Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-17
| ished Ansel. ..they were sold to conover be-

1here was the uSuat NOISE anU tTduipiHS
Of feet and clamoring of brass bands. the
customary rabble of uniformed campaign
clubs with their gaudy banners and POM
pous drum majors about the hall and In
| been set for the calling Of the convention.
Here, there and everywhere circulated the
| busy heutenants of Boss Conover. Their
| master, with a little coterie of chosen lieu
| tenants moved early into his headquarters
| in one of the rooms at the rear of the
| stage, where he sat like some wise old
| spider in the heart of his web. sending out
! warnings. advice and admonitions to his
understrappers.
Although Conover was leaving no ravel-
| ed ends loose in his marvelousy perfect ma
| through force of habit and for discipline's
sake than through any necessity. He felt
calmly confident of the result. He had
| looked upon his work and he had seen
that it was good Even had Standish been
| the choice of a majority of the people in all
| eight counties of the state, it would have
ayailed him little; for through the routine
| tricks, whereof the Railroader was past
| master. his young opponent was at the last
able to control the votes of but two coun-
| ties-Matawan and Wills.
| Standish's contesting delegates from the
! other six counties sat sullen and grim In
| the gallery. Fraudulent Conover delegates,
who had usurped the formers places by
| the various ruses so successfully put INTO
| action at the caucuses, held the credentials
and occupied the seats belonging by rights
| to the leaguers on the floor OF the con-
| VentiOn hall. There the machine delegates
smilingly sat and awaited the moment when
| they should name their boss as candidate
| for governor.
| From the seats of the usurpers there went
up merry howl of derision as standish's
| two little blocks of delegates from Matawan
| and Wills marched in and took Their places
| well down in 'front.' where they formed
| pitifuly small oasis among the Conover
| delegates from Bowden, Carney. Haldane,
| Jericho, Sparta and Pompton counties.
There was no cheering by the Standish
| delegates on the gfioor of the convention
| Nine out of ten knew that it was practical
| ly a hopeless fight into which they were
| about to plunge, and they knew, too, that
not one of them would have been given
| his rightful place as delegate had 1t not
| been that even Conover feared to outrage
| sentiment in those ever-turbulent rural
counties. as he had done in the larger and
| more loyal sections of the state.
| Karl Ansel, with an inscrutable grin on
his long. leathery face. might have sat for
| a picture of a typical poker player as he
slipped into his place at the head of the
| Wills county delegation II the SHADOW OF
| defeat was in his heart, it did not rest
upon his lignum vitae features. What mat
tered it that his every opponent was SNUG
| ly aware that the leagues cards were
| deuces? 1t Karls business to wear
| the look of a man secure behind a pat
! flush. And he wore it. But at heart he
was sore distressed for the hopes of the
brave lad he had learned to like SO well:
! And. as he watched the swelling ranks OF
| Conover delegates, his sorrow hardened INTO
| whitehot wrath.
Standish was nowhere in sight Fol
| lowing the ordinary laws of campaign eu-
| uuette, he did not show himself before the
| delegates in advance of the nomination;
but, like Conover. sat in temporary head
quarters behind the stage. About him were
| a little knot of civic leaguers, some OF
| them men who had run the risk OF per-
sonal violence in the campaign in their
fight to obtain a square deal for the young
reformer against the juggernaut onrush
of the machine. One and all they We're
| Jobs comforters, for they knew 1t would
| take a miracle now TO snatch the nomina-
ton from the ralroaders grip.
Promptly at II o'clock SheVlin. in his
newly acquired capacity of state chairman,
called the convention to order. He had
judiciously distributed punches of his best
trained shouters where they would do the
most good. This claque, clad to earn their
money, kept an eye on their subcaptains
and cheered at the slightest proHocaton.
They cheered Shevlin he brought the
gavel down sharply on the oak table in
front of him and went through the Gus
tomary rigmarole of announcing the pur-
poses of the convention. They cheered
when he named the secretaries and assist
ant secretaries who would act until the
permanent organization had been effected.
| And between times they cheered just for
the joy of cheering.
| Through the din the little square OF
Standish delegates from Wills and Mata-
wan sat grim and silent, while the con
| testing delegates IN the gallery ABOVE NUT
| tered to one another under their breath
| their yearnings for the opportunity to take
personal payment on the bodies of those
who had ousted them from their lawful
places.
Both sides knew that the first and last
test of strength would come upon the seIec-
ton of the committee credentials, since
it was to this committee that the con.
tests of the six larger counties for the
right to sit in the convention would &C
for settlement BY an oversight common
to more than one state there was nc
clause in the party laws setting forth the
procedure to be followed in the selection
of the committee of a state convention
At preceding conventions the chairman had
invariably (and JUSTIFY ruled that only dele
gates whose seats were not contested
should be entitled to hand in the selection
OF the committee on credentials for Gus
tom holds that to permit delegates whose
seats are contested to have hand in the
selection of the committee would be like
| allowing men on trial to sit as jurors
On the observance of this unwritten rule
hinged Give Standish's last and great
est hope. If this precedent We're to be fol-
lowed now, it would, of course, as he had
pointed out to the doubling Ansel, result
in the selection of a committee by the
Standish delegates from Wills and Mata-
wan counties, since In those counties alone
there were no contests. This must mean
a fair struggle. On it Give staked his ALL
Staked it, forgetting the endless resource
and foresight of his foe. For Caleb Con-
| over Hdu no notion or giving his
rival any advantage whatever. On the pre-
ceding night he had written out his decree.
This command Shevln now hastily read
over before acting on it:
| Announce that the chairman rules there
shall be three members of the committee on
credentials from each county, regardless of
that county's voting strength, and that the
delegates holding the credentials from each
county shall be allowed to choose those
committeeman"
| To the layman such order may mean
little. To the convention it mean every
| thing. Six counties were, officially, for
Conover Two for Stapdsh. Thus eighteen
of Caleb's adherents could, and would vote
to ratify the seating of the railroa der s
delegates. The opponents of this weird
measure could muster a numerical force of
| but six.
| Meanwhile, the preliminary organization
| of the convention had been effected with
| out much delay. The Standish delegates
| knowing the futility of making a fight at
this time. had raised merely a perfunctory
opposition to the nomination of Bourke as
temporary chairman. Through Bourke (by
way of Shevlin) Conover now proclaimed
his plan of choosing the all-important COM
mittee credentials.