The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-22

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 The distinguished body of Alabamians which will go into history as the Con- stitutional Convention of 1901, assem- bled in the Hall of the House of Rep resentatives at the Historic old State Capitol at 12 o'clock yesterday. The | body was called to order by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and when | the entire 155 delegates had went for ward and registered their, names the Convention, upon motion of Gen. George P. Harrison of Opelika, who was a member of the Convention of 1875, adjourned until this morning at Il o'clock.
 The principal interest of the first days session O. the delegates was fur nished by the Democratic caucus which was in session continuously for six hours yesterday evening and last night. The lengthy session was due to dis. cussion over the right of Delegate Will Hams of Fillmore County. to seat in the Party caucus, and as a result of the continued deliberations he was de- nied the right.
 The caucus nominated officers of the Convention last night and they will no doubt be formally elected without oppo- sition today.
 The hall of the House of Renresen- l tatives has been transformed into a l comfortable meeting place and when l those who had been members of the l House in the past, or who have attend ed State conventions there, entered 1t | yesterday they were most agreeably surprised to see the great change and how satisfactorily it had been for the l sessions of the convention.
 | The delegates as they entered the l hall and seated themselves at the desks were all in good humor over the pros l pect of their future comfort and even | Colonel R. B. Kyle of Gadsden, was | at peace with himself and all mankind. He did not show any determination to push his proposition to take the | convention away from the capitol and | carry it to Birmingham. He had been heard to say that he had one of the best rooms in the city with the promise l of a refrigerator if he should need 1t l and that there was no cause for further complaint on his part, but he was pointed out every now and then as l the man who proposed going to Birm- ingham. Really the Colonel is looked upon as a benefactor and people here 1 thank him for stirring up the city to a | realization of it's duty in the premises.
 AS the delegates began to fill up the convention hall one noticed many old and familiar faces and here and there | a very youthful one. Among the older | members there were Hon. Joel D. Mur- l phree of Pike, General w. c. oates of Montgomery, General George P. liar rison of Lee, Hon. John F. Burns of Dallas, members of the convention held in 1S75-twenty-six years ago. Among | the delegates were recognized two ex- Governors. five ex-Congressmen, two | ex-Chancellors, two ex-Attorney Gen erals, two ex-Supreme Court Judges, thirteen members of the present Gen eraI Assembly, four Senators and nine
 Representatives, four Solicitors and a | large number of ex-Senators and ex-
 Representatives.
 The galleries had filled to overflow ing with beautiful women and brave men and was an attractive picture to
 look upon, while here and there the
 chairs were occupied in the hall by
 spectators and the delegates had to
 stand to that extent, for it must be that lueEe are Just
 chairs in the room for the delegates.
 Delegates stood patiently in the aisles
 without murmurs or complaint and re-
 mained there until the convention ad-
 journed. After today however, there
 will be no more of that and no one will be admitted into the hall except upon
 the invitation of a delegate and then
 they can give their seats up to the
 visitors at will.
 Exactly at noon Chief Justice Thom-
 as N. Mcclellan sounded the gavel and
 requested the delegates to come to or
 der. He stated the provision of the
 act making it his duty to call the Con-
 vention to order and said that for that
 purpose he was there. It was expect
 ed that there would be prayer, as
 there were several ministers in the hall
 as though waiting by invitation to
 perform that duty. but the Chief Jus
 tice had evidently overlooked it, and
 no one calling it to his attention the
 roll call was ordered and delegates re-
 quested to go forward and sign their
 names. Secretary of State R. P. Me
 David being asked to act as Secre-
 ta-y. An alphabetical roll had been
 prepared and delegates from the State
 at large, the Congressional and Sena-
 torial Districts and the counties wera
 all mingled together and went to the desk in that way. The calling of the