Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-05-24
THE FATEFUL CAUCUS.
How the Republican Members Flocked to
Isaac Stephenson.

Inc 1Ntlitlil'dH SltlE Central COIlilllIlltt,
turned tine trick.
William H. IIattcn Of New LoaAon
had more than the required fifty-tWo
votes pledged to him. Mr.. Connor in
fiucuced two Of those ffty-twO to vote
for Stephenson and then the Marinette
man secured the votes Of enough more
to nominate him.
The final chapter Of the most exciting
and closest senatorial contest ever fought
on in the political history Of Wisconsin
came suddenly. although not unexpected
~, after Il nip and tuck race for three
days. Up to the last minute, the
shrpwdcst observers could not state
whether tho contest was 10 be settled
that night or whether it WAS to continue
oycf until next week
The excitement was not as intense as
it had been the night previous and the
crowd in the Assembly chamber WAS not
So large. The preliminary proceedings
were marked ~ 10 departure from the
monotonf which had become familiar
to everyone Of The members Of the Leg
isIaturr through the routine ceremonies
Of the past thirty days.
The roll was called and resulted in fifty
votes for IIatt0n and forty-scvcn for
Stephenson. one for ICnrOOt and one for
McGregor- that Of Assemblyman Nelson,
who had attended the IiattOn caucus the
day before, but stayed out of the Rcpub-
lican caucus that evening. Mr.. Colds
worthy, the other tonn0r man who had
done the same thing, did not respond
when his name was called.
Began Changing Votes.
Before the secretary had announced
the result Mr.. GoldSworthy addressed
the chair and stated that he desired to
he recorded as casting his vote for Isaac
Stcphcnso;.. Then Mr.. McGregor, who
had voted for LenrOOt, announced that
he desired to change his vote 10 Isaac
Stephenson. Mr. Nelson then stated
that he desired to change his vote from
McGrcgor to Stephenson. Mr.. CiauSen
then stated that lie desired to change
his vote from iIatt0m to Stephenson.
This brought StephenSOn's vote up to
ffty-one MeSsrS Ekern. Nelson and
Bancroft were seen working hard upon
Assembyman Morris of Iowa county.
Shouts of Let him alone, and He
knows how to vote" were hurled at them
across the chamber. Air. Morris, after
considerable hesitation, however, arose
and stated that lie had pledged his word
that if Mr.. Stephenson received iifty-one
votes that he would change his vote to
bring il up to the sufficient number to
nominate.
Chairman Martin stated that he did
not know the result of the ballot and
asked Mr. Morris who was his choice foT
l.llIltil b0tIltS SiIiSttDi- l,CLolt lllt ilttll-
bcr from Iowa could answer, Senator
Morris of La Crosse 1rOSc and stated
that he desired to change his vote from
llattOn to Esch Senator Fairchid fol
lowed with the same request and quick
~ Senators BraZeau. Hagcmester and
Noble and AsSemblymcn Jones and
Burke made the same request.
New Roll Call Ordered.
The request to change votes sprung
up from all parts of the rooms and Chair
man Martin suggested that the secretary
call the roll to give all those who de-
sired an opportunity to change. This
was done and the result was that Ste
phenson received u votes; Esch, %
votes; Hatton, II votes; McGregOr .
votes, and Hudnall / vote
The chairman then announced that Mr..
Stephenson having received Il ma jOrity
of the votes i'll the caucus was declared
the Republican nominee for the Office of
United States senator, an announcement
which was greeted with an outburst of
cheers as had been every announcement
of Il change to Stephenson previously.
Mr. kuckuk then moved 10 make the
nomination unanimous. The motion was
put and the ayes replied vociferouSly.
When those opposing were called for,
there was a respectable showing of OPP
poncnts of the motion so that. although
the CldlG declared the motion carried,
the nomination was not unanimous.
How They Voted.
The first roll call of the evening before
the members started to change was as
follows:
FOR sTEPHENsON-s Senators Bird. B.sh-
op, Browne. F,roemmng. Lockney. Martin.
Owen. Stondall; ASSPmhlymcn AimSworth,
Bancroft. Bell. Berg, Cahoon. Cain, Curt s..
Disch, Durlcy,, Ekern, Falycy. Georsi,
4 ttN,
Roy. Luy: Niece. McKenzif F. = Mnai,
I;p Sye sc GaImsr fGtfrsea Ecynod
son. Spraguc. J. o. Thomas, Ties, Turner,
FOR HATTON-senators Barker. Bra
Zcau, Rrrns. F"ir"hill. FriGd. Iar"mcster.
Page, Rorhr. Sanborn. Stout Whitehead,
Wilcox, Wright, Asscmblymen A. 5. Baker,
J. +. Baker. Burke. Carpenter ClauSen.
Clcary, Coolidge, Everett. Grassi@. Hagen,
Ingram. Irvine. Jones. keppcl. Kuckr k
Iedytna, Mains: .Marquardt, T. Il; Miller,
IN, Roycraft. John Scott. Simon Smith,
Stout, T. NJ. Thomas, Wehlwrin-47
FOR MGREGOR-Asscmbym Nelson
FOR Observation-Disclosures McGrcgor
The final roll call after the members
had had the opportunity TO change their
votes was as follows:
FOR STEPHENSON-Scna Bird,
Bishop. Browne. Froammin-. Iockncv, Mar,
worth. Bancroft, Bell. Berg. Caho2n. Cam,
ClaUSsen. CurtisS. DiSch. Dudley Ekcrn,
rass. Heilbron, kander, Kay, keup. Keys.
ktmball. lie Roy, Luy. McCiee. McGregor.
Mckenzie. Norris, +. f. Mueller. Nj OF,
Meitzcl,. NyG9, Palmer. Schauer. g. L. Scott.
G. Thomas. Tics, Turner. enthusiastically.
For ESCH-ScnatoTs Barker, Braz AT.