Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-10-17
TAKING TESTIMONY
Second Day of Hearing of the
Moore-Cooke LegisIa.
tive Contest.
CALLING OF MASS CONVENTION
Reasons Given for Gathering to Sc
Iect a Second Candi-
date.

heard before the county Judges of the
three counties of the Thirty-third
senatorial district, began with the eN-
animation of c. l.. Ramp. of Moline,
witness for Mr.. Cooke. Mr.. Ramp
was called to tell what he knew of
the business affairs and whereabouts
of Myron Jordan, formerly of Moline,
who was one of the senatorial COM
mitteemen appointed by the Andrews
faction three years ago.
j. +. Henderson. of Aledo. member
of the senatorial committee from
Mercer county, came next, and was
one of the important witnesses for
Mr.. Cooke. On direct examination he
told of the meeting at Aledo Sept. 4,
and discussed the right of Mr.. Cooke
at that time to act as committeeman
on the proxy of Mr.. Hutchins, of Hen
derson county.
Better Show for Mercer.
On cross examination it was
brought out that the reason he favor
ed a mass convention rather than a
delegate convention was in order 10
give Mercer county n better oppor-
tunty to- be represented and in order
to insure the appointment of a sena-
torial committee of one from each
county. He said that he thought the
members of the party here would also
have better chance to be represent
ed in view of the fact that Mr.. Moor"
had been authorized to appoint the
delegates, who would therefore rep
resent him rather than the county at
large. He refused to admit that the
calling of n mass convention had
been agreed upon for the purpose OF
beating Mr.. Moore. Mr.. Hender
son said there were several democrats
from the lower end of this county n
the convention at Aledo Sept. 80, and
declared that there would have been
more from a distance had the roads
not been very bad.
Convention of Sept. 80
c. w. Postlewaite, of Alexis, who
presided at the convention of Sept.
30. testified as to the procedure or
that date. and he was followed by l..
l. Hutchins, of Oquawka. member of
the senatorial committee from Hen
derson county. Mr.. Hutchins related
the manner in which he and Mr.. Hen
derson had organized and called the
convention for Sept. 80, and then told.
ed him TO admit that he had never
known of a mass senatorial conven-
ton among the democrats of this
state. On close inquiry as to the
preparing of the minutes of the
Aledo convention, Mr.. Hutchins, who
was secretary. admitted that they
were drafted in the office of Mr..
Scott about a week ago. The witness
did not know what had become of the
original papers.
The last witness of the morning
was s. s. Hallam. one of the promi-
nent democrats of Monmouth. Mr..
Greer secured from him statement
that he had never heard of a senator
ial committee in which one county
had a greater representation than
another, but Mr.. Searle induced him
TO admit that he never heard of :;
mass senatorial convention and that
the practice of allowing candidate
when indorsed to appoint his own
delegates was commonly followed.
Afternoon Testimony.
c. c. Swisher. the first witness this
afternoon, was present from this
county with proxies of DIR. j. c. F.
Meyer and c. c. Coyne, of Moline, AZ
the meeting at Aledo Sept. 4, and also
attended the mass convention there.
His testimony concerned these two
occasions.
John Schafer, Jr., of Port Byron,
who was one of the Rock Island eoun-
ty committeeman who went to Aled"
Sept 4. followed Mr.. Swisher, and
stated that at that meeting he had
advised Messrs. Moore and Looney to
accept the proposition of Messrs.
Cooke and Henderson and name one
man to act with them. When he
found that action was to be taken in
which the two lower counties were
not represented, he left the hall. He
said that Mr.. Scott at that meeting
had declared he intended to beat Mr..
Moore out and intimated that the af |
fair at Springfield was at the bottom
of his desire. On cross examination
he admitted that at the time of the |
Aledo meeting Mr.. Moore had a lien |
on the nomination through the sup |
port of the Rock Island county dele |
gates.
MIR Cooke Recites Position.
During his direct examination By |
Mr.. Greer yesterday afternoon, Mr.. |
Cook stated that never to his knowl- |
edge had the democratic party in |
Mercer county been with other than
the same number of senatorial com |
mitteemen than the other counties in
the district had. In other words, that
the vote cast was not made the basis |
Of determining the number of COM |
mitteemen. He asserted on cross |
examination by Mr.. Searle, that he
had never voiced an intention of beat
ing Mr.. Moore out of the nomination
and maintained that he had no inten- |
ton of becoming a candidate himself
at the time of the meeting of the va
rious committeeman held in Aledo, |