Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-06-22
BARTON, VERMONT, MONDAY, JUNE %, 1896.

present list of State officers, and the
annihilatlon of Josiah Grout as po-
litical factor. Altogether this was a
magnificent thing in the conception
of the originators of the plan. To ac-
complish it a large and efficient force
of men were selected and set to work.
The lines of attack were not on the
character of the men nor upon their
records; but they were to be over
thrown by cowardly attempt to stir
up prejudices and to incite passions.
Among the potent weapons to be en-
ployed was the slur that there were
too many Grouts; that one of them
had held Office for a long time and
that another was seeking for place;
one was reported to be large farmer
in the newspapers-and he was
sneered at and smirched for that;
that he was G. A. r. man was used
where it would do as an objection be-
cause the state has been liberal in the
dispensation of it's favors to the sol
dier element; an attempt was made,
and with considerable success to elicit
young men in the interests of Mr..
Stickney; there was a great cry
against the ssold ring" For some
reason on the west side of the state
and in localities most given to the
high license idea, there was clam
or for Stickney, and it seemed to be
assumed that this idea might become
more popular under his administra-
ton than under that of Mr.. Grout.
The great champion high license pa
per has loudly doomed the cause of
Mr.. Stickney. Influences which need
not be mentioned caused the defeat
of Mr.. .Grout in the Burlington caucus,
and the impetus given to the Stickney
boom from this result was great. The
above will give an idea of the ma
chine and combination Mr.. Grout had
to overthrow.
Toward the last end of the canvass,
when it became known that the ele-
ments were being moved to compass
the defeat of Mr.. Grout, his friends
began to stir themselves more active
ly and were able to more than hold
their own. The bluff game was re-
sorted to at this time and the Stick
ney papers began to claim the earth.
Later, when the rural and far off del
egates began to gather in at Burling-
ton, they found that the Stickney peo-
pie were putting tags on every man
who would permit it, labeled "The
Peoples Candidate, w. w. Stickney,
of Ludlow" These were quickly
pinned to every supposed Stickney
man, to delegates and their alter
mates, to all their strikers, to the
gamins of the street and wherever
they might be used to convey the i'm
preston that everything was for
Stickney. Word was received toward
night in Burlington, that the Grout
forces had completed the utter rout
of the opposition at Montpelier, and
that an important battle had been
lost to the conspirators. During the
evening and night preceding the con-
vention every man on either side was
doing his best to help on the cause of
his candidate, each side claiming a
small majority. The Grout people
were not boasting but were courage
Gus and confident, their count show
ing a small majority. Nothing but
treachery somewhere could prevent
victory. Their enemies professed
equal confidence, and had hoped, if
they had not already done it, to SO
stampede the delegates as to win
over few votes. Their efforts in
the convention were ineffective, ap-
parently, and they must have seen,
so far as the talk and speeches there
were concerned, that they made no
progress. The attempt on the part of
their speakers to cast slurs and to de-
ride Mr.. Grout was promptly met at
all points and they made no headway
in this way. They had rather had the
largest gallery shouting force, but
they failed to stampede and out vote
the Grout men.
The contest was so sharp andlthe
victory in numbers was SO small that
the Grout people had no disposition
to exult very loudly over their en-
emies. Mr.. Stickney made a most
gallant fight, and the people of the
state will at least call him an astute
politician, if he did not win.
Washes more clothes and don't rot them
-HarnleSs sOap