The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-04-24
BILL CROSS
NOMINATED
FOR DELICATE
Oklahoma City Man Wins
Empty HonOrS at Enid.
WITHDRAWAL OF MILLER
Precipitated a Crisis Which
Stampeded Convention.

Enid, o. T. April 2s.-Like the bursting
Of boiler the Democratic party, at
o'clock this morning. nominated William
NJ Cross Of Oklahoma City, for dele
gate to congress.
Vsenator Freeman z. Miller Of Payne
county, touched OF the charge tha;
broke the deadlock and he did It perma-
nenty.
Thirty-nine ballots had been taken dur
ing the night session. beginning at ]
o'clock a. N. and lasting for six hours
without interruption. except by three mo
tons to adjourn. which were defeated
promptly upon being made, without roll
call
Several candidates, especially those who
were placed before the convention. bv
their delegations. in compliment to them.
aspired TO be the factor in deciding the
contest and Senator Miller was one of
them. He withdrew from the race and
cast the vote Of his delegation for Bill"
Cross under the mistaken belief that the
time hAa come and that to delay it would
be throwing away the advantage of de-
terminging, as he thought. the result of
the contest. AIr. Cross. upon this bal
lot, had something like 1S7 votes when
Payne county was reached and Mr. Mil
Ter. forgetting the two-thirds rule. real
lied that the vote Of his allegation would
give Cross a majority Of the convention
rose TO a question of personal privilege
and said in substance: Gentlemen of the
convention. the choice or this convention
IS apparent 20 every member of this
body, the hour is late. another day has
uawned upon Us, and. as we are tired
weary and sleepy, deem It a tax upon
my friends TO continue in the race any
longer"
And then the chairman OF his delega-
ton said: Payne county casts twenty
one votes for the Honorable Colonel BIZ
Cross of Oklahoma City. the next dele
gate in the congress of the United States.
The effect Of this announcement was
instantaneous Twenty-Five Oklahoma
delegates and fifty other Cross boomers
Jumped to their feet shouting: THAT
gives it TO him; that gives It to him.
Under the two-thrds rule Cross still
lacked more than sixty votes Of enough
TO nominate him. but in the excitement
Of the moment the two-thirds rule was
forgotten. Believing that the nomina-
tion was accomplished the chairman OF
county delegations began 10 clamor for
recognition and announcing q change of
their votes for Cross. The stampede was
overwhelming and Edgar Jones. the can
didate of Logan county. mounted a chair
and moved that the nomination of Mr.
Cross be made by acclamation. The roll
call was never completed and the vote
being taken was declared to be unani-
nous for Mr.. Cross
1t cannot be said that the result was
not popular nor that the nomination of
Mr.. Cross Is Objectionable 10 the De-
mocraey of Oklahoma. On the contrary.
the Democrats are equally very satisfied
with his selection and believe that he
viii make good an off-vear race as. .anv
other man before the convention. II be-
ing conceded that either DOYLE or Forrest
would be more logical in a presidential
year on account of their ability to dis
cuss the larger issues between the politi
can parties.
it was anybody S race till Senator Nil
Ter withdrew. Up to that time the situ-
alton was not unfavorable to Edgar
Jones. especially since Col. Roy Hoffman
declared in open convention that under
no circumstances would he accept the
nomination. Had it not been for the
fact that Mr.. Cross had once before been
q candidate. and was sacrificed in the in
terest OF Robert A. Nen and fusion. it
is doubtful whether he could defeat Mr..
Jones. And. as matter of fact. during
last nights session Mr.. Jones was the
only man feared by Mr.. Cross. This
statement he made for the first time this
morning to a correspondent for the
Eagle. Judge Maxey of Shawnee county. (
was never formidable candidate
although his rivals affected 70 believe
that he was dangerous on account of /
his barrel. The truth is. ia all probabll- (
uy, that the Maxey barrel story was 1