Abilene weekly reflector., 1899-04-20
XTOy'SSUCCESSOR
Senior Vice Commander, G. A. R., ,
to Perform the Chiefs Duties.
The WICHITA & DENISOy RAILWAY.
The Survey for the New Road to Com nience
the Coming summer--Army Beef
Inqutry--van Wyck u Probable
Candidate for President.

OF tne Grand army Oh tne hepuoll'
held two sessions at the local e. A. K
headquarters, in Independence hall
yesterday for the purpose OF eectinl
commander.in-chief to fill the va
cancy caused by the death OF Gen
James A. Sexton. There was no elec
tion. The first meeting was held IL
the afternoon and the other at night
Both sessions were executive and the
members OF the com ttee declined tt
divulge what transpired. 1t was
stated, however, by several old sol
ders, who claimed to know. that there
was deadlock on the names OF Col.
W. c. johnson, of Cincinnati, senior
vice commander.in-chief, and Gen.
John C. Black, Of Chicago, commander
of the department of Illinois. After
the meeting the only official announce,
ment made was the result and the fol-
lowing resolution, which, it was
stated was adopted:
Whereas For the first time in the history OF
the Grand Army Of the Republic the COM
mandcr-n chief mas died while In office.
therefore be II
Resolved, That as a mark Of respect TO the
memory of James A. Sexton, the late com
, mander- In -chief, the senior vice commanders
in.chicf shall continue to perform the duties
Of commander -in-chef, and the office OF COM
IL ander-n-chief shall remain without m in
cumbent until the meeting Of the thirty third
national encampmort
Grand Army men here dispute the
right of the executive committee to
elect commander-in-chief They say
the bylaws of the Grand Army give
the power of filling vacancies to the
national council of administration,
but that the council is not empowered
to delegate its functions to the com
mittce.
THE WICHITA d DEHIsoN RAILROAD.
Guthrie, Ok, April l3 Articles OF
incorporation for the reorganization
of the Wichita & Denison Railway
company have been filed with the ter
rtorial secretary and it is believed the
survey for the new road will be com.
menced during the coming summer
1t is intended to run the road from
Denison, Grayson county, Tex, in a
northerly direction through the Chick
asaw nation, Pottawatomie, Lincoln,
Payne, Noble and Kay counties, of
Oklahoma, and Cowley, Sumner and
Sedgwick counties, of Kansas to
Wichita. twill lrun through Shawnee,
Chandler, Perkins, Tryon and Still.
water The estimated length Of the
road is 325 miles and the estimated
cost OF construction is $1,000, O0O
THE ARMY BEEF INQUIRY.
Washington, April IS. tens Adna
r, Chatfee and A. r Arnold, DrA
Iluidekoper and Capt Williams, of the
commissary department, were before
the Wade court of inquiry yesterday.
Gen. Chaifee said that, while he con
sidered the refrigerator beef supplied
to the army at Santiago wholesome,
the officers and men of his command
refused generally to eat it, He at
tributed this largely to the fact that
most OF them were sick, DR.. lluide'
koper said the canned beef was gen.
orally of poor quality. Capt Williams
told OF the condemnation of the beef
on board the transport Panama. Gen.
Arnold's testimony dealt with the beef
supplied at Jacksonville, which was
he said, generally wholesome, Mem
bers of the court expressed confidence
of being able to conclude the taking
OF testimony by the early part of next
week. There will not be much del ay
after that in the presentation of the
report
PROBABLE CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.
New York, April IS. Judge Angus
tus Van Wyck, the last democratic
candidate for governor Of New York,
is to be the chief speaker at the demo-
cratic clubs so dinner to-day. A great
many people who are supposed to un-
derstand the inside of democratic pol
itcs believe that in his speech to.
night, Judge Van Wyck will make his
appearance as candidate for the
democratic nomination for president
1t is known that he will outline the
kind of platform that the eastern DEM
ocrats think should be adopted by the
next democratic national convention.
The expectation of his friends is that
the speech will crystallizc the opposi'
ton to Mr.. Bryan.