The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-05
The Withdrawal OF Mr.. Bonham Said
to Add Strength TO Art
mans Chances.
MR.. STUTESMAN'S STATEMENT
HE DECLARES EMPHATICALLY HE
WILL WIN THE FIGHT.
Legislators I'm Town, and Much Talk
of Proposed Legislation
Legislative Gossip.

There are now but three candidates In
| the race for speaker OF the House OF Rep
resentatives. These candidates are Samuel
r. Artman. Of Lebanon; James F. Suites
man, of Peru. and Charles S. King. OF
Wabash. The last OF the candidates TO
withdraw was John A. Bonham, OF Hart
ford City, who did so yesterday afternoon
! in a telegram TO Mr.. Artman. The mes
| sage read: Because OF sickness Of FAM
| lily and my detention at home occasioned
| thereby, l have concluded to withdraw
from speakership race"
| 1t was declared by the friends of Mr..
Artman that If Bonham withdrew his sup
| port would go TO Artman. The latter said,
| last night that he fully expected TO re-
ceive the votes of Mr.. Bonham and his
| friends. Mr.. Artman further declared that
he was more confident than ever OF WIN
ming. There were rumors yesterday that
c. S. King would probably withdraw from
| the race, but Mr.. King last night declared
emphatically that he had no intention of
| doing this 81 am still In the race and
expect to continue in the race" he de-
| clared.
| At 7:3O o'clock last night Mr. Statesman.
| lobby of the Denison. There was quite a
crowd OF politicians in the lobby. and a
number of legislators Several members OF
the Marion county delegation in the House
were present MIR. Statesman made this
statement to an acquaintance: Il am near
er the speakership of the Indiana House
of Representatives tonight than l have
been at any time in this race. / am going
to win this contest Mr. Stutesman's
friends declare that what was known az
the Marion county combination has been
| broken. They say that Bonham will not
be able TO deliver the Eighth district to
Artman and that Mr.. Statesman will re-
| ceive substantial support in that district.
II is also asserted that Statesman will re-
ceive some of the Marion county votes.
ALL ARE CONFIDENT.
IL confidence counts for anything the
| race for the speakership bids fair TO be a
close finish. In the lobby Of the Denison
House last night the friends and supporters
| of Artman, Statesman and King were
| equally assertive of their final success. and
each contingent offered specific reasons for
| their statements. The friends of Artman
maintained that he had already more than
enough votes pledged 10 insure his success,
and added that both the Statesman and
King factions knew it, and would before
| the day of the caucus withdraw their can
didates rather than have them make
The Statesman contingent, on the other
hand, laughed at the assertions made by
the supporters of Artman, and with know
ing smiles said that something would oc-
cur before the end OF the race that would
put a different complexion on the matter.
Representative King, in speaking for
himself, said that he was In the race TO
stay and that he felt confident that he
would win out in the end.
In the midst of all the talk there were
occasional rumors of unlocked for COM
binations, of dark horses which were to
be sprung at the eleventh hour. 1t was
even suggested that the dark horse might
appear in the person of one of the can
didates who recently withdrew from the
race and that If he again entered the
| fight he would receive the support OF all
the other candidates against Artman-
Another rumor was to the effect that a
new candidate Is TO enter the race for
principal clerk of the House of Repre-
sentatives. None OF the rumors, however,
could be confirmed, as those most interest
ed In the fight denied any knowledge or
them.