The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-08-11

nor have l ever experienced any Such
silly sangunary sentiments as the clipping
contains. We may not agree upon some
matters, but l have said nothing more than
1 have recently said and written to you
L have marked some parts of the Tribune's
account wherein utterances which are
wrongfully ascribed to me are without the
slightest foundation in fact 1 was rot
present at tine meeting OF the delegation
therein referred to until after tie occur
rences therein mentioned, and never heard
of them until now.
Somebody is bent on mischief.
l value our long standing personal
friendship too highly to suffer it to be
married by any msrepres ant alton or mis-
understanding. if can help il.
Yours truly,
j. NJ BOWLER.
This is noble, manly letter, and
does credit to the majors head and
heart
The passages he marks are contained
in the following Fart Of the Tribune's
article-nearly every line of which is
underscored as false:
The committee Immediately took under
consideration the threat Of Mr.. Dornelly.
Mr. Bowler expressed himself in strong
terms against the proposition and stated
that II Donnelly wanted fight to a finish
TIC SHoufu nave IL. MT. BOWER also CllIeQ
attention to the fact that Donnely denied
that Dobbyn had been elected chairman
or the national committeeman of the state.
Mr. Bowler went into the details pertaining
to this election and stated that at the
st. Louis national convention when Dob
Dyn had been elected a queer condition of
AFFAIRS had arisen. The convention had
been attended by 80 Minnesota delegates
who were to elect three members to consti-
tute the state committee. OF these Dobbyn
had the most votes and was apparently
considered chairman. To this Donnelly had
objected and a vote was then taken. AL
though Dobbyn was virtually elected on
the first ballot, DOnnelly, as chairman of
the meeting would not announce his cleo
ton until after ballots had been
taken. Mr.. Bowler was most emphatic in
his denunciaton of the Donnelly threat
and stated that he was eager for the fight
to commence
Our readers can understand the in
dlgnatlon we feel that any man, pre-
tending to belong to the Peoples par
ty. should set forth such a mess of hor-
rible lies, and attempt thereby to create
war btween two members of the party
who have been lifelong friends. The
man who would be guilty of such prac-
tices ought to be ostracised from the
society Of gentlemen. We leave Messrs.
DObbyn and Lynch to settle the mat
ter between them. as to who gave these
statements to the reporters, for they
are the only ones who are reported to
have been present besides Major Bowler
The Populsts of Minnesota can see the
kind Of influences that are at work
first trying to turn the party over to
the Democrats and then trying by abso-
lutte and shameful falsehOods to set the
members of the party to tearing each
others hair out.
But this is not all. The statement
contained in that article that we were
present and acted as chairman of the
meeting at which Dobbyn was elected
chairman CT the committee: and that
we refused to declare him elected until
seven ballots had been taken, is a lie
out Of whole cloth. We never heard of
Dobbyn's election; and we were not
present at any meeting of the delega-
ton except the first one. We got
enough at that seance. We perceived
that Owen, Dobbyn and their coterie
had the whole thing packed, and that
we could not resist their knavery ex-
cept by an appeal to the delegation
| which our self-respect forbade Us to
make.
But when we saw Dobbyn ramping
around and posing as chairman, as he
does in the Tribune article and else
where, we did not know but there was
some foundation for his claim 1t turns
| cut however, that this is another
! shameful lie.
We have just received the following
every true Populists in the state, Mr.
| Thomas J. .Meighen. of Forestvilla
! MINI. 1t is private letter, but We dc
not hesitate to print it, because Mr.
| Meighen never says anything privately
| that he will not stand by publicly. Here
is the letter:
Forestville, Aug. c. 1897
| Hon. Ignatius Donnelly.
Ny Dear Friend:-Your 4th inst
| clipping, herewith returned. is re-
| ceived. l do not think Maj. Bow
| Ter could have made such state
| ments as credited to him in this article
| You are right when you said that there is
| no chairman of the national committee for
! Minnesota. Prof. Dobbyn has been posing
| as such without any authority whatever.
| The last action taken at st. Louis by our
state delegation to the national convention
was to pass q resolution authorizing the
| ph,rs rs ha matt al I TO-.
| for this state to organize themselves by
| selecting one of their number as chairman.
| l think Mr.. p. J. Seeberger was acting as
secretary of the meeting of the organi-
| cation when the resolution was passed.
| There has never been any action taken
| from that day to this, so far as | am ad-
| vised. Prof. Dobbyn has been paradinc as
! the head of the national committee for
Minnesota without any authority what
! ever.
| have always stood ready to support
| Maj. Bowler for chairman, but I never
would consider Dobbyn after the exhibit
ton of imbecility-or worse-on the part
| of himself and e. r. Lynch in connection
| with the transportation and hotel accom-
| mediation to convention at ST. Louis last
| year. l would not favor either of them
| Tor any position requiring as much execu-
| tive capacity as ten year old boy should
! possess.
| l will ask little space soon in the Rep
| resentative to review the work of DObbyn
| Lynch, ct al, the past year. | am too busy
now.
| Sincerely your friend
| THOMAS j. MEIGHEN
P. S.-Maj Bowler talked this chairman
| ship matter over coming home from ST
| Louis and since: so ! cannot understand