Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-05-21
FEW AT THE POLLS
Looney Holds caucuses in Three
Wards of the City Last
Evening.
DEMOCRATS DO NOT TAKE PART
James O'NeilI Jones Master of Cere-
monies in Fifth and Jim
O'Connor in Second.

The caucuses held in the First, Sec
ond and Fifth wards last night demon
| strated the eXte4t of the Looney
strength throughout the city as well
as the methods that are pursued by
those who follow him politically to
see that only those of his stripe are
chosen to represent him in conven-
tions which he would dominate. The
vote cast was as follows: First ward,
Is; Second ward, -: Fifth ward, Is
The Argus had a representative at
each caucus and a careful count was
kept of every vote.
In the First ward Ike Beiswenger
was chairman. with Charles Smith as
secretary. The Is voters struggled in
and gave their ballots to Beiswenger.
who announced the following dele
gates elected without opposition: John
| Holtzhammer, Charles Smith, Will
| liam Mold. George Freestone. Henry
Kale, Charles Carlblow, Charles Vein
berger, Charles Ploog and Nc Mold.
In the Second ward Looney's lieu
tenant, Jim O'Connor, acting as COM
mitteeman by proxy. was the whole
works. BY actual count of The Argus
representative present there were -
votes east. After the polls had been
| closed Master of Ceremonies O'Connor
handed The Argus representative a
statement to the effect that the num-
Der of votes east was Il, and that the
| following delegates had been duly
| elected: Oscar Barth, Charles Heide-
mann, Charles Allen. James Lannen,
John Murphy, Charles Zeis, William
Kinner, p. Murrin. William O'Neill,
John KimbaII. Alphonzo De Witt,
Joseph Holtzhammer.
Dark Lantern Tactics.
In the Fifth ward the same identical
tactics were employed as character
| lied the conduct of the primary held
| by the democrats there preparatory
| to the recent craftsmanship conven-
| ton. The door of the hose house was
locked. Within, the mysterious James
| O'Neill Jones presided. His satellites
were James O'Connor and Joe Free.
| Neither OF the committeeme G.. p.
Stauduhar nor John Finnigan, was
| present. The votes were handed
through partly closed window to the
! mysterious Mr.. Jones. who thereafter
| took charge of them. NOtwfthStand-
| ing that the mysterious Mr.. Jones
| sat close to the window it was impUs-
sible, because of the dusty glass and
the dim light inside. to trace the bal
lots from the time they were passed
through the opening. In this ward
Mr. Looney graced the occasion by
| Ii D., e
representative of The Argus. who
stood close by. ID ballots were passed
through the opening. During the
| operation of the caucus number of
representative democrats approached
the polls. but noting the manner in
which the primary was being conduct
ed. walked away without even at
| tempting to vote. They knew what
kind of Il show they would get with
James O'Neill Jones again on deck.
At the conclusion the following were
announced as the delegates chosen to
the county conventions:
George II. Stauduhar. Cord. Noss.
Joe Free. David Fitzgerald, John Loon
ey. James Collins, William Cochran,
John Carney. James O'Connor, John
| ConwclL
The whole process emphasized the
| statements made by the leading demo-
Gratis at the recent conference at the
| Harper house. that while Looney's
| following in the city was absolutely
| insignificant. that with his men in
charge of caucuses, there was no
possibility of count or fair show
even if his delegate tickets were out
| oil 10, mi nv
riot could the majority of democrats
| hope to have their votes recorded and
the honest result shown. and as was
shown last night, the decent demo
Gratis of the city do not propose to
countenance. much less engage in
| rowdyism, to meet or overcome the
methods that Looney employs. With
Looney repudiated and denounc-
ed by the democrats of Rock
| Island in convention assembled.
they will not recognize as dem
| ocratic or politically fair a eau
Gus regulated by him or his handful
of followers.
Names of Reputable Democrats Used.
While Looney, as was expected, has
used without authority the names of
democrats who are not in line with
him. and these may be readily picked
out in the lists. the men he has chosen
to match tie representative demo-
Gratis of Rock Island speak for
themselves. As has been pre-
dicted. too. when it was found
that the democratic party. al
most to n man. had resolved not to
participate in any way with anything
tI,a+ SaXprad nf ICeupyiSu the bIuff
Of primary in the way of a ward
meeting was adopted. Had the demo
Gratis turned out in force the rough
house caucus would have been the
| rule and the results "a announced
| :.