River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-06-23


regular credentials was seated, except
from the town of Hammond.
I'VE appointed a committee on resolu-
tions and committee on list of delegates,
conducted our convention in an orderly
manner and elected our delegates to the
state convention.
In our convention there were 81 dele
gates present who stayed with us TO 81
who walked out. You will notice that
that makes II, showing'a double delega-
tion from the town Of Hammond, en-
titled to two delegates. We had two
delegates from the town Of Hammond
and they had two contesting delegates,
and their "a included the delegation from
Hammond.
"The only cases in which there arose
any question in regard to our delegation
was in the towns of Hammond and
Warren and the village of Glenwood.
In the village Of Glenwood, the county
chairman, | presume inadvertently,
failed to see or find the credentials of
one delegate from the Third ward Of the
village Of GlenwoOd That credential
was among those which | picked up and
saw the credential before the cOnven-
ton was called to order, in the hand Of
the chairman.
Mr.. Frear in the hearing before the
State Central Committee admitted that
the delegates from the Third ward of
the village Of Glenwood should have been
seated in the convention.
In regard to the contest in the town
Of Warren, should say that there was
no cOntesting delegation, but merely a
protest against seating our two delegates
from that town, based upon this ground:
Mr. Ed. A. Sutherland was the town
chairman Of the committee for that town
and member Of the county committee. 1t
was possibly his duty to call that caucus
to order, though he never had qualified
as town chairman. At the previous con-
gressiOnal caucus held in that town, he
resigned, his resignation was accepted by
the caucus and he no longer considered
himself chairman Of the town committee.
The caucus duly elected, as they sup
posed, a chairman Of the town, and put
In as chairman Robert Atchinson of
Warren. At the time the notices were
sent out for the caucus to elect delegates
TO our 0ounty convention, the chairman Of
the county committee sent the notices to
be posted IN the town of Warren to Mr..
Sutherland, the old chairman. Mr..
Sutherland considering himself no longer
chairman Of the town passed those no
tees over to Mr.. Atkinson to be posted.
Mr.. Atkinson posted the notices for the
caucus in that town and supposed that
he should call the caucus to order at the
proper time. The county committee
called the caucuses for all towns in our
county for o'clock p. m; in villages and
cities they were called for $50 p. m.
Mr.. Sutherland had inadvertently gotten
town and had informed some of his asso-
ciates or parties that the caucus in that
town would be held at 1880 p. m. But
when he went to the village Of Roberts
that day, while on the streets of Rob
erts q little before 3 o'clock, he got into
a conversation with Mr. Atkinson and
several other citizens of that town in
regard to the time of calling the caucus
and the length of time that it should be
held open. Our county committee spe-
cited no length of time for them to be
held open, but simply specified the time
at which they should be called to order.
Mr.. Sutherland, the former chairman of
the town committee requested and de-
sired that the caucus If it was to be
called at 3 o'clock p. M, should be held
ties to whom he had said that the
caucus would be called to order at
z 80 p. m, might be there to vote.
Mr.. Atkinson thought that it was not
necessary to hold the caucus open that
long and that the only legal caucus that
could be held should be called to order in
that town at 3 p. m. instead of 1880, in
accordance with the call of the county
committee. They had some discussion on
the street, and l think a telephone mes
sage or, two was sent to Mr. Frear at
Hudson. Mr.. Sutherland came back and
talked the second time with our men and
they refused to hold the caucus open more
than an hour, our men would not agree to
hold the caucus open until evening, and
finally he gave up and said go ahead and
hold your caucus, l don't care. So we
called the caucus to order and elected of
ficers. Mr.. Sutherland participated in
that caucus and voted there. We had "a
votes out of 90. Mr.. Sutherland made
affidavit after the conclusion of the con-
vention that the conversations that he had
with Mr.. Atchinson were just as | have
stated them to you, that the caucus was
l11 r. prInr NJ ~ md hn+ I,
came in after the caucus was called to
order, and he also made affidavit that the
conversations took place outside Of the
caucus hall on the streets in the village of
Roberts in that town; that he made no
protest in the hail or after the caucus was
called to order in regard to the time the
caucus should be held open or when it
should be called or by whom it should hn
called, and he also further made affidavit
that if the caucus had been held open I'M
til $50 or p. M, he thought it would
have made no difference with the result
of the ballot; and he also stated in his
affidavit that he thought the two dele
gates from the town of Roberts should
have been seated III the convention.
THAT is the situation i'll the town of
Warren. They had no contesting dele
gates there whatever, and merely protest
ed against the seating of our delegates on
tile ground that the proper chairman die
not call the convention to order, although
he had never filed his oath and was not
9resent, and the caucus was properly
called TO order by the man who did call it
to order in his absence as the statute re-
quires.
'In regard to the town Of Hammond
would say that the caucus in that town
should have been held under the call of
the county committee at p. m, but
Fetch Winthrop, who was chairman of
the town committee in that town, desired
TO hold the caucus in the evening and had
so stated, | understand, to some of his
friends. We instructed our men to call
the caucus to order at p. M, according
to the call of the county committee, which
was done Mr.. Winthrop refused to call
the caucus to order, although we waited
for him for half an hour. After our eau
Gus had been in session about fifteen min
utes Mr.. Winthrop called another caucus
to order in another corner of the ROOM
We had only 10 votes in our caucus,
which lasted an hour, and during that
hour there was much less than 10 votes
in the other caucus. However, they held
their caucus open until nearly o'clock in
The evening and managed to get in 30 or
50 votes Our caucus was undoubtedly
the legal one.
But conceding that the delegation
from the town of Hammond should have
been thrown out on both sides, or even
conceding that the two delegates from
Hammond should have gone to the oppo-
sltlon, we still had a majority in the con-
yention. Our voting strength was at
least 50 to their "a, giving them the two
IL e