before the great host of McKinleyites
should come out and beat out his ingenious
brain. In his mad flight he stumbled into
bunch OF telephone wires and came near
plunging through the ceiling upon the as
sembled convention. He heard no uproar
from below. Something must be wrong. He
looked and horrors of horrorsi
The blamed thing had failed to work
Colonel Beach ran back and shook his
rigging franticaliy, but Ii would not bulge
and he finally became frightened at APP
preaching Footsteps and fled. Three or four
hours later. after the convention had for
gotten all about the presidential question,
Colonel Beach succeeded in getting his rig
ging in shape and the big picture of Harri-
son giided Enthusiastically down into view and
ton.