The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-25

This is Tuesday said Lancaster.
Suppose we get them here by Thurs
day"
THAT will do said Wheeler, ''and
! in the meantime, not d word to any one
but the men who are to meet us We
I will take Dan Shepherd, the secretary
I of the state committee. into the secret,
but above all things it must be kept
from Mr. Jones. the chairman of the
committee
! The Cass county men stared, but said
nothing. and the conference ended.
On the following Thursday the rep
resentatives chosen from the different
! counties dropped into Springfield one
! and two at a time. So many politi-
clans were coming and going that they
| attracted little attention. but Dan
Shepherd suggested that meeting of
| "A number of politicians from the Thir-
ty-fOurth district might excite suspi-
ciOn, 50 he secured the key of Colonel
| Morrison's room at the Leland, and the
| meeting was held there. the colonel
being temporarily absent from the city.
This was a bold but shrewd stroke.
for no Democrat thought of a plan be-
ing concocted for the election of Logan
! in the room of his competitor
Lancaster and his three friends rep
resented Cass county; Perry Logston,
Schuyler county; Wells Corey, Mason
| county, ana Mr.. Mnee1eE ana Dan
/ Shepherd were present.
Il have been thinking that there
ought 20 be little fund provided for
emergencies" said Shepherd, after the
! plan had been discussed a while.
No" said Lancaster, firmly, IF
money is used the whole scheme will
fall to pieces. The work must be done
| for pure party loyalty or not at all"
General Logan nodded in approval, and
/
/ garding money.
Now. gentlemen" said Logan, 81
| want to impress upon you the necessity
| for being secret You must select your
man from each voting precinct with
| care Do not select prominent politi-
clans, or even men regarded as active
Republicans. Pick out quiet, influential
men who seldom talk politics and yet
\ who always vote the ticket and who
have no Democratic affiliations or con-
nections. Do not see them too soon or
too late, and give each man careful in
| StructiOnS. Tell him to do nothing out
side of his own precinct, and I would
suggest that each of you men in charge
of a county confine himself to the work
in his county. You understand" All
nodded.
Said Shepherd: ST think it would be
| better to make no move in precincts
and great many Democrats The re-
suit would be small for US in proper
ton to the danger
THAT is right said Wheeler. land
| in precincts where there is a large
Republican majority the work should
be the most thorough"
Let the prominent Republicans take
no part" said Logan They should
be the last to go TO the polls. Indeed.
in the towns our people should not
vote until just before closing time. and
| nowhere should they appear in groups"
| And so the conference went on, each
| person making suggestions which were
| quickly canyassed, General Logan de-
| Gliding the proper action in each case.
Wells Corey agreed to print the tick
| cts and get them to the men in charge
of the respective committees. A cipher
| code for communication was agreed
| upon, and the meeting adjourned with
! all possible details understood.
How the plan was carried out is best
! told by Captain Lancaster, who had
| charge of the work in Cass county.
Il went to work quietly said the
/ captain, "and selected in my mind the
man L wanted in each precinct I
picked fellows who were good party
men, but were not conspicuous. L had
! a poll of the county by precincts, and
I went over the lists carefully.
| scratched out all but reliable Republi-
cans, and the revised lists 1 gave to
my precinct boss, with instructions to
see each man, give him a ticket and
tell him to go quietly to the polls after
| 3 O'Clock, vote the ticket and say moth
ing to any one. In the towns the in
| structions were the same. except that
the voters were to go to the polls later.
| in the larger places as late as )
o'clock.
Where my precinct boss was thor
oughly reliable and very discreet, / saw
him as soon as possible. The others
/ l saw later, but by the morning of
| election everything was ready.
Il was in the livery business, and
my barn was a gathering place for
the boys, and I had no difficulty in
seeing my men and instructing them
without suspicion.
| ''On election day the Republican poll
ticians were at their usual avocations,
! and no one suspected anything. The
Democratic bosses showed no sign, and
only a few of their party loafed to the
polls and voted.
! In the country the Republicans, eX-
cept an occasional one, did not go near
the polls till after o'clock. Then they
began 10 vote. one or two at d time,
1 making mo parade about it.
! AN hour later they began TO vote
III lAlC -ONHS- aUOul > y ClOEh SuSttl-
cion was aroused in the minds of the
Democrats IN Virginia and they began
I to gather in groups on the corners. The
Republicans. continued TO vote quietly
| but steadily. Democratic scouts re-
ported this to their leaders. a hasty
! meeting was called and messengers
| were dispatched in every direction to
! warn tbs Democrats to get out and
| vote. This was done in a number of
| precincts, but it was too late. Some
/ Democrats thosNht it an idle story to
frighten them, others thought that the
| plan was confined to their own locality
! and would not affect the vote in the
district, while others were too indif-
! ferent to give the matter attention. 1t
was blowing time and the farmers did
not like TO leave their work
1T was the old story of an organiza-
| ton against q mob. and the mob was
not in it. Still the leaders made a no
| bic effort and in some places cast 4
considerable vote, bat when the polls
closed the job was done. and cur can
didate was elected
| What about the story that Long
Jones managed the AFFAIR." I asked
/ Our instructions from Logan were
4 to keep the plan a secret from him. 1
| heard he claimed the credit for it, but
the first he knew of what was going
on was when it was over
! Then he did not send Dan Shepherd
| over the district as a book agent to
| organize the scheme2"
No." said Lancaster, laughing. that
would have been foolish. Dan was too
! well known to have failed of recogni-
ton even though disguised, and such
a thing Was never thought of.