The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-19
FATAL OMISSIONS.
TarIant and ~Buriingame Are QUICKSILVER
Republicans.

Tal1snt and B~urlingame Are QUICKSILVER
Republicans.
Great Falls, Oct. 1s.-There are SOME
other fatal omissions in the biographi-
cal sketches OF the goldbug legislative
ticket. When suoh men as Dreary j.
Tallant and Juvenile NJ. Burlingame
are styled silver mel there must neces-
sarlly be an omission which any one
who has had a laboratory or assay Of
flee experience will at once supply.
When one handles mercury IL II advisa-
BILE to remove whatever rings or other
jewelry of gold he may be wearing at
the time, otherwise he will hnd that
mercury. or, as Ii was originally called,
quicksilver. has a very strong affinity
for gold, and the result is a consump-
ton of the gold by the mercury, an
amalgam which has no particular value
save as the mercury and the gold are
separated from IL. BY the way, In this
alloy the quicksilver IL volatile and on
application of heat flies away, leaving
naught but the gold. So II Tallant and
Burlingame ave any silver sentiment
about them at all II In of h kind
which is ready to absorb gold on sight
and which is easily d~issipated by heat.
They are not silver republicans, but
quicksilver republicans. n at first
sight the two are hard to distinguish.
AS suggested. the application of heat
Is the most practicable method of test
ing the matter. The gentlemen have
been tested.
One day in the fall Of 1886 a telegram
was received by Frank Kiepetko of this
city from l.. ii. Hershfield of Helena.
The telegram stated that Thomas Hen
~ Carter and f. ID. Weed would be in
Great Falls the following evening for
the purpose OF holding a rally-would
Mr.. Klepetko kindly arrange for the
x-2AKa1D ThA 0anflannnn UaS Jrraf
catching the train for Butte, where he
had urgent business. He therefore
turned the telegram over to n. George
Heidi of this city. asking that he at
tend to the matter. Mr.. Heidi took the
telegram at ice to the republican
headquarters and showed II to Dreary
]. TaIlant, who was chairman Of the
county committee, and to Juvenile NJ.
~Buriingame. who was the secretary
thereof. They looked over the tele-
gram: they looked at each other. Final
ly Juvenile spoke: w can't do any
thing for these fellows. They don't be-
long on our side of the fence. We are
silver men," In vain did Mr.. Heidi
plead with them to at least engage the
opera house. bu they refused to handle
pitch, lest they be defled. (This year
they are decidedly in the pitch bust
ness). In order that these republican
leaders might have an opportunity to
be heard. Frank klepetko put up the
rent of the hall and all other expenses
out of his own pocket. When they ar
rived Burlingame and Tallant were in
hiding. Not only that, but IL Is openly
stated by republicans that they got ny
the mob of small boys N hoodlums
tina chased the carriage from the Park
hotel to the opera house n there at
several times threatened to break UP
the meeting. Mr.. Heldt was the only
republican in the city who had the
courage to ride In the carriage with the
speakers, and these two men. who are
now posing as the leaders OF the Car
terites in this county. did not dare to
show up for two days afterward.
But in the intervening two years the
matchmaking process has been -four
ishing. Dreary J. Tallant discovered
that IL was Carter who presided at the
pie counter. and IL was through that
g~entleman's influence that the postof-
fee was dealt out TO him. He absorbed
gold quite rapidly. Burlingame did no,
get quite so much gold as his side
partner-his absorbing capacity has not
beer satisfied. but he is young yet and
learning rapidly. In either case the
quicksilver has weated out very easily
and little save gold Is left. The heat
of the campaign will 500 dissipate all
Of the silver that may be left. Thus