The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-15

And those that wept when Taggart fell
from Power.
And those who hoped to see him claim his
dover,
Again are flung where shadows thicken
fast
Their hope destroyed and gone their futile
hour.
'T am elected chairman of the Democratic
city committee beyond all doubt. 1 can give
Mr.. Kern all the contested precincts and all
the tied precincts and still have enough
votes to elect me."-James L. Reach.
upon the returns now made to the city
committee Mr.. Kern is leading and will
be elected chairman. Joseph E. Bell.
"out of 15s precincts we have heard from
contested or tied. Edward B. Raub,
Keach's assistant.
without particular reckoning find that
Kern has 96 of the committeeman elected
out of 15S reported think Kern will have
ten or fifteen votes TO spare. ALBERT Sahm.
There are a good many precincts out,
and it looks close. 1t is pretty hard to tell"
Thomas Taggart.
The Democratic primaries are ended, and
a new chairman is in process of election.
His initials are -. X" That much is alb
solutely certain. That much is all that was
certain about the Democratic committee
rooms last night. Whether it will be Keach
or John w. Kern is a question that will
probably have to be finally settled to-mor-
row night at the convention of the precinct
committeeman, where the chairman is to be
elected.
KEACH CONFIDENT.
Those skilled in judging appearances on
Democratic election nights leaned to the be-
lief that Keach had been Successful in the
primaries. No one was more confident Of
that than Keach himself. His cohorts were
jubilant, and remained at headquarters un-
til long after midnight. 1t could not be
said that jubilation was the chief noticeable
feature of the Kern crowd. This crowd was
housed in the committee rooms, and early
in the evening took great consolation from
favorable Kern reports. They did not ap-
pear as unconcerned as usually they have
when everything was going their way They
were reticent about claims. and it was mid
night before they asserted that Kern was
ahead"
Chairman Tanning was asked what he
would do with the silver monkey wrench
which Keach had presented him.
IL guess I'll have to turn it over to Jim,' y
Keach, who sat next to him.
Does it look that way?"
81 can't tell," responded Tanning. ~
have had no opportunity to check up"
REPORTS TO COMMITTEE.
The interest of the day centered in the
reports to the city committee. They began
coming in soon after the polls closed at s
o'clock Of course, as usual. the good
first and the good Keach reports his head
quarters. Both felt the exhiaration that
comes from good things. But the Reach
good things seemed not to cease. as they
apparently did at the Kern headquarters
the city committee rooms became the Kern
headquarters, in fact. Vote by vote the
Keach list climbed, until. when it was an
nounced by E. B. Raub that Keach had
101 votes without counting the contested
or tied, the enthusiasm became great. The
Kern workers got little encouragement
from the leaders of that element, except
the assurance that Kern would win. They
staked their hope on the credibility of this
assurance.
The Reach count was made by comparing
the official returns with the list of Keach
candidates. This showed that log Keach
men had been elected. There were forty
two precincts to hear from. The Reach
men counted on fifteen Of these. This
would make his vote about 120, leaving the
rest to Kern.
IN CHARGE OF COUNT.
/ Joseph E. Bell and Albert Sahm were in
charge of the Kern count, and Mr.. Bell
compared the official returns with his can
didates. He did not give any figures, but
asserted that Kern was unquestionabIy
elected, and that the precincts unheard
from would only add to his vote. He said
his comparison was not complete enough
to give figures. Mr.. Sahm said he had not
the means for verifying his count of the
Kern vote, but he felt sure that Mr.. Kern
had 96 votes. He also said he was sure
that when the excitement had subsided 1t
would be found that the majority of the
committee would vote for Kern.
Thomas Taggart was an interested
watcher OF the returns. He stood behind
Joseph z. Bell and Albert Sahm. Across
the table sat Chairman Tanning and James
L. Reach. Mr.. Reach was aggressive
throughout the whole proceeding, insist
ing on the strictest regularity. and taking
absolutely nothing for granted. AS the
committeeman were admitted they were
required to turn in their certificates of eiec-
ton, and the bags containing the tally
sheets and lists of voters. When a con-
tested precinct reported, the bag was placed
between Tanning and Reach. There were
occasional friendly sallies between the
rivals. and everybody appeared in good
humor. Reach poked fun at some of the
committeeman who reported, and Taggart
got friendly grasp from nearly every
one.
PRIMARY ELECTION COMMISSION.
At o'clock all the members of the pri-
mary election commission were in the room.
No meeting was held. although the mem
bers remained until nearly IL o'clock. Then
they decided to leave the custody of the
contested precinct bags to Keach and Fan
n:rfg, who agreed to seal them. together
with the uncontested returns. and place
them in vault. Reach consented to have
all the contests heard by the commission
tonight at 1880 o'clock. and this announce
ment sent most of the crowd away.
The commission. will have huge job on
its hands. Thirteen contests were filed In
addition tho vote of three precincts showed
lem. The primary election law makes no
provision for the settlement of a tie vote,
| and the committee will find this a knotty
| problem IL IL becomes necessary to decide IT.
| The contests filed were:
Third ward. sixth precinct.
Sixth ward. eighth and eleventh pre-
| cincts.
Seventh ward. fourth and thirteenth pre-
| cincts.
| Eighth ward. eighth precinct.
Ninth ward, eighth precinct
Eleventh ward, sixth and eighth pre-