The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-14
s Has Probably Carried Wilcox and Pike. HIS BIG PLURALITY
 IN MONTGOMERY WON Bricken Carried Crenshaw, Escam- bia and Conecuh.
  Sanford Will Get Butler and Covins- ton--3aIdvin Is An Unknown ouantity-Bricken's vots Has Increased With Later
 Returns.

Nothing developed yesterday 10 cast doubt upon the confident .laims of Hon. S. H. Dents managers that hls plurality in the race for the nomina- tion. 10 Congress from the Second Dis- trict will be from 500 to 800 over Hon. w H. Sanford, his nearest competitor. The only news received yesterday Dy Mr. Dents managers was contained In a telegram sent from Troy, saying that Pike County had gone for Dent by six fy majority. but these figures are not considered official. although the Dent managers say that Pike has been car ried by Dent.
 A long distance phone message Sat urday night said that Sanford had ca. fed Conecuh County by 100 major ity. This would leave the. nine coun- ties. on the face of the unofficial re- turns. so far. received. assigned as follows:
 For Dent--Montgomery. Pike and Wilcox.
 For Bricken-crenshaw, Escambla and Conecuh. For Samford--Butier and Covington.
 Baldwin is an unknown quantity.
 The friends of MT. Sanford think that he has carried both Escambia ana Conecuh and probably WILCOX oy small majorites The statement that Escambia and Conecuh had gone for Bricken Is based upon telegrams re- ceived late Saturday night This tn- forna ton is necessarily incomplete. because a number of rural beats In each county had not been heard from and it Is possible that Mir, Sanford has carried those two counties. MT. Dents friends do not lay claim to
 Settled in Montgomery and Pike.
 As a matter of fact. Montgomery and Pike Counties settled the race. Pike County will give neither candidate any advantage. for the majority one way or another will not probably go above fifty. But 1t was the home county of Mr Sanford, and his friends had a right to expect larger general vote and to expect, too, that he should re- ceive more votes than he did. With Pike voting as 1t did. MT. sanford had to make his race in other counties of the district independent of his home county.
 On the other hand Mir. Dent may leave Montgomery county with q total vote of a plurality of approximately 1900 over his nearest competitor. The vote in Wilcox and Baldwin perhaps having the best of 1t. Mr. Sanford gets his largest majority in Covington county, but in that county Mir Dent got dne minority vote. While Bricken carried Crenshaw Sam ford got larger vote than did Dent
  cambia and Conecuh Sanford had much the best of 1t. with Dent, how- ever, always polling fair minority vote.
 The informed politician after hgur- ing over the situation contends that Sanford in those counties can not get a total vote of plurality of 1 1000 over Dent leaving him with TOO of his Montgomery county vote to the good.
 To Count Vote
 The Democratic Executive Commit tees of the nine counties will meet Monday at noon. At that time the votes will be officially counted. The returns will then be sent to the Con- gressional Executive Committee which will meet Wednesday in Montgomery when the returns will be canvassed and the result offlciaily declared.
 The later returns have increased the vote of Col. Bricken. Tn the early part of Saturday night it was believed that Mir. Sanford had carried the two counties of Escambta and Conecuh but later in the night and during yester- day the news was that Bricken had those counties. however. and polled an excellent vote. The later returns have put Colonel Bricken's total vote closer to that of MT. Sanford.
 The surprise of the race is the small vote received by Thomas J. Hall. In 
 posed Congressman A. A. Wiley. MT. Hall received over four thousand votes. In Montgomery county he received more than a thousand votes. In this race he did not do near so well. In Montgomery county his total vote was only i99 ThrouRhout the primary the we'll Informed politicians thought that while Mir. Hall would probably get good vote he would not be among the leaders. The small vote received by A. c. Sanders of Pike, was not a sur prise as he was not expected to show strength at the polls.
 It Is a notable fact that at the he- ginning of the contest Messrs. sam ford and Bricken were considered the leading candidates. MT. Dents friends at the outset were dubious about his chances. He was acknowledged to have an uphill fight. It happened, how ever. that the Sanford and Bricken strength was largely in the same coun- ties.
 Picturesque Fight.
 It is conceded that the picturesque fight that MT. Dent made against the officers of the Anti-Saloon League who sent out circulars against him, serious ly affected the vote of both Col Brick en and Mir Hall. At the time Mir. Dent made his first speech of resent ment against the circular, he was told that if was bad politics' and that he was running contrary to an over whelming sentiment The opposite ef- feet was registered, however. Contrary to all predictions and to all expecta- tIons he began immediately to grow
 He gained but little of his strength, however from MT. Sanford. For in- stance in Montgomery county 1t has heen estimated from the outset that Mir. Sanford would poll between 500 and TOO votes. although his friends hoped to materially increase this num- Der. They did not increase 1t. but they held their own This was true throughout the district. The prohi- bitionists as a rule stood firm to MT. Sanford but tl.N vote was not as large as was expected
 Dh increased Mir. Dents