Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-02-06
HOW BRIGGS I
WAS NAMED.
He Mas Agreed Upon, According
10 Reports, in The Pru-
Dental Office.

WdS OlSllSu Ill lt5lSldtlfc ClINlSS lSlS
prior TO the republican senator
ial conference, over the assertion
| openly made on all sides chat John +.
| Dryden s withdrawal was not deter
mined upon in Washington after con-
sultation with his physicians on Sat
urday, but that it had been agreed
upon at Il select meeting held in the
Prudential building in Newark ON
Thursday, at which the form OF the
withdrawal and the successor OF Mr.
Dryden were agreed upon.
The chief participants at that meet
ing, as the story goes were Senator
DRYDEN, Colonel A. r. Kuser, his SON
in-law; Quartermaster General Ed
ward Murray, County Clerk Daniel S.
Voorhees,, the republican boss of Nor
ris county, and State Treasurer Frank
o. Briggs.
| Others are suggested as being also
present, including President Thomas
n. McCarter, of the Public Service,
and lesser lights in the P. S., Pru-
Dental and allied interests, but the
gig five" named seemed to occupy
the center of the stage and, as the
story has it, to have evolved the plan
for disposing of the Dryden senatori-
al heritage in manner announced
simultaneously in the Washington,
Philadelphia, Newark, New Yorkoand
intervening city newspapers on sun
day.
That was the day, according to,the
program of the "big FIVE" as arrang-
ed at the Prudential meeting Thurs
day, on which the withdrawal of Mr..
Dryden was to be formally announc-
ed, the boom of his legatee launched
and the selection of the latter's sue
cessor as state treasurer to be gotten
under way te@
The first hitch in the proceedings
CAME when it was announced on Sat-
urday that Mr.. Dryden had stated the
previous day that when ready to an
nounee his withdrawal, which would
probably be on Monday after the
public conference" he called, the an
nouncement would be made in his
own way and not at the dictation of
any newspaper Telephone com
munication to Colonel Kuser, in ref
erence to the truth of that statement
from another source, resulted in the
publication of a statement that MI
Dryden had authorized no one to for
mally announce his withdrawal, but
| that his health was in such a condi-
tion as to possibly prevent his ap-
! pearance in Trenton yesterday.
Next came the formal statement IN
| the Sunday papers of kilograms sent
| to Senators Hillery and Frelinghuy.
sen and Assemblyman Barber from
Washington, and received by then
Sunday afternoon telling of Senator
| Dryden's withdrawal, and of the
statement of his reasons, which
would appear later 1t did, in the
shape of a four column interview witt
Mr.. Dryden, disseminated by ''pony
express" operated by his private sec
retary, who distributed copies Mon
day night in Washington, Philadal
phia, Trenton and New York. Witt
this part of the program, prominen
republicans who were not consulted
have no fault to find, but with the
star chamber method of choosing Mr.
Dryden's successor they have.
Governor Stokes was not invited
to the Prudential meeting on Thurs
day, so far as can be ascertained
nor was any other republican VII,
may be classed as a leader outside o
those grouped in the "big five.
the governor has any opinion to ex
press on that method of selecting ;
successor to Senator Dryden he il
not making it public. n
The same may be said of John w
| Griggs, William NJ. Johnson and ;
dozen or more prominent republican
members of the present legislator,
who were not at the Prudential meet
ing, and who seem Unable to express
anything short of amazement. !
Prudential meeting. debating Yht
the senatorial candidate shall be, af
| ter Mr.. Dryden's "turn-down," large
| ~ because of his Being head of tn,
Prudential, seems to all concerned
except the fbig five" almost to-
audatious for comment.
''The mere idea of Mr.. Dryden de
vising his heritage without even tn
imposition of an income tax, as th
right of the legislature to name hi
successor might be classed, is ba,
enough," is the way one critic put IL
"but when 1t comes to naming TIL
successor of his successor at the sam
star chamber session, that savors to-
much of entailing the estate"
The latter reference was in regar,
to the passe manner in which tn
big five" had determined that Dan
voorhees,, one of their number, shoul,
succeed Mr.. Briggs, another Of tn
coterie, as state treasurer, and TIL
manner in which both selections wer
doomed by the pony express" an
lnouneements of Mr. Dryden's with
drawal.
In similar manner, equally a
bold, but where Mr. Briggs, one. o
the big five," appeared in the OF
| Tended role, was an attempt by Davi,
Baird, an avowed candidate for tn
senatorial nomination, to induce Mi
lr9..fcr-c - o,,fnw ixko a doa1 .,,t.....1.