The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-10

that has been put up during the day it
is not strange that gloom. oppressively
deep, pervades the Burns camp tonight
and while brave men and ladies fair are
night the band of political outlaws are
hiding in the recesses of their stronghold,
planning one last desperate stand against
the onslaught of public opinion.
Their raid upon the fair fame of Cali
fornia has been landed with all the
adroitness that such a band could sum-
made the error-fatal to them-of at
tempting to force caucus, and to-day
they find themselves driven back, their
strength betrayed to the people who real
lie now that instead of having to fight
a formidable host they have been ter
rorized by a handful Of lusty lunged
Twenty-three names have been sub
scribed to the petition for a caucus, and
despite every effort to gain more the at
tempt has failed. These twenty-three
the first ballot. Nobody believes now that
he can make any better showing and
everybody but his henchmen rejoice
thereat.
d. NJ. Burns is the Ishmaelite of the
Senatorial wilderness; his hand is against
everybody and everybody is against him.
Al day long Senator Charles shortridge,
who cast aside the mask and spurned the
w1shes-the commands-of his constitu-
entS, has come out in the open and has
industriously circulated Burns petition
III d CAUCUS Is nauSeOuS at
best; to-day in his opportunities for sig
natures he has made himself even worse.
At first Shortridge was going to hold
his caucus at o'clock this afternoon, but
: O'Clock came and he was discouragingly
short of the necessary signatures, how
many he would not divulge, so he post
poned the time until this evening. Now
he has put it off until tomorrow morn
ing at 10 O'Clock. But there will be no
caucus at that hour or any other hour on
Senatorial matters. This is as safe pre-
diction as can be made on this uncertain
situation.
The Grant forces are against it, the
Barnes men laugh at the attempt and the
supporters of Bulla declare that not one
gathering. Neither will knights friends
nor those who want to tie up to some out
slider. With these forces united against
the Burns crowd on the caucus PROPOSE
the latter can possibly gather in enough
members to caucus. Shortridge claims
that forty-three: or a majority of. the
caucus; that when he was making his
brother Sans fight two years ago and
tried to get caucus he was told he would
only have TO get majority of the Re
publicans, and he intends to hold to that
ruling now
Shortridge said this afternoon, in ex-
PLANTATION of his failure TO bring off his
affairs on scheduled time, that he had
received kilograms from a number of
members who are away that they favored
a caucus, but were not willing to tie up
to call at long range, and asked him to
postpone it until tomorrow. Shortridge
guarded the call most jealousy from all
but known Burns men, refusing even to
allow those who are claSSed as ''doubtful'
to see il unless they first promised to sign
it. But 1t is known tonight that twenty
three names were all that could be Sc
cured.
While Shortridge, Cobb Of San Fran
cisco and a few others still profess their
a ~ 70 hO1 in a
others of the Burns crew unhesitatingly
admit that there is no chance for them
to succeed. They talk bitterly of the
tactics of Burns opponents in combining
and not making a fair open fight. They
pirate loudly of their opponents insisting
upon washing the party's dirty linen in
public" when by going into caucus this
necessary laundrying could be accom-
plished secure from the inquiSitive gaze
of the outside world.
So it is not to be wondered that the
Burns forces are overshadowed in gloom,
while the other candidates are more
cheerful than they have been at any time
in the past. This afternoon the report
was circulated that there had been
break in the Grant forces and that Burns
had benefited. The report was denied by
Grants managers. They even went so
far as to say that they had made a gain
these is Senator Smith of Kern County.
He corroborated the statement as to his
Senatorial preference and declared his
intention to vote for Grant
When asked for particulars of the ru-
mored split in the ranks of Grant. the
Burns men could give no details. They
merely asserted that there was 'some
thing doing" but no man knew what it
was. Senator f. I. Wolfe of San Fran
cisco declared for Burns to-day and his
declaration is being used for all it is
worth though it is known he has been
considered as safe for Burns from the
haS n
the nomination of Colonel Burns.