River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-07-17
In Reply.

y SOAfSitAOlI' oA ITO AoSS ~ OOA~
the impress of the hand of narrow
minded, prejudiced, disgruntled, La
Toilette representative. The facts
are the Whitehead delegates had
handsome majority without the town
of Salem, which fact the writer un-
Willingly admits in his article. The
facts with reference to the election
of the delegates from the town of
Salem, as stated by Mr.. Bunce, the
head of the contesting delegation
from that town, are as follows:
The town caucus was regularly
called to convene at 8 P. M, July II,
at the regular place of holding eau
cuses in such town. Mr.. Bunce, as
chairman of town committee called
the caucus to order, secretary and
tellers were appointed and the voters
proceeded to ballot. After the bal
loting had proceeded for the space
of nearly one-half hour, certain cleo
tors of the town presented them
selves to cast their ballots. Mr..
Bunce accused them of being Demo
Gratis and refused to accept their bal
lots. Such voters insisted on their
right to cast their ballots as Repub-
lican electors of the town OF Salem.
Thereupon Mr.. Bunce and his CO.
adjutors arose in their wrath, tore up
the poll lists, destroyed the ballots
cast and departed from the building
where the caucus was being regular
ly held. The remaining electors
proceeded to the election of a new
chairman and secretary, as provided
by the statutes of this state, when
for any reason the regular chairman
and secretary refuse to act, held the
caucus open the hour required by
law and the caucus cali. Upon the
counting of the ballots cast it was
found that stalwart delegation had
been duly elected. A certificate in
accordance with the aforesaid facts,
in the form required by law, was
sent to the county committee. The
disgruntled La Toilette contingent
at s o'clock p. m. of the same even
ing, without notice, gathered to-
gether and elected themselves dele
gates from the town of Salem,
caused a certificate to be issued,
signed by Mr.. Bunce and his bolt
ing secretary, and on such certificate
claimed to be the regular delegates
from the town of Salem, on the sole
ground that their credentials were
signed by the original caucus officers,
who had admittedly refused to per-
form their duty and high-handedly
attempted to disfranchise certain
electors of the town Of Salem. Mr..
Bunce's only excuse for such pro-
ceedings, when invited to present
his side of the case before the Gre
dental committee of the convention,
was, 81 was afraid | would get licked
| if stayed" In view of these adj
mitted facts could the committee on
credentials do other than report in
favor of the delegates elected at the
regularly called caucus?
Upon the report Of such commit
tee being presented to the convention,
on motion duly made, the report was
adopted by such convention. Upon
such report being adopted, the sig
nal was given and certain of the La
Toilette delegates bolted, but not for
the reason stated by the writer of the
Times article. Ten of the La
Toilette delegates refused to go out,
outspokenly denouncing the I'M
called-for action of the leaders of the
La Toilette representatives. Thus
a small minority of the convention
attempted to override the expressed
wish of the Republican electors Of
this county, and openly boosted that
such minority delegates would be
seated at Madison in preference to
the regularly elected delegates, be-
cause they were representatives of La
Toilette. IF such is fair sample Of
the reform measures of the "Great
Reformer," it is time that the citi-
zens of this state, at the polls, placed
the stamp Of disapproval on the same.
The convention then proceeded to
the election of full set of White
head delegates to the state conven-
ton and passed resolutions endorsing
Spooner, Mosher and Park.
The writer Of the Times article
inserts the following expression:
"The Stalwarts recognized the right
of the La Toilette delegates to APP
peal from their decision" by boiling.
Such right was not recognized and
no elector OF this county recognizes
such right to exist, when, as in this
case, the bolt was not made for any
reason whatever, except that the La
Toilette delegates early in the morn
ing of the convention discovered that
they were hoplessly in the minority
and the only show to obey the be-
hests of their master and deliver the
goods was to bolt and trust to the
La Toilette state committee to over
ride Justice and the wishes of the
electors of this county.
DELEGATE.
Mouono TaI1n ccnmhIV