The Portland daily press., 1899-03-02
FIVE POLICEMEN NEnDBD On
SIXTH WARD.
Democrats Furnish the Lfvoliess Feat
ures of the Exciting Campsfgn--Oit-
liens Take n Hand I'm Running the
Caucuses and Two Sets OF candidates
Nomfnated--Suits for Assaults
Threatened--A junk Shop Bench
That Held Three Chairmen,
ESPECIAL 10 THE PRxssJ


Biddeford, March 1.-The rsddsst brand
of piping hot politics WAS dealt out In the
Democratic oauousss ttonieht Though
the Democratic city committee ha dc
di ,ated the evening 10 the fusion ck,7,
of which Col u. II. Kendall is TIE
mayoralty candidate, the member of the
party who are favorable to the Reelection
of Mayor Levi W. Stone, the Citizens
candidate, turned out In full force and
tried to run the oaucuses.
The outcome of the endeavor was Avely
scrap in every ward, and the holding OF
doubled headed caucuses in four wards
and the filing Of two sets Of papers In the
city clerks Office. 1t was by far the
liveliest night of the campaign, and the
wonder Is that the caucuses in some OF
the wards were pulled off without the
breakingof limbs or the splitting of blood
The usual plan had been for the chair
men of the ward committees to act as
temporary chairmen of the cAucuses, but
today the city committee decided to pick
it's own ohairmen. This helped to CON-
plicate matters. two would be chairmen
showing up ut every CAUCUS.
Ward six furnished the most excite
ment. The caucus was held in little
junk shop at the corner of Elm and Pine
streets. The time mentioned In the call
was 7.3o. At 7.20 the door had not been
opened. and about 200 voters Of the ward
were standing out In the cold, wondering
who was responsible for the oversight or
the freeze-out.
Alderman North N. West of the Stone
faction and ex-Mayor G. Il. Goodwin of
the Kendall faction got into an earnest
argument outside, on the question of
whether Democrats identified with the
Citizens movement had any right In ths
caucus The crowd listensd with great
interest.
finally the door was opened from the
inside and ex.Alderman Napoleon B.
Osgood, whom the Kendall factien in
tended to make chairman OF the caucus,
was found to be already intrenched.
alderman West, whose name headed the
Stone ticket, was the choice of that
faction for chairnan, while tho city COM
mittee had named Maurice Fl. Thelan as
Messrs. Whelan and West promptly took
their places behind d rickety bench and
took out their watches. In one thing
and only one-they agreed. Both watches
showed that four minutes would have to
elapse before it would be time to epen the
caucus.
Alderman West said he had little
statement to make, before the caucus
opened, and somebody suggested that hs
mount the bench in order that hts state
msnt might be heard. Following the
suggestion, he climbed on to the bench
and started in to explain that as chair
man of the ward committee he was en-
titled to the honor of acting as temporary
chairman Of the caucus. Maurice Whelanl
with poster In his hands, mounted the
bench, and proceeded to read the call.
Mr.. West took his cue and began to run
of the caucus programme, from "A
Citizens's standpoint.
Pandemonium Immediately broke
loose. The crowd began to shuttle about
and howl at the tops Of their voioess
and two or three set-tos were started In
close proximity TO the bench. The i've
policemen in attendance rushed into the
throng with an eagerness to take hand.
Chairman West declared that the tem
porary organization had been made per-
manrnt. while Chairman Whelan an
nouuced that the caucus had chosen N.