The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-04-06
To Control the Eighth
and Tenth Districts.
YERKES AT The HEAD I?
Strong Contest to be Made by the An
ti-BIackburn Men to Have An
other Convention Ordered
for the Eighth
District.
Especial to News and Observer

Winston-Salem, n. c., April 5.-There
is little doubt now that there will be
q strong contest B-ifore the National
Congressional Committee by the anti
PlGckburnites to have another convention
ordered for the Eighth district and there
are men high in the party. councils who
believe there will be such evidence pro
duced before the COMMITTEES that that
body cannot get around cancellng the
nomination of Blackburn and giving them
n chance to do the thing over.
I am informed by man who declares
he has the best authority for the state
ment that the entire revenue crowd are
into q conspiracy to control the Eighth
and Tenth districts, that they are acting
uncer orders from Mr.. Yerkes himself
who is the arch-conspirator; thai then
idea is TO form a coalition with the big
whiskey men of those districts, and what
tia. means everyone knows. There are
a few men who are connected with the
revenue service who know nothing about
the matter. These are those who are too
Conscientious to enter into the spirit OF
any such scheme, and the plan is Tor
thcm to be shelved Just as soon as the
control of these districts can be accom-
pi,shed by the election oil certain men
To Congress- The party informed me OF
TINS plan stated that Agent Patterson
was working the scheme in this State for
Mr.. Yerkes. That from him emanated ali
the orders for the revenues to rally to
Blackburn, and from him will go the or
dcrs to accomplish the nomination OF a
ccSsain gentleman in the Tenth district.
AS a proof OF the statement THAI an ALL
ance of this kind lis on between the reve
nue. and the whiskey men my informer
cites me TO the fact that the two crowds
fought desperately hand in hand in the
Rowan County Convention to elect Black
Eurc delegates and that in the other
counties they were on the same side. l.
was also pointed out that the notorious
Wilkes blockader Lawson Davis. was APP
pointed deputy collector just fifteen days
bctore the Wilkes primaries, the same
being an open invitation TO the whiskey
men Of Wilkes to 20 ahead with their
Heiarious business, provided tney sup
ported Blackburn.
1t is said that part of this scheme to
get control of the Tenth and Eighth dis
tr;cts involved the decapitation of Chair
man Rollins, whom Agent Patterson hates.
That some OF Patterson's friends betrayed
hin. and told the plan to Rollins. and
that Rollins went TO work to knock up
at least that part of the scheme. Black
burn had promised Patterson to see that
Rollins was not endorsed at Wilkesboro,
hut when Blackburn saw he going
to need the Pritchard influence to back
him in a contest with the anti-Biackburn-
ties before the National Congressional
COMMITTEES, he went back on Patterson
ard had Rollins endorsed. 1t is said that
when Patterson heard of it he exhausted
every bad word in the dictionary.
The contestants of Blackburns nomina-
lion before the National Committee will
have a great raft of evidence of frauds
p-acticed everywhere. The Committee on
Credentials of the convention declared
that they really ought to have taken
four or five days to sift the evidence in
the case of the contested delegations, but
that the Blackburn crowd knew the Ion
ger they investigated the worse tnel
case would appear, so they adopted the
plan of organizing a convention of their
own, seeing they could not force the com
nittee to make a hasty report without
an Investigations
The committee claim that the papers
in the contest from Watauga were peck
eted by some Blackburn man; that the
secretary of the convention, Mr.. Black
burns private secretary, admitted that
he knew of their whereabouts but stated
that he would not tell That the contest
was filed by the chairman of the Watauga
Convention, ex-senator Lindsay Michael,
a man of excellent reputation, and had
merit in it.
In the case of the protest from Cald-
well. the committee examined Captain
1sboll, who stated that he was a chair
man OF township committee in that
county and that the county chairman did
not send him any notice at all of the
convention, and that therefore there was
no notice given of the primaries; and
that there were only eight at the pr- !
marles. That there We're four of these |
lor Blackburn and four for Linney. and |
one of the Blackburn men canned the |
right to vote another Blackburn vote |
he holding a proxy, which he was allowed !
to do. thereby carrying that township |
for Blackburn These facts were investi |
gated into, but no evidenc. was offered |
b. anyone to contradict the statement |
of Captain Isbell.
The investigation of the contest that |
took place in the convention in Ashe |
exhibited one of the most outrageous ar
bitrary proceedings ever seen in an en- |
liehtened country, unless it was echpsed |
by the Surry exhibition. Evidence was |
introduced showing that a motion was |
made to instruct for Blackburn. That |
the chairman put the affirmative, to
which there was only a faint response:
that Mr. r. II. Mcneil demanded that |
the negative be put, and that the chair
rlan positively refused to do so.
III the Surry contest it appeared from
the evidence of Chairman Norman him.
self that circulars announcing the con- |
vehtion were not given out until within |
ten days of the primaries. 1t appeared
from other evidence that was uncontra-
dicted that at the county convention
that a Credentials Committee
pointed consisting entirely of
-