The age-herald., 1899-01-28
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

with the solitary exception of the gov
 ernor himself, the man most talked about l just now In Jefferson county, and probably in the state, Is Assistant State Examiner James G. Cowan, who reported officially | on the accounts of the county commission | CTS of Nsfferson," said an old and intimate l personal friend of MT. Cowan. "Persons who are offended are having their harmless | little filings at Mr. Cowan; and they are influencing one or two newspapers to air l their views They don't know Zach | Cowan. His name isn't Zach at all, but 1 that is his nickname Why 1t was given | to him. I don't know; but for eighteen years l he has been to me Zach Cowan. Space killers in the newspapers and mouthing per l sons in the street may take their little l filings at Cowan, but not half of them are worthy to loosen the latchet of his shoes. l He has an exalted sense of duty and the | highest comprehension of honor as man. | He is absolutely incapable of prostituting his office to serve any unworthy motive. | Zach Cowan is a fearless, resolute man. | Before he was twenty years old, In the | turbulent and riotous days of negro rule l in Alabama, he was appointed by repub- ! ican governor to be sheriff of Bullock county, four-fifths of the inhabitants or which were negroes, and he was appointed as democrat at a time when democratic 1 leaders like himself carried their lives in their hands The man has no sense of | physical fear. Personally, he is one of the most genial and companionable of all men: | a hail-fellow-well-met in all the honoraole relations of life He would not so much as | tact taPC nds lures. He is not the sort of man who could l do so. But he is man whose wrath l should be slow to incur"
 J. J. Willett, of Anniston, was in the cley yesterday on his way home from Decatur, where he has been attending to some legal matters. MT. Willett Is just back rom | New York, where he has been for the past l two weeks. He says it Is the opinion Ill New York that the great business activity there will spread through the south before 1 the winter is over. His own opinion IS tnat | they are overdoing the thing there and collapse in stock exchange prices is immi- nent. When questioned about politics in New York, he said Judge Augustus Van l Wyck is the unquestioned leader of New
 
 crats were abusing Croker, and the Greater New York democrats were abusing Hill. So they were all turning to Judge Van Wyck as the only man who could please | all factions The judge has opened law office at 149 Broadway, and his practice al- 1 ready is something stupendous. All inter- | views with Judge Van Wyck have to De arranged for beforehand.
 ''It Is a fact that the state democratic ex- ecutive committee, in executive session at Montgomery on Thursday, appointed subcommittee to confer with Judge Zeii Gaston, the young populist leader of But | Ter county, as to his proposition looking to | the merging of the populists into the demo- | cratic party" said a politician in the lobby. .What will be the ultimate outcome Of the matter I do not pretend to predict. Judge | Gaston does not speak with the full au- | thority of his party, but he says that he l has acquainted himself with the wishes of a majority of his state committee, and that | they are agreed that if the democrats will | accord them a number of delegates from l the state at large to the constitutional con- venton equal to their present representa- l tion in the senate, they will advise the dis | bandment of the popuist party, with view l to it's members entering the democratic fold. l The matter is one of more than passing l interest in state politics, and the outcome | Of it will be looked for with friendly concern."
 Ut will be a matter of general regret" l said another politician, that the removal of l Hon. Sidney J. Bowie from Talladega to l Anniston makes him ineligible for election | to the constitutional convention. MT. l Bowie has just transferred the place of his | residence from Talladega to Anniston, and | expects to permanently reside there he and 1 Hon. John Knox being associated together | in the practice of law. This change on the l part of MT. Bowie will come as a surprise l to his friends throughout the state. He is | one of the ablest leaders of the young de- 1 mocracy, and for years has made persist
 ent fight for a constitutional convention. l The convention having been called, 1t was | hoped that Mr. Bowie would be a delegate and lend the aid of his wisdom to the fram- | ing of the organic law.
 "It is understood that MT. Knox will be a candidate for delegate from the state at large for the senatorial district of Calhoun
 I doubt of his nomination. In event of his | election, there is a strong probability that l MT. Knox will be made president of the 1 constitutional convention. He would prove | to be an ideal president of that body, and would inspire the confidence of all the peo- | pie Of the state.'
 '"The decision of the democratic commit | tee to advise the democratic majority of l the general assembly not to attempt any amendment to the act calling the constitu- | tional convention will prove fatal to all | possible efforts in that direction" observed | another public man. Tt is clearly the sense of the committee, which is the high court | of the party, that there should be no tink- ering with the act of call as it stands and | the legislature is not likely to run counter | to that sentiment. This will be disappoint- | ing to many men, but it is no doubt best for