Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-20
NO PLACE FOR DARK HORSES
Republican State Convention Not One to Be
Easily stampsded.
DOUGLAS coUNTYS PART IN THE AFFAIR
Delegates Acted HarmoniousIy and rs
Unit After the second Ballot
in spite of outside In
reference.
tFrom a star correspondentO

(From a stan Correspondent)
LINCOLN, June 19.-(Special In the
| aftermath Of the state convention a number
! OF minor occurrences, which were oyershad-
owed by the larger movements in the strug
! gle, deserve place in that sure to be
memorable contest. First and foremost to
| be noted was the decided antipathy Of the
convention to dark horse experiments. At
several points in the balloting vote or
two, and sometimes a whole delegation was
thrown out to a name not formally entered
in the lists but received no encouragement
whatever. On one ballot thirteen votes
from Phelps were recorded for Dean for
governor, Ex-Governor Crounse received a
couple Of votes at one time and so did SEN
ator Steele and State Chairman Lindsay,
but the nest egg did not draw. During the
recess there was considerable talk OF
sprnging a new man, the most frequently
named being Norris Brown Of Buffalo, who
had made such a good impression by his
speech in the afternoon as temporary chair
man, but II was soon learned that votes
riveted to regular candidates could not be
transferred outside of those already in the
field. In a word. the delegates were in no
mood for dark horses but on the contrary
decidedly adverse to them In the recollec-
tion OF disappointment that had followed
previous rallyS to men who had snatched
prizes without coming out in the open to
work for them.
stuck to Old Soldiers.
Another point was the fixed determination
Of large proportion of the delegates to
confine their choice to one OF the old sold
ier candidates. The old soldiers in the race
were Dlnsmore, Robertson and Mickey, and
that is what made the concentration on
Mickey of the delegates who had given their
first preference to one of the other two
possible after efforts to transfer votes to
other candidates had failed. 1t was not dis
guised that the managers behind Robertson
were exerting at the time of the recess all
of their influence 10 carry their vote to
Jessen, and that it was this snag alone
that obstructed them in their course.
Governor Savage figured in the balloting
by only two votes for each Of the first two
ballots. The delegates without exception
took him at his word when he declared that
in Difference to the interests of the party
he would not be a candidate for renomina-
tion. The governor sat upon the platform
throughout most OF the session, but simply
as a spectator, taking no part in the pro-
ceedings The Custer county delegation
at its caucus this morning had practically
agreed to cast its entire vote on the first
ballot for Governor Savage as a compliment
from his home county, but on serious con-
sideration in which one member recalled the
motto recently promulgated by Senator
Hanna, Keep on letting wen enough
alone" they concluded to drop the sug-
gestion at once and follow the Ohio states
mans advice.
Douglas County's Attitude.
The Douglas delegation with its ninety
five votes naturally held the center Of at
tention, not only because Of the strength
IT commanded but also because its purpose
had been systematically misrepresented by
the runners and spokesmen Of those who
thought they could gain advantage by To-
menting factional strife. 1t had been an
nounced in advance that the Douglas dele
CATION would bring with it an internal tur-
noil and that so far as It followed the ad-
vice of Mr.. Rosewater II would be used TO
turn down not only Treasurer Stuefer, but
Attorney General Prout and Auditor Wes-
ton. The design OF this concoction was.
OF course, to force all the officers seeking
denomination to take up Mr.. Stuefer's cause
and carry him on their backs. The alb
surdity Of the statements. however. was
so plain that they defeated themselves.
Another scheme to weaken the position Of
Douglas county was to be found in the as
sertion that 1t was hopelessly divided and
could not be consolidated for any purpose
The reputed claims OF Mr.. Van Dusen to a
control Of the delegation was the foundation
for these assertions On the evening before
the convention Van Dusen gave out
statement to the effect that he had exactly
forty-six delegates in Douglas county
whose votes he was entitled to have and
would have for a promotion OF his candi-
dacy. When IL came to a count OF heads
however, II was discovered that there were
Just twenty-five men on the delegation who
wanted to vote for Van Dusen including
Van Dusen himself who had been admitted
by courtesy. To be perfectly fair, however,
to Mr.. Van Dusen's aspirations he was
given on the first ballot the votes of all the
absentees, making him thirty-ave in all out
OF his home county, but when the column
was added up his total was only ffty-four.
indicating that he had received Just nine
teen votes outside Of Douglas county. In
stead OF the much boasted strength that was
to come to him from out in the state
these nineteen votes practically disap-
peared on the second ballot and his grace
full withdrawal was the only thing left.
Voted as "A Unit.
After Van Dusen's name was taken of
the ballot the Douglas delegation resolved
itself into a practical unit The little
commotion caused by Mr.. Goss when he
questioned the return of a chairman and
sought TO achieve notoriety by breaking
the delegation showed that only four Of
the Douglas county delegates had any in
clnation to cast their votes independent
and on the next ballot, seeing that they had
no following among the delegation they
became tractable and came in with the rest
The story printed in one Omaha paper to
the effect that the lie was passed by Mr..
Goss is incorrect. That incident occurred
in the Custer delegation, when one of the
delegates demanding a poll, cried out In
answer 10 the retort Of the chairman.
That Is not true" Every one thought
that meant fight and all eyes were turned
in the direction OF the Custer county stand
ard. Peacemakers intervened at once and
a truce was declared without recourse 10