The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-04
ON Mr.. ALLEN.
He Will Have to Contest Bower
sock Nomination.
L. I. Kelly Got Nomination
Papers Filed First.
WAS A LIVELY RACE.
Won by Treasurer by Margin of
Three Minutes.
SidelightS on the Convention at
Garnett.
WAS A LIVELY RACE.


the nomination papers of ]. D.
Bowersock as Republican candidate for
congress in the Second district were
filed ahead of those of H. ]. Allen. This
places the duty of contesting the nomi-
nation upon Mr.. Allen
T. It. Kelly brought the Bowersock
papers from Garnett, and Grant Horna
day of Fort Scott, accompanied by Mr..
Allen, brought Aliens papers. 1t was
a race to see which should get here first.
Both came on the same train, but Kelly
knew that the Missouri Pacific train on
which they came had to stop at Fiji
teenth street for the Santa Fe crossing.
He wired ahead to his assistant, G. R.
FItchie, to meet him there with a team
of fast hoses. Hornaday also had wired
ahead for team to meet him at the
Missouri Pacific depot, and Harry Find
lay was there when the train pulled into
the depot. few minutes delay of the
train in the yards gave Kelly the adj
vantage and he reached the state house
first.
The Bowersock convention at Garnett
completed it's work at IL o'clock yester-
day morning, and Bowersock's nomina-
ton papers were Immediately made out.
The Allen convention completed it's
work an hour later ana his papers were
Immediately signed up. At L o'clock a
train left for Topeka over the Missouri
gers out of Garnet, Kelly, Hornaday
and Allen. It was the beginning of the
race to Topeka
When the train stopped at the Santa
Fe crossing in South Topeka Kelly
leaped off and into the carriage which
was waiting for him.. The carriage for
Hornaday and Allen was ten blocks
further north. The train was delayed
a very few minutes in going those rem
blocks through the yards, and when
HOrnadaV and Allen raapba6 the Office
of the secretary of state they found
that the BowerSock papers had just
barely been filed by Kelly.
This meant that protest would have
to be filed on the part of Mr.. Allen,
and Mr.. Hornaday did not file his pa
pers yesterday, as there was no hurry
after the race. Allen and Hornaday
took it good naturedly and joked with
Kelly about beating them.
This means that Mr.. Allen Will have
to be the aggressor@ in contesting the
nomination, and the burden of proof
will fall upon him. The contest Will
come up before the state election
board, the same as the contest in the
First district.
One of the chief points in the Second
district contest will be whether John H.
Vaughn of Anderson county was q
member OF the congressional commit
tee, as claimed by the Bowersock fac
ton, or whether there was a vacancy
in Anderson county3 -
The Allen faction claims that Vaughn
was member of the congressional
committee for the meeting of the COM
mittee in January in Kansas City only,
and. that his connection with the COM
mittee ceased with that meeting. The
argument on which this is based is
that Vaughn was seated in the Janu
airy meeting of the committee on the
following credentials:
Garnet, kas., Jan. 49, 1904.
ITO the Chairman of Congressional
Committee District No. 2, State Of
Kansas:
This is to certify that the member
of said committee from Anderson
county, Kansas, Hon. H. NJ. Brooke,
has left the state. We, the county cen
trail committee, have selected J. H.
Vaughn to represent our county at the
meeting Of said congressional commit
tee at Kansas City, Kas., on the 18th
inst. JOHN F. DELLINGER,
Chairman"
The minutes of the Kansas City
meeting also contain the following:
ION motion, papers from the Ander-
son county central committee author
izing ]. H. Vaughn to act as commit
teeman for this meeting, were present
ed and Vaughn elected to represent An
derson county at this meeting"
The Allen faction contend that these
records to show that Vaughn was en-
titled to act at the Kansas City meet
ing only, and that the congressional
committee had to fill the Anderson
county vacancy again at the meeting
on Tuesday of this week Wilder S.
Metcalf, temporary chairman of the
committee, persisted in recognizing
Vaughn as the Anderson. county mem
her and it was this that caused the
split in the committee meeting. The
Allen members appealed from Metcalfs
ruling, and the vote stood four against
the ruling to three for it, not counting
Metcalf and Vaughn, who it is alleged,
were not entitled to vote on the appeal
The committee then divided, the
four Bowersock members recognizing
Vaughn and the four Allen members
recognizing ]. H. johnson as the An
derson county member. johnson was
recommended by the Allen delegation
from Anderson county.
The Bowersock faction contends that
Vaughn ought to be recognized as the
Anderson member because Frank
Travis the secretary of the commit
tee. so recognized him and wrote him
letters on the subject up to the time
that he came out for Bowersock and
against Allen
Another important point in the con-
test will be the fact that the Bower
sock convention was organized without
majority of the delegates to consti-
tute a quorum. Only SO delegates were
recognized in organizing the Bowersock
convention, whereas it took so to make
a quorum. The Allen faction contend
ed from the first that the SO uncontest-
ed delegates could not organize the
convention legally and that some other
delegation would have to be seated,
and this was where the trouble came
in Now the question is, Could less
than quorum organize the conven-
tio--2
| The real issue in the whole conven-
ton fight was over the appointment OF
the committee on credentials 1t was
undoubtedly fact that every delegate
| in the convention was prejudtced one
way or the other. Consequently each
| side was afraid to let the other have a
majority of the credentials committee
That is why, in a final attempt to get
together, Mr.. Allen proposed to leave
the settling of the contests entirely tc
the justices of the supreme court, acting
unofficially. or to five district judges
| Il, ~ pa r-c IL,