The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-06-18
From the New York Evening Sun.

From the New York Evening Sun. NCNN N the opening day of the Kansas V| City convention of 1900 a woman vaudeville and light opera singer
 was invited to the platform to sing "The
 Star-Spangled Banner" On the following
 day plaster of paris bust of MT. Bryan
 was unveiled with much ceremony. One
 of the stopgap speakers who killed time
 while the convention was awaiting the
 report of the committee on resolutions
 was Webster Davis. Tn his peroration he referred to MT. Bryan as that peerless statesman, William J. Bennings" The
 walk around hurrah in the convention hall after Bryan had been nominated was led by Mrs. Cohen, a woman delegate
 from Utah.
 Mir Bryan has been country lawyer, a
 reporter, an editorial writer. member of Congress, an author, a lecturer, a special writer for syndicates and again an editor
 As editorial writer and political corre-
 spondent of the Omaha World Herald his salary was 80 a week. He reported the
 republican national convention in St.
 Louis in 1886 and interviewed Abe SIup-
 sky MT. Bryan made a speech at the
 Tammany Hall Fourth of July ceIebra-
 tion in 1885
 MT. Bryan's first long speech in Con-
 gress was on the tariff and 1t attracted
 considerable attention at the time. A
 woman from the west who was in the House gallery while MT. Bryan was
 speaking became enthusiastic over his
 eloquence and was constantly applauding
 The Washington correspondent of a New
 York newspaper mistook the woman for
 Mrs. Bryan, and in the account of the speech he wrote that the congressman s wife sat in the gallery and appla uded him
 with great enthusiasm. Mrs. Bryan was
 at her home in Lincoln. Neb.. at the time and when she heard of the newspaper
 story of her husbands speech and the
 cheering woman in the gallery there was
 some business for the telegraph company
 and William J. had to do some hurry-up explaining. When Bryan came to New York after his nomination for president
 in 1896 he met the reporter who had writ ton the story of the cheering woman
 Looking him over with an icy stare Mir. Bryan said: Your face seems familiar Have we met before?'
 The late Roswell P Flower was chair
 Chicago convention of 1896 and George B. Mcclellan was secretary and treasurer John c. Sheehan was then acting leader of Tanmany The entire delegation re | tired from the convention hall after the platform had been adopted and the state was not represented in the votes on the nominati tion of candidates for president and vice president. Of the 930 delegates elected to that convention only 76s voted | on the fifth ballot. That made 502 neces- sary to a choice Bryan received 800 votes | on the roll call. but seventy eight more votes were changed to him before the re- suit was announced, giving him more | than the necessary two-thirds. Fifty seven of the sixty-four delegates from 1 Pennsylvania joined the New York del- egation in marching out of the hall after the adoption of the platform. The other boiters were from various New England states.
 Mir Bryan went to the Chicago conven- tion as member of contesting delega- ton from Nebraska. They had almost no claim to regularity. and it Is we'll known that MT. Bryan himself did not expect that his delegation would be seated. It is equally true that they would not have l been seated if the little clique of demo- cratic United States senators who thought they could control the convention had dreamed that Bryan would be nominated for president. In the preliminary discus sion among the party leaders it was de- bated whether or not they should abolish the two-thirds rule or seat enough con- testing free silver delegates to make the free silver vote two-thirds of the con- vention. The latter course was decided on and the contestants from Nebraska, Michigan and other states were seated by That good old rule. that simple plan | that he may take who has the power, and he shall keep who can
 A man of the name of Stevenson who was a political and personal friend of | Grover Cleveland and Don M. Dickinson, | had managed what was called snap l convention in Michigan and elected a ] sound money delegation. He was reccg-