Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-27
cENTRA1 COMMITTEE.
Meeting of the e. Democratic Organ
izations: Last Night.
METHOD OF SELECTING JUDGES
Rumo's Today Il That There May Be
Two { Conventions.
GOSSIP ON THE STREET

SSIP ON THE Rect
All the members of the central democratic
committee of the District Of Columbia were
| present ut meeting held last night in
Costello's Hail. on street between 9th
| and 7th streets, except w. G. Byrnes of the
eighth district. and Bryan Mcdonald of the
| twenty-second district. The meeting was
held behind closed doors, but quite a crowd
! of local democrats, representing all shades
| of party opinion. gathered in the immediate
| vicinity Of the hall and eagerly waited for
| the draughts of intelligence about what
| was going on inside that occasionally blew
| out of the doors. The first business con-
| sidered was the completion Of the personnel
| of the committee. Mr.. Edward M. Cleary
| was admitted as the proxy of Mr.. William
M. Cleary. who represents the ninth as
sembly district in the committee He an
| nounced that he would be out of the city
for some time and wished ex-Congressman
Turner. formerly Of New York, and IA
miliarIy known as "Iceman" Turner be al
| lowed to represent him at future meetings,
! his request being agreed to. John c. Camp
bell was recognized as the proxy for Frank
r. Maddigan Of the eleventh district. and
| Edward +. Hughes was elected a regular
member of the committee from the six
teenth district to succeed Mr.. James F,
Brown, who had resigned.
The Selection of Judges,
| The question of selecting the judges for
the primary elections, which was thrown
| out as a suggestion by Mr.. Boyle at the
| last meeting of the committee, was taken
up on the motion of Paul Regan of the
| nineteenth district. who presented a resolu-
ton providing that each committeeman be
| authorized to appoint three Judges of cleo
| ton in his own district.
| Mr. Boyle suggested that the words Sub
| 1ect to the approval Of the central COM
mittee' be added. and this amendment was
| accepted by Mr.. Regain. Mr.. McKenna of
Georgetown, representing the fourth dis
| trlct stated that the people in his district
desired that the old system of selecting
| Judges be adhered to. 1t may be explained
| mere that the former plan followed by the
democrats of the District in choosing the
Judges for their primary election was as
| follows: On the day appointed for the hold
| ing OF such elections a primary meeting
was called to order in each district by the
| committeeman representing it. After a
| chalrman and a secretary were chosen
| nominations for judges were in order, and
| When three were decided upon by the meet
| ing they were placed in charge of the polls
| and the voting Immediately began. This
| was the course which Mr.. Mckenna de-
! clared was demanded by his constituents
| across Rock creek. Accordingly the com
| mittee. after considerable discussion, de-
| clded to incorporate in the resolution pre-
scented by Mr.. Regain and amended by Mr..
boyle provision giving each member of
| the central committee authority to use his
| own discretion IN the matter of selecting
| judges. either by the old system describe,!
| above. or by appointing them himself if he
oesireti, subject to approval by the central
| committee. This phase of the question was
discussed for more than an hour, those
| taking part in it being Messrs Campbell,
| Jordan, Mckenna, Lynch, Manogue. Wells.
| ROEia
| tello AMI Hammett- The resolution was
! then adopted unanimously.
Claims Of Both Sides.
| There was considerable derisIon INDUCED
| in this morning by those democrats who
| are aligned I'M opposition to the straight
| out ticket at thetaction taken by the CEN
trail committee last night. and 1t was de-
clared with much earnestness that means
| would be taken to prevail upon the indi-
| vidual members OF the central committee
| to adopt the old plan of selecting judges
| such as the resolution adopted last night
| empowers them to. The adherents of the
| straight OUTS, however, claim that all
| this excitement over the selection of the
judges of election is uncalled for and mis-
| leading. They say that the manner in
| which democratic primaries are held in the
| District prevent any possibilities of fraud,
| and that the action of the central commit
tee last night was fair and impartial to-
| ward all concerned.
Laughing Mt the Latest Ticket.
| There was general amusement in WELL
informed circles over the assertion which
has been given wide publicity that project
was being considered by which ticket
was to be made up for Chicago. containing
| the names of a. A Wilson. Dorsey Clagett,
| Lawrence Gardner and James L. Norris
| 1t only needed the names of Henry E.
Davis and Michael l. Weller to complete
| the humor contained in this proposition.
| The fact that Mr. Wilson and Mr.. Clagett
| are both office holders under the national
administration did not seem to enter into
| the calculations of the persons making such
| q suggestion, to say nothing of the we'll
| known differences Of opinion upon local
party affairs that exist among nearly all OF
! the gentlemen named.
Will There BE Two Conventions:
| There was considerable gossip during the
| day over the prospects of two democratic
conventions being held in the District of
| Columbia, and the probability of two sets
| Of delegates knocking at the door of the
| Chicago convention in July, and both de-
| handing admittarce from the District of
| Columbia, was eagerly disc used. This ru-
NOR probably grew out of the fact that
member of the central committee during
the discussion in that body last night de-
| ciared that 1t was the intention of the OPP
ponents of the ''straightout' ticket, 50
called to hold another convention here ip
case they found they could not control the
| regular convention of March IL. 1t was
impossible, however, to discover any def
hite grounds for the origin of such asser-
ton, the only thing evident today being
That from now on the fight between the va.
rious schools of thought" in the local
democratic party will grow more intense
and bitter every day.