The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-17
The Present Fight Without Precedent and Is
Therefore Most Difficult to
Forecast
EACH HOPES FOR CAUCUS RESULTS
A Little History of Former Contests Oues,
tons Put to the Four Leading
Candidates.

contest for the senatorship. It was tha
year after the memorable congressional
HShC OF 1861 when there were two Re-
publican candidates for congress-Don.
| nelly and Gen. Andrews-and a Demo-
crat-Eugene Wehan-was elected. The
ramsey faction in the district had sup
ported Andrews, and Donnellv and bis
friends decided to take Ramsey's scalp.
VINO was candidate for reelection to the
senate In the winter of 1869 Donnelly
desired to. be q candidate against
ramsey, but there were three anti
ramsey men who would not vote for
Oonnelly under any circumstances, but
agreed to vote for Norton S. Wilkinson.
80 Donnelly withdrew, and Mr. Wilkins
son entered the race. The Donneily-
williamson faction had a sufficient num-
Der of private pledges to carry the
caucus, and they were anxious for an
open ballot. 1t seemed, however, that
SO many had promised support to
Ramsey that they insisted on a secret
ballot in order to betray him without ex-
posing themselves. Some of the men
pledged to Ramsey wanted to square
themselves with such consciences as thew
had by voting once for Ramsey, and I
have always believed that if a second
ballot had been taken Wilkinson would
have been the nominee
The Ramsey men did not trust their
followers and secured a pink ticket of a
peculiar hue in order to spot their men.
The opposition ascertained this late in
the afternoon and got a pink ticket /
searched all the job printing offices in
the city, but could not find the exact
color By that time the only whole
sale paper house in the city vas closed.
and went to the proprietors house
Gen. Averflis-and got him to leave an
unfinished dinner to go to the store, and
to my delight found the right color
accordingly, printed Wilkinson tickets on
the pink cardboard and had them ready
| for the caucus. Thus far al seemed
| Well but there was a slip. The Ramsey
men were shrewd politicians, and when
the caucus met they moved that there be
no Informal ballot The Wilkinson men
expected an informal ballot, and the men
who had promised to betray Ramsey
would have eased their India rubber con-
sciences by voting for Ramsey on that
ballot, and on the formal ballot would
vote for Wilkinson and nominate him.
The vote to make the first ballot for
NAL was by rising vote, and the men
who were to play the part of Judas did
not dare to show their hands, and SO
they rose to their feet and made the
first ballot formal. None of the Wilkin-
son men proper, who had white tickets,
had the wit to cast two ballots and thus
make the ballot informal by having too
many cast. One man pasted Wash
burns name over Ramseys on a pink
ticket, but it did not stick and came off
in the hat. 1t was found, and In reality
made the vote informal by having one
more vote than there We're parties pres
ent, but the tellers threw it away, and,
though the pink card showed the marks
Of the mucilage, they counted the ballot
for Ramsey, and he was nominated
There were 81 present, Is being neces-
sary to choice, and Ramsey had Just
2S votes. He had been promised 26, and
there were eight pink cards in the hat
bearing WilkinsOns name One man,
who had promised both Ramsey and
Wilkinson, assured Wilkinson's friends
(after the pink Wilkinson card was Sc
cured) that he would vote for Wilkin-
son on the first ballot. How will we
know you do?" was asked. "I will put
a pin hole in my ticket" Wher, the vote
with the pin hole was there. He kept
faith but died soon after
Perhaps the question of an open or Sc
cret ballot Friday night will depend
upon how many are pledged to more
than one candidate It's a two-edged
sword and may either way make or
break some one.
HOW 1T LOOKS.
To the impartial observer Tom Lowrys
entrance into the field disposes of Evans
and himself at one fell swoop It's the
old story of house divided against it
self. The legislature might possibly be
happy with either, If t'other dear charm
er was away, but, as it is, it is likely to
say "a plague on both your houses"
Socially Tom Lowry is one of the best
fellows in the world. He is immensely
popular at home and seems to have
the business element of Minneapolis be-
hind him. as is evidenced by the after
noon dress parades of the business men
of that city, who march through the
Windsor corridors and take drink, per-
haps two and a cigar, in exceptional
cases, before they march back to their
suburban domiciles. If Tom had the
Minneapolis field alone he would be a
sumner. But he hasn't.
Bob Evans is magnetic, too, but he
does not attract the business element as
much as Tom Lowry. He has the adj
vantage of having been first in the field
and getting the majority Of the Hennepin
delegation pledged, so that it will look
suspicious If they switch under fire.
But Tom Lowry's great handicap is his
wealth. AS a personal matter L wish
to say that 1 do not believe that he has
or will attempt to buy vote for the
senatorship. I do not believe this is
to be Doodle campaign, or that we have
a corrupt legislature. I speak respect
fully of the legislature, for I may want
some little bill myself before the legisla-
ture is over. Nevertheless, every one
realizes, from what has happened in
other states, that money has been used
in such contests, and in rural districts
a man who votes for rich man, be
he ever so pure, is liable to suspicion
on the part of envious persons who
aspire to injure his political strength
Without a dollar being Improperly used
it is thus possible to cast unjust sus-
picion (and 1 believe 1t grossly unjust)
on both candidate and legislature. If
Tom Lowry would deed his street rail-
road to the Twin Cities today he would
be a. stronger candidate in the caucus
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