The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-23
A COUP OF THE MACHINE
DEMOCRATIC CITY PRIMARIES SUD-
DENLY CALLED FOR FRIDAY.
Chairman Curtis's Final Effort to
Head or the Silver Crowd-Spen-
Ger for Chairmanship.


his successor as chairman, for you know,
Of course, that 1 am not a candidate for
reelection" said he.
Would you not serve if you were
chosen?"
Il would be compelled to declineNto serve
under any circumstances. There are many
constitutional questions that have to be
looked after the park law. the 3-cent-fare
law and other important legal matters I
feel that l should devote my time to the
legal business of the city,
Until the last few days w. w: Spencer
was the only candidate for city chairman,
but recently Victor M. Backus has been
spoken of. Friends of Mayor Taggart say
that they presume Spencer would be salts
factory to every one, although Backus
would not be Objectionable.
Spencer was a silver man last fall, said
a city haIl official yesterday, land his Sc
lection would have the effect of modifying
the push Then he was turned down for
county chairman, although he was the best
man."
rs he friendly to the mayor"
II don't know as to that, but / suppose
he is. There is no reason why he should
not be so regarded so far as 1 know
Whether Mr.. Spencer will be satisfactory
to the silverities, presuming he is elected,
| remains to be seen. A few weeks ago
when a committee of braves" called on
City Chairman Curtis to get an expression
from him or demand his resignation, he as
sured them that everything would be done
fairly. AT a subsequent meeting of the sill
yer crowd it was declared that the ma
chine, with Curtis and Taggart at its
helm would do everything possible to cap
ture the coming convention. There were
demands that the new precinct committee
llxa ii etN 80
being appointed. AT this time however,
there was a feeling that Mr.. Curtis would
continue as chairman, and 1t was believed
that if the appointments were left to him
he would make his selections from the
ranks of the hated ''boltocrats' and gold
bugs.
1t is not true as reported yesterday that
the primaries Friday night are to be held
for the election Of precinct committeeman.
wards will be chosen to mes in the Grim
inal Court room for the purpose of electing
the successor of Chairman Curtis. The
new chairman will then appoint the pre-
cinct committeeman and have absolute con-
troll of the campaign, the machine" hav-
ing decided to stick to the rule adopted
four years ago.
WILL BE LIVELY PRIMARIES.
Since it is known that the new chairman
is to have autocratic powers and that the
faction which captures the primaries FRI
day night will virtually be in position to
control the situation for the remainder of
the campaign, it is anticipated that there
will be lively times at the voting places in
the different wards. The administration
seems to lean toward the candidacy of w.
w. Spencer, although V. M. Backus would
not be very distasteful.
The silver crowd realizes that it must
make its big fight Friday night. Some see
in the determination to hold the primaries
at this time an effort on the part OF the
hfVNea 70 fNfl
sleeping and get control of the situation
before the silverites have time to perfect
a live organization. Leaders of the silver
forces declare, on the other hand, that they
have something like 1000 men pledged to
work against Taggart's denomination. Now
is the time for them to make good their
boast 1t has been generally understood
that there was to be a short campaign this
year. Leading lights in the silver crowd
say that this early meeting is held simply
to down the silver sentiment. They will not
be Modified with nominal representation on
the precinct committees. and If they are
not given the consideration they demand
bolt seems imminent.
The outlook for the Gold-Bridges- Myers
Maus coterie is rather blue. Just who they
can get to fight against Backus and Spen
Ger for the Craftsmanship is in doubt: A
good deal of anger was expressed last night
when the plan of TaggartS machine was
made known to them and there was some
skurrying to head off the impending coup.
w. w. Spencer, it will be remembered,
was the candidate selected by Taggart and
his gold machine last year for county chair
man. 1t was the silver sentiment that de-
feated him and resulted in the election OF
Rockford instead Backus is quasi-sil-
verite, but his association with Sterling X
Holt and other ''boltocrats" makes the
push" rather wary CT him.
WHAT MR.. GOLD SAYS.
S. N Gold chairman of the Democratic
Silver League, regards the determination
to hold the primaries at this early date as
an effort of the machine to take snap
"a ell
been counting on such an early organiZa-
ton of the city committee, he says, but
the silver men have been talking the sit
uation over and have several candidates
for city chairman. Ed L. Little seems
rather in the lead, although V. M. Backus
has considerable following among silver
men who do not believe that he can be
controlled" by Taggart. There have been
several assertions from the Silver League,
being that of Doc Wiley, through whose
fundamentally Bill Flynn raided the
push" There is some suspicion as TO
who can be trusted. Mr.. Gold realizes that
prompt action will have to be taken to
head off Curts's latest trick, and a meet
ing will be held tonight or tomorrow night
to settle on a candidate for chairman. Mr..
Gold said last night that the only trouble
had been to decide on which one or the
aspirants to select.
They're playing a pretty slick game
against us, said Mr. Gold, by going
around among silver men VINO are not Ia
milar with the situation and trying to in
huence them in favor of Spencer. 1t is true
that he did good deal of work Tor the
cause of silver last fall, and that argument
is having some weight in his favor. The
same argument is being made in favor of
Taggart. The cases are different, for while
Taggart seemed all right, he kept gold men
in office OF course, / do not know but
that Spencer might have done the same
thing, had their positions been reversed;
AS between Spencer and Backus Mr.. Gold
said that the latter would be preferable,
as he is known to have been silver man,
and many believe that he is yet. Spencer
is known to be the machine" candidate
for chairman, and many of the push say
if he is elected Taggart will be able to die
tate to him who shall be appointed pre-
cinct committeeman.
1.-The most important thing about the
craftsmanship said Mr. Gold, lis the fact
that the chairman appoints the credentials
committee. His word goes when 1t comes
to passing on contests for places in the
convention and it is more especially i'm
portant for us tC elect the chairman on
this account.
He seemed to think that Spencer might
vet be defeated, although there is but short
lime in which to accomplish it. Mr. Gold
could not understand why the call for the
primaries had not been made on Monday,
as is usually done. except that II was 10
take the league unawares. lie says that
the precincts are fairly well organized, al
though the machine has had the adVan-
tage by knowing long before any one else
the boundaries of the new wards ana pre-
cincts. =, ~,
There has been some talk of j. H. Ma
honey for chairman, but he informed Mr..
Gold last night that he could not con-
slider the question Of acting. smith Myers