Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-06-29
TWAS LIVELY.
u.; House Tells Warm Convention in
W." which He took Active Part.

Bangor. June Observation-Disclosures
..ose who are in attendance at the pre-
Invention exercises taking place to-
,,sbt is Maj. Charles j. House, who Is
o,,ef clerk in the labor department.
AUGUSTA. Maj. House is well known to
III Maine people, for he has been more
~ less connected with politics for
,,pv wears. He has taken part in all
.,o CONSEQUENTIAL conventions since the
..r and is an authority upon all mat
49,, pertaining thereto. 1t was, there
.oro with considerable interest that the
,ar,v with which he was talking to-
.;ebt awaited his reply to the question
&C n whether he had ever seen as hot
convention as the present one Is ex-
pected to be-
For a moment or two the major
Thought and then he replied that he
had seen some pretty lively ones.
"Rut." said he. Il think about the most
excitine time l ever saw at a conven-
zion WAS when Gen. Joshua L. Cham
horIaiu was nominated back in Sc.
rbere WAS a convention which was full
Of excitement.
81 was a delegate to it and tell you
,b,t ,ljngs were warm. Unlike this,
or the fight of 'S8 there were but two
candidates i'm the field, both were from
cumberland county. Gen. Chamber
,ain's opponent was Samuel +. Spring,
of Portland, and both of them had
made strenuous canvass.
DvTlx nr1-
there's no need of my telling you that
that of Mr.. Spring good. but different.
He didn't go to the front. However, he
was very wealthy man and when the
war broke out, withdrew his money
from other investments and purchased
government bonds. This was used as
an argument in his favor, being held up
as showing his loyalty to the country.
Well today, that argument would bear
more weight than it did in those days.
The war was too close at hand, you
know. Besides the great majority of
the delegates were old soldiers and
many of them had fought under Cham
berlain.
THE day of the convention it was
pretty well settled that Chamberlain
would win, but the Spring men did not
give up the battle They hung 1t out
until the vote was declared.
The convention met in the morning,
but the only business done was to per-
feet the organization and appoint COM
mittees. When the convention came
together in the afternoon all hands
were ready for the fray. The veterans
we're more enthusiast site than ever and
were determined that their candidate
should win.
.'While the name of Chamberlain
was being presented to the convention
there was more or less cheering, but
the fun began when the name of Spring
was mentioned.
of course. his delegates cheered
Justify when the man who was to pre-
sent Mr.. Springs name arose, but wher
he started in to talk about the pur-
chase of government bonds the old sol
diers made themselves heard. They
didn't like it. The mans voice was
drowned and it was impossible for hin
to proceed.
Hon. Albert G. Jcwett of Belfast
was chairman of the convention. He
was a man with the most wonderful
voice | have ever heard. 1t was one o.
those deep penetrating voices whici
could be heard above most any kind o
din. Had it been otherwise th'
speaker never would have proceeded
However. Mr.. Jewett finally succeeded
in securing order and told the conven'
ton that they must give the gentleman
opportunity to proceed or the conVen'
ton would come to a standstill. Th'
nominating speech was finished ant
the ballot taken. But one was neces
sary. for Gen. Chamberlain won easily
That was the story Of the convention
hl. not of Albert G. Jewett.
lie was one of the prominent figures
of his day i'm Maine. He was lawyer
of prominence i'm the bar or his owl
country and in the State as well' II
politics he was always commanding
figure. Previous to the war he was
Democrat and a prominent one. III
attended the Charleston. S C., conVeh
ton of 1860, which eventually resulted
in split in that party. one wing o
the party nominated Douglass, the 9th
or Breckenridge.
Ii was at this convention that an IN
cident occurred which we'll Illustrate
the kind of man he was and why n
was able to control the Bangor con
vention of 1866. AS readers of histor!
know the Charleston convention was
turbulent one. All kinds OF threats
were made by delegates from the Ill
ferent sections. AS the convention
progressed delegate attempted to al
dress the gathering He was SINAI
man and had voice which was no
over strong. He was from the North ah'
the southern delegates were not In sym
pathy with his views. AS soon as TN
drift of his talk was seen the southern
started to drown him out. Cat calls
Kisses, shouts and jeers sounded upoi
the air. The small man was rattie'
and all but put out.
Now, as already remarked, Mr.. Jew
EFT had a voice and knew how to use IL
also he wasn't on speaking terms VIII
the word fear. His sympathies wer
with the small man. He felt that m