The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1908-03-26
DISGRACEFUL
CONVENTION
Hatchets, Pistols and
Fist Fights.
POLICE ARE KEPT BUSY
Chairman Of State Committee
Clicked Into lnsensibility.
Tennesaes Republicans Meet In Con-
vention at Nashville and Split
Up-oliver Faction Was
in Complete Control.

Nashville. Tenn. March 25.-- Re-
publicans of Tennessee assembled this
morning for state conventicsa
Tonight, blackeyes. skinned heads
and bruised faces testify to the riot
that marked the gathering In the hall
OF the House of Representatives az
the capitol. In the list OF casualties,
Chairman Newell Sanders. of the State
executive committee figures prominent-
ly. The fight occurred between the
supporters of Congressman w. r.
Prowniow and those of former Conn
missioner OF Pensions. H. Clay Evan
The Brownlow forces wanted w. j..
Oliver, OF Knoxville. for committee
man. The Evans men favored the can
didacy of Congressman N. w. Hale
for that position.
BY sheer force of numbers and fight
ing powers the Brownlow-O oliver
Austin adherents took and held the
hall. They nominated Ernest Caldwell.
Of Bedford county, for supreme court
Judge, John Robertson of Chester, ana
r. e. Robinson of White county for
the court Of civil appeals Jesse L.
Rogers, D. G. Swab, Jesse M. Little
ton and H. B. Anderson were chosen
for delegates at large to the national
convention. For electors for the
state at large, T. A. Lancaster, and
Raymond B. Harrison were successful.
They adopted motion that delegates
go uninstructed. President Roosevelts
administration was endorsed. The res
olution adopted named W.. Oliver for
national committeeman and urged the
state committee to call primary to
nominate a candidate for Governor.
To Submit to Primary.
The state committee was reorgani-
zed and the secretary of the conven-
tion requested to communicate with
the Evans faction and submit q pro-
position to lay the claims of the rival
factions before the people in repub-
lican primary.
The statement was made from the chair
fhat W. j. oliver would put up > GER
tifieA cheek for 5000 to pay the ak
nanses Of such 3 primary electlon. II
was declared tieat Mr. oliver VIII sub
nit his claims to endorsement Tor Ma
tional Committeeman to a primary II
the candidate for the opposing faction
will do the same. He proposed to pay
the expenses OF such primary cleo
The Evans faction met in the hall
where the oliver crowd was holding
forth, called the districts. appointed q
Credentials Committee and adjourned
to o'clock tomorrow morning.
For the space of nearly an hour af-
ter the body had been called to order,
a battle royal waged. 1t was night
in which hundreds participated from
time to time-a genuine rough ana
tumble, wild and wooliy affair--pre-
cipitated by the efforts Of the Evans
Hale delegations Of Tennessee Repub-
licans, to take charge Of the rostrum
already held by the oliver-Austiu-
9rownlow wing.
The oliver hosts, who had come in
on a special train from East Tennes-
see at an early hour this morning.
marched straight to the hall of the
House OF Representatives and filled the
big auditorium shortly after O'Clock.
They had a key to the hall and march
ed In on the i've unsuspecting Evans
Hale guards and took the room. They
kept 1t and held It straight through
until the hour for the convention and
when the Evans-Hale delegates walk
ed into the room at 10 o'clock. the 9TH
er men were In the saddle. 1t was on
the advent OF the Evans cohorts that
the trouble started. and for an hour q
pandemonium reigned.
Many Fist Flights.
During the trouble more than a
dozen fist fights occurred and In sew
eral instances. pistols were drawn. One
man produced a Ratchet which he was
preparing to WELD, when intercepted.
A negro delegate was knocked down by
white man. Both were arrested and
hustled off to the police station. Newell
Sanders. Chairman Of the State Com
mittee. an ardent Evans man. was al
most choked into insensihIllty by a
member Of the Brownlow faction. FL
nally the police restored order with
the oliver men In control.
Despite the adoption by the Brown.
low convention of a motion that dele
gates to the national convention 20 nm
instructed copies OF resolutions, given
out tonight as having been adopted
instruct for William H Taft Tor the
presidential nomination.