The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-27
TURBULENT TIMES
 IN THE CITY HALL City Committee Fails to Sus- : tain HOyt Advantage HARD TO PRESERVE ORDER With Everybody Talking at Once It Was Finally Decided That the Bal
 lot Box Should Not Be
 Opened.
HARD TO PRESERVE ORDER

In turbulent meeting of the city dem ocratic executive committee held last night in the council chamber of the city the effect that A. A. Gambill, contesting the nomination of Asa,L. Hoyt had failed
 to sustain his case, was overruled.
 The action of the subcommittee, also,
 in sustaining certain sections of the con-
 testee's demurrer to the contestants com
 plaint was also overruled
 Whereas the subcommittee, therefore,
 went on record to the effect that dem ocrat scratching or refraining from vot- ing in a general election was a democrat
 still, though possibly not a good" dem
 ocrat, the committee as a whole is on
 record to the effect that any democrat
 having participated in a primary and not
 voting the entire ticket in the general election is no democrat
 In the above action of the committee
 in overruling the report of Che sub-com-
 mittee, A. A. Gambill, contesting the nom-
 ination of Asa L. Hoyt as alderman of
 the Third ward, scored signal victory
 and enumerated the victory scored by
 MT. Hoyt before the subcommittee.
 However, the committee, while thus overruling the action of the sub-commit-
 tee struck vital blow at MT. Gam
 bill's ultimate chances of success when
 it adopted that section of the sub-com-
 mittee's report to the effect that the com-
 mittee has no power to act of itself or any power to delegate authority to an- other in opening the general election bal lot box used in the Third ward Septem-
 Der 2l.
 The committee adjourned without set
 ting a date for a subsequent meeting or without considering a resolution to take up the appeal of MT. Gambill.
 H. E. Shropshire, city clerk, appeared
 as summoned before the committee with the general election box but no request for its deiverance was made. After the
 meeting MT. Shropshire returned the box to it's original place of keeping and his | quandary as to what course to pursue is still great in view of the committee's s action in declining to open the reciptacle. In Session Nearly Three Hours. While the action of the committee last night is summarized in the above the committeeman were in session for nearly | three hours. There were rare outbursts
 of oratory, sarcastic, humorous and even vituperative utterances, and on more than
 one occasion such disagreement among the
 members that fstic combats were immi- | nent
 l So determined were the efforts of many
 to make themselves heard at the same l time that Acting Chairman Martin, firstly, | appointed sergeant at arms, and second | ly, made an appeal from the floor for | respect.
 l The proceedings before the sub-commit- | tee were carefully gone over again, and arguments at length were made by Judge 1 B. M. Allen and Col. Sydney J. Bowie for the contestants and Colonel Kerr for the I contested.
 l Committeeman Yancey and Committee
 man Abernathy occupied considerable time in dilating and explaining the re- port of the subcommittee, while Judge
 W. c. Garrett. holding the proxy of Com mitteeman Metcalfe, repeated the argu- ment of MT. Bowie in his exemplifica- | ton of true democrat, and what con- stitutes one.
 | The hall was filled with visitors. many | of them being voters of the Third ward. l Several aldermen were present, among | the number being MT. Burnett and MT. | Forney. Several prominent attorneys sat smiling interestedly, while the parties to
 the contest, Mir. Gambill and MT. Hoyt, I followed the proceedings with bated | breath.
 | The proceedings on one or more occa- 1 sions were broken by cheers, and often by loud outbursts of laughter. The noise of the chairman's hammer was perpetual | Order Finally Restored. 1 Order was restored toward the conclu- l sion of the meeting when MT. Abernathy
 moved that the report of the sub-com-
 mittee be taken up section by section. | Abernathy then made a motion to the
 effect that that section of the report put
 ting the committee on record as declining ] to enter the ballot box be sustained. 1 Instantly there was such a howl from every side of the room that Chairman
 Martin, asking Abernathy to act as chair man, moved to the floor and besought the members of the committee, the attorneys
 and others present to show him the proper
 courtesy and respect as chairman. When he concluded MT. Abernathy de- l layed surrendering the chair until he had ruled several out of order, and put the | question to vote as to whether the com mittee would sustain the action of the subcommittee as concerned opening the | ballot box. He called for an aye and | mo- vote. There was a chorus of ayes 'The ayes have it. and it's so ordered" | declared the judge. surrendering his seat.
 Mr. Bowie protested against the hurried vote and there were several criticisms of
 the alleged "railroading," but the ruling
 was not reconsidered
 Abernathy led the fight against the re- I-maining section of the report and as in
 dicated above with a great degree of success.
 The following committeeman were pres ent-Abernathy, Sullivan. Williams, Rich, Bethea, Silk, Stokes, Harper, Rosenstihl
 Stewart, Tomppert, Dabney, Enslen, Yan- oey, Martin and Armstrong. E. A. Davis
 was seated in Barton's place. James Dow ney acted for Calhoun and w. C. Garrett for Matcalfe In the absence of the chair