Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-20
A UTAH COUP.

Under the laws of Utah, there being
no lieutenant governor. the secretary of
state acts as governor in the absence of
the chief executive. and the president of
the state senate has ~gubernatorial great
ness thrus upon him in the absence Of
both. AT present Heber NJ. Wells, is gov
eri,or, and james T. Hammond secre-
tary of state. They are both republic
cans. Aquilla Nebeker. president of the
state senate, is a democrat. his early ed
ucation having been neglected.
Two years ago the Utah legislature,
which should have elected a successor
to Frank j. mo as senator, failed in
its duty-remained in a deadlock till ad-
journment, chiefly because of the action
OF Aquilla Nebeker and his cousin, w. G.
Nebeker, who was a membe of the
lower house. Both fought A.. w. McCune
to the last. The latter lacked several
votes of election, though he was the
choice OF nearly all the other democratic
members. The opposition of the Nebe-
kers was said to have been based on the
character of some of McCune's support
ers, which may nave been one of the
real reasons.
Last night, according to the dispatches,
the governor of Utah and the secretary
of state went on a duck hunt to Idaho.
Nebeker sat up till the train had crossed
the Utah line. near Bear lake, and then
in his capacity as acting governor APP
pointed o. w. Powers to fill the Utah
senatorial vacancy. Wells was not lured
out of the state, nor will his opponents
probably charge him with secret collu-
sion with the friends of Powers. That
was the accusation made and denied in
the Montana case some months ago
when Governor Smith, having gone to
California to look at a mine under con-
tract with a supporter of Mr.. Clark, who
happened to be one of the owners in the
property, the lieutenant governor sud-
denly returned to the state from the east
and appointed Hon. w. A. Clark to the
existing senatorial vacancy. While the
~ oi l-4S SSSS AN
very similar to those of the Utah case,
they differ as to the relationship OF the
parties interested. Of course, if Wells
stood in with the play and went to Idaho
appoint Powers, or if he shall be sus-
pected of so doing, there Will be some
lively times in the Utah capital, and
Wells will have to suffer in silence, as
Denials will not avail to Save him from
suspicion unless he should make a gun
play at Nebeker with a loaded weapon
when they meet. That would be dam
gerous. r#..
+. Nebeker is a miner and rancher, and
aside from the fact that his appointee is
reported to be a windy old fellow, who
has been gold-bricked by the polygs
for twenty years with promise of an
office, the filing of the vacancy is a
good thing. 1t would nave been a more
generous act had Nebeker appointed
McCune, for though some of the latter's
packing on some accounts COulu HOT De
worse, most of it is intelligent and re-
spectacle, and McCune personally is the
choice of all the business interests OF the
state, II would accomplish more for
Utah every day than a fossil like Powers
would accomplish in a siX-year term.
But the a vas there, the state
was suffering, and the appointment was
in order. The result Of 1t, moreover, may
be such a row in the democratic camp
that the state will go republican and
elect Judge Goodwin and some other man
as near like him as can be found, to rep
resent A~mericaniSm in Utah.