Evening star., 1904-03-22
Rumored That Penield May
Withdraw From Canvass.
SHOWING NO INTEREST
ESTIMATED THAT STATE WILL GO
SAFELY Republican.
Lively Contest in the Eleventh District
Mayor Steele Making Fight Of
His Life-Evenly Divided.

Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, March 22.-Rumor
has been. renewed here, and is most per-
sistent, that William L. Penfeld, solicitor
Tor the State Department at. Washington
Is about to withdraw from the race for the
republican nomination for governor of In
diana.
The twelfth district congressional conven-
tion to nominate candidate for Congress
Will be held at Fort Wayne tomorrow. and
1t Is stated that Judge Penfield win not be
there. though it is home district.
Politicians say that if Penfield does not
withdraw he might as well do SO, as ne is
not spending any time in his canvass in
Indiana, while his opponents are busily
working day and night building up ma
chimes to nominate themselves
There was never a more bitterly fought
fight for republican nomination for gov
ernor of Indiana.
Chairman Goodrich of the republican
state committee has estima ted that Indiana
viii go safely republican this year, as 1t
did two years ago.
At that time Goodrich guessed within
thousand votes of just how Indiana would
1t is probable that Lieut. Gov. Gilbert will
De nominated for Congress tomorrow at
Fcrt Wayne to run against Representative
ROBINSON, the democratic incumbent.
There seems to be an impression that
district twelve will go republican, though
1t has been pretty safely democratic for a
good many years.
Maj. George w. Steele, one tof the best
known ex-congressnen in the: country Is
having the fight of his life, trying to oust
in the nominating conventionf one of the
Youngest congressman in the country, Fred
Lands.
This week will see the beginning of the
end of the interesting contest in the elev-
enth district for the republican congress
sion nomination.
The convention will be held. at Peru
week from today and the delegates will
be selected in all the counties except Grant
this week. The Grant county delegates
were named last week
Yesterday delegates were chosen In Cass
county and the Steele people are claim
ing that they succeeded in breaEirg in on
lands delegation just as the EEEzlis peo-
pie claimed last week that lfey had
broken Mai Steele's solid deleax1fon from
his home county.
Perhaps the most interesting fight of
the week will be that in Wabash county
next Saturday, as there is feling tina.
the result in that county ma + determine
the congressional race Today III Blackford
county the fight will be on. aiA 1t will be
by no means tame affair for the pre-
Hminary struggle there has been as vigor-
Gus as they know how to make them in
Blackford, which is saying a good deal
Both sides to the contest are exceedingly
confident of victory and the friends of
either candidate can produce figures to
prove conclusively that they cannot lose
There is no such thing as a disinterested
unprejudiced opinion from the eleventh dis
trict, consequently the outsider finds i
difficult to gather information that will jus
tify a prediction.
The more impartial observers of the
struggle say that the forces are so evenly
balanced that no one should be surprised
at any result the nomination of either
Steele or Lands or of a dark horse