The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-18
A Question That Is Puzzling Those Who Are
Interested in the Outcome of the Caucus
Scheduled for This Evening.
OPEN OR SECRET BALLOT DEPENDS ON IT
Candidates All sanguine Of Success as Is to Be
Expected Crowds Around the Head
quarters "A Beautiful Frost.
BY HI. r. HALF.

| attend the caucus, majority may wish
10 remain under cover few days longer
! anC SO order a secret ballot
HOW IT HAS BEEN.
AS rule, when there have been sharp
senatorial contests the ballot has been
secret This has generally been because
| the faction thinking 1T had the naioritv
did not trust its followers as it had Sc.
cured surreptitious pledges from men
VINO they knew were also pledged 10
the other fellow, and they preferred 10
! rely upon the men proving true to them
the secret rather than the possible ex-
! posture Of their deals.
THE CAUCUS OF 1875.
Perhaps the most notable Illustration
! of this was in the senatorial contest NJ
1919, when Senator Ramsey was a candi-
! GATE for reelection. and Gov Davis vas
| his chief opponent. That was really
more like the present, a quadrilateral fight
as eX-Gov. Austin and w. D. Washbu,n
| were also candidates and all were pres
ent at the state capitol on the night OF
| the caucus. AS soon as the caucus or.
! gan1zed, E. F. Drake, of st. Paul IA
| ramsey NAM, offered three resolutions:
/ GGiLstLIhat the ballot SHOULD be secret.
! Secohd-!hat five ballots should ba
taken. unless a nomination Should be-
sooner made, before the chair should en-
| ISLlStIIl Il IuOIlOn TO adjourn.
! Thlrd-That the motion to adjourn
! Should be by viva voce vote
| This was cunning scheme, though In
| the end it proved fatal to Ramsey. The
! Davis men protested loud and long for
J an hour or two, some of them declaring
that they would wax cut of the caucus
7 but the resolutions We're finally adopted
| The first ballot was informal and stood:
Ramsey SO; Davis, 81; Washburn, ISL
! Austin, II. This was eight votes less
than had been promised to Davis, and
| the Davis men were mad clear through
! but they were caught in a secret ballot
| trap On the first formal ballot Ramsey
| gained and Davis 1. 1t took ~ to nom
mate, and on the third ballot Ramsey
| had 40; Davis lost 2, having 20; Wash
| burn, IA; Austin, 9. Just then hell
| reigned. The Davis men demanded an ad-
| journment without taking the other two
| ballots, but this was voted down by a
viva voce vote. That made it sure that
! If there was another ballot Ramsey
would receive the needed 2 votes, while
Davis needed %, and could not hope to
win. Instead of forcing the fighting
| when the motion to adjourn was voted
| down, the Ramsey men granted the op-
| position ten minutes recess That re-
| cess cost Ramsey the senatorship. The
| Davis men consulted with their friends
| on the outside and came back to the
! caucus foaming at the month. They de-
! manded a viva VOce vote or an adjourn
| ment, coupled with the threat that with
( or without an adjournment they would
| walk out if another secret ballot was at
| tempted. The Ramsey men knew that
| with a viva voce vote they could not hold
( their forty secret supporters, and rather
| than concede that they reluctantly cen
| scented to an adjournment until the next
| night
| The next night fifteen men were abb
| sent and seventeen who were present re-
| fused to vote. In order 10 induce them
! to vote the Ramsey men consented that
| there Should be another informal ballot,
| and that stood: Ramsey, 81; Washburn,
| S; Mcmillan, 3; Davis, 2; Drake, 1. This
| showed 81 present, or 90 less than the
| Republicans in the legislature, and as
| but Is were absent, II who were present
| did not vote. On the last ballot Ramsey
| had a., Washburn Il. Total, "a If
| Ramsey could have scored AZ, with So
| voting, he would have been victor, but
! AZ, under the circumstances, was like one
| of Rim Van Wrinkles reform drinks,
| which didn't count that time. OF course
| it was made unanimous by the "a, tour-
teen sitting in sullen silence ana refusing
| to vote.
The Ramsey men did not know what
| kind OF a prize they had gotten, and the
| Davis men did not know where they
were at while Washburn and Austin mad
| gone q glimnering. The capitol that
| night was a reflex of the joy which per-
yaded Mudville the day Mighty Casey
| struckout." To add to the ominous char
acter of the occasion those proceedings
occurred on Friday.
VIII history repeat itself tonight?
This threw the fight into the open leg
islature 1t took seventy-four to elect
and Ramsey's highest vote was sixty
one After voting in the legislature from
Jan 10 to Feb. 10, Mcmillan, the dark
horse, was elected.
Ramsey was hoisted by the petard OF
a secret ballot, but he was between the
devil and the deep sea, for, If viva voce
vote had been granted in the caucus, the
betray their pledges.
The secret ballot nearly proved
Ramsey's undoing in the caucus of 1869.
Then it required twenty-eight to nom
mate.
At p. m. of the day of the caucus
thirty-six men assembled at Ramseys
hotel Headquarters and each one stood
up and solernnly pledged himself to
Ramsey first, last and all of the time.
When the caucus met in the evening
eight voted the pink tickets bearing VIII
kinsons name, leaving Ramsey just
twenty-eight. That was enough, but 1t
was close enough to induce nervous pros
tratioa.
All of which proves that white men,
when thew get into the legislature, are
mighty uncertain. Tams Bixby found
this out when he called the Third dis
trict together a day or two ago and
got 4 votes out of 10 And still Tams
has hopes though he IS vowing that
he will go back to Indian Territory
and practice taking scalps until he Is
sufficiently expert to come back and
take Joel Heatwole's to wear as a SOU
venir, just to show there are no hard
feelings.
Capt NJ. r. Brown, of Crookston, was
Contln0ca ON second Page.