The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-13

but the other 122 We're for William L.
Mclaughlin. and he is the candidate.
WARD 4.
The ward caucus WIS notable for
one thing-Mellen, 1t was Mellen, Mel
len, everywhere, from till 8 o'clock, In
Father Mathew Hall Mellen was one
Of the first men there. Mollen was one
of the last men away, Mellen greeted
| each voter with the glad hand and the
happy face. Mellen showed them how
to vote, without regard to kind or
quality, The young and the old, the
halt and the blind, were all objects Of
his solicitation. Mellen was the apple
of their eyes and the pride Of their
hearts, their leading hight their guar
dian angel; in short, Mellen was the
whole thing. And the result was nat
ural; Mellen was nominated for repre-
sentative by the democrats of the eigh-
tenth Worcester district by a large
vote.
BY Mr. Mellen and mis- friends it was
claimed that the vote was the largest
ever cast in the district for any candi-
date at a democratic representative
caucus. But history goes to show that
they are mistaken. Last year the vote
was as follows: Mellen, SIS; Russell,
448; blank, 10. The total vote last night
was 1885, and out of this James Fl. Mel
| len received 331 votes, the other five
being cast blanks.
Any opposition that the nominee may
have feared from M. L. Russell did not
materiali1e, and he had a clear field.
1t was said by friends o. D. McGilli-
cuddy, who were present at the caucus,
that this lack of opposition TO Mellen
was partly due to work on the part of
| the doctor, who has been out against
Russell.
The caucus was orderly, but the lack
| Of efficiency on the part of the officials
was noticeable, and at times during the
evening things were done under the
very eyes of the officers which ap-
preached. If not actually constituted,
! violations of the provisions of the eau
| Gus law. In the most noticeable or
these occurrences the nominee himself
played prominent part. Andrew JUDD,
| q man well along in years, entered the
| hall and after being greeted by MI
Mellen and shown the way to the Vot-
| ing booths, started in TO vote. Evident
ly he had mislaid his glasses or met
with some other misfortune, for
he did not appear to make
much Roadway. The ballot was fold
ed one and after looking over the out
| sides Of it for several moments, MI
Judd gave UP in despair He turned
about and glanced appealingly around
the room Mr. Mellen was seated a
few feet outside the row of settees
which served as dividing line pc
| tween the space reserved for the Vot-
ers and the rest of the room. For
moment Mr. Judd wavered, but the
temptation was too strong, and casting
all regards for caucus laws to. the
winds he stepped outside the dividing
| line of settees and walking over to
where Mr. Mellen sat laid his trouble
| before him.
| Mr.. Mellen was as regardless of eau
Gus laws as Mr.. Judd and obligingly
unfolded the old gentlemans ballot for
him and showed him where to mark
| it,
This was one instance. Another was
where two young men entered the hall
together. One had evidently voted and
the other was about to vote, but did
not seem to know how to go about ii.
| His companion succeeded in getting
him into the voting area with ballot
| in hand, and then the poor fellows
troubles began. He turned back at the
booth and beckoned his companion in
side. The other evidently knew his
business, however, for he refused to
comply. and stood at the entrance to
the voting area. Finally the young
man in the booth succeeded in mark
ing his ballot and he then stepped
| across to where his friend stood and
showed him how he had marked it. 1t
was evidently satisfactory for he then
went to the ballot box and cast 1t. the
serious side of such things is that the
caucus officers allowed them and other
things of minor Importance to take
place under their very noses without
| even noticing them. When the janitor
| OF the hall finally removed the settees
which divided the booths from the rest
az the room the warden did raise a
protest and succeeded in having them
returned.
| The caucus was called to order at
II Clio by John Z. Mellen, son of the nom
| inee, who was delegated to fill that
office by the democratic ward commit
tee of ward A. After the reading Of
the call the following officers were
chosen: Warden. George A. Carpen-
ter: clerk, John r. Mellen; inspectors,
! James Ready. John F. Courtney, Peter
! S. Gallagher and John ]. White. The
polls were kept open until S.45.
| AS soon as the result Of the caucus
was known the nominee was called up
| on for a speech. He replied in part as
| follows Fellow democrats, l DO not
want to make a speech this evening
and hope that you will excuse me. On
election night, if elected, 1 shall be
pleased to address you. 1t is needless
| to lay before you the platform that l
propose to stand upon. stand for dem
ocratic principles, and, gentlemen, II
elected, l can assure you that ! will
| look after the interests of Worcester
and Worcester county in the legisla-
ture.
l shall never favor a law which fayors
return to the conditions of the middle
a,-ae snd shall never favor a law
| which empowers judge to imprison a
man for debt shall never favor such
a street railway law as was enacted in
the legislature of 1898. The streets be-
long to the cities and towns and the
| seiectmen and aldermen should have
the control of them, not three MEN in
Boston known as the railway commits