The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-18
Republican Chairman Strikes Former Congressman Hard
 Blow Undtr the Eye
FRIENDS SEPARATE THEM
 BEFORE FURTHER DAMAGE
Attack Believed To Have Been Pro- voked By Publications In Paper of Which AIdrich Is
 Editor.

As preliminary to the meeting of the executive committee of the administra- tion wing of the republican party in Ala bama, there occurred last night. about 8 o'clock, in the lobby of the Hotel HILL man, personal difficulty between Joseph o. Thompson, internal revenue collector, one offPresident Roosevelt's referees in Alabama and chairman of the admnis- tration republican faction of Alabama, and W. F. Aldrlch, former Congressman, and now editor of tho Birmingham Times, a leading republican organ.
 There was but one blow struck, and that blow was dealt by MT. Thompson, his fist landing with force beneath the left eye of MT. Aldrich- As soon as MT. Aldrich could recover from the blow he made directly toward his asasilant but ter to the encounter by the intervention of W. W. Thompson, J. o. Thompson's brother. and G. B. Deans, a leading re- publican of Mobile. After the separa tion MT. Thompson, his brother, W. W. Thompson, and MT. Deans left the lobby of the hotel and went to W. w. Thomp- son's room. MT. A:drich remained for an hour in the lobby, and some minutes after the difficulty was joined by his brother, ex-Congressman T. H. Aldrich.
 Many Witness the Affair.
 There were a large number of people in the lobby of the hotel when the difficulty occurred, and the news of the affray spread rapidly through the city.
 According to the testimony of numerous eye witnesses, the assault was unexpected by MT. Aldrich. They state MT. Thomp- son entered the lobby of the hotel, saw Aldrich, stopped, removed glove from his right hand, then advanced, and, jerk ing his opponent around, struck him.
 The blow stunned Mir Aldrich. As soon as he recovered he advanced to meet MT. Thompson, but was prevented from doing so as stated above. Immediately in front of the clerks desk, where the difficulty occurred, there congregated 8 hundred people. It was feared at first that se- rious fight might ensue, and the friends of the two gentlemen tok pains that they were kept at distance from each other. The excitement for @ time was intense, and those who had heard rumors of 'bad blood'' between the two men were espe- cially wrought up.
 However, after an hours time every thing had quieted down. although no apologies were made during the evening. and the two men have not shaken hands,
 Mir. AIdrlch Makes Statement.
 When seen by representative of The Age-Herald, MT. Aldrich was seated in the lobby of the Iillman with Julius w. Davidson, leader of the anti-administra- tion wing of the republicans.
 In narrating the affair to his brother, who came up in the meantime. and to the reporter Mr. Aldrich made the following statement:
  CT of Mobile for a friend who was with me, and had my back to the door of the hotel I was not expecting a personal difficulty, nor a blow. I. on the contrary, was in an excellent frame of mind, and was not prepared for the assault from behind I had no chance, of course, to defend myself in way of preventing the falling of the blow.
 "The first I knew of the attack was when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and had a sensation of being jerked back ward. Then the blow was struck beneath my eye. As soon as I recovered made an effort to approach Thompson to re- taliate, but was prevented from doing so by the intervention of Deans and w. w. Thompson
 Mir. Thompson's Comment. Shortly after the affray MT. Thompson went into consultation with certain mem- bers of his committee in room No. of the St. Nicholas, and it was at late hour that this conference adjourned. He was called up over the telephone at his residence last night, and asked for statement in reference to his difficulty with Mr. Aldrlch. Before making any reply, MT. Thomp- son desired to know if MT. Aldrich had made a statement. MT. Aldrich's state ment was made known to Mir. Thompson. ''Did he tell you that after the diff culty I returned to the lobby and for 15 minutes sat in front of him., and that he did not attempt to resent my action?" asked MT. Thompson. MT. Thompson was informed that MT. Aldrich had not done so. Well, 1t is a fact that l did SOL re- piled MT. Thompson Other than the above, MT. Thompson would make no statement. He was re- peatedly requested to give statement as to the cause of the difficulty, but re- trained from doing so
 In fairness to both parties MT. Aldrich was later called up and informed of Mr. Thompson's comments and asked if he had any further statement to make. He replied that he preferred not to dis cuss the matter further