The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-20

F1Ve RepuDllCan CanQ1QdIeS TOT may Or are in the field. The same uncer- tainty hovers over the convention, which will be held tonight, that shrouded the Republican convention of two years ago when Mayor Lee dis placed Marcus L. Reynolds with IS votes, and got the nomination upon the vote cast by Frederick A. Bart lett, who had the other IS votes.
 At noon to-day it would appear that Mayor Lee had the largest number of delegates, although Charles H. Morris had the largest number actually pledged. It looked like 16 votes for Mayor Lee, with at least three more to be obtained before o'clock this evening, if he is to be nominated.
 It is understood that Lees second choice for mayor is Representative Fayette c. Clerk, of the Fifth district.
 Mayor Lee said to several people this morning that he is going to get the nomination. He wore his GUS tomary smile when he said it.:
 The friends of Charles H. Morris are equally as confident that he will win The commodore has at least ten instructed delegates and no one knows how many more.
 In the Arnold camp the friends of Senator Thomas Arnold, Jr., say that he will get the nomination and that the Arnold candidacy had been gain ing ground since the primaries. Last night five votes were all that could be seen on the. political horizon wearing tn eArnold candidacy has been gain Arnoldites, who have been conducting d sun1shoe caMpaign, were all smiles and said that things looked good to them. What they meant by that no one else knows but it was evident that they thought they had good news from some source.
 The other candidate comes under the
 "favorite son. category and it is inti-
 mated that the first ballot will find four votes for Clifford B. Wilson. Three will come from the delegates in the Fourth and one from a dele gate in the Seventh who is none other than Wilson's law partner. Henry C. Stevenson. This vote will be given
 Alderman Wilson as a compliment. On the second ballot it is claimed that chine column and give Henry Lee p votes. or one more than is necessary to get the nomination
 But there was never a Republican convention where the delegates were | so uncertain as the one to be held to- night This is because the machine management did not 20 as far it liked in the selection of delegates. but D ok ed men whom they thought could be reached to round out a good majority against Morris. They did not count on Senator Arnold capturing five or six of the delegates to begin with and none of the machine managers will breath easy until the result of the vote shows that Lee is nominated. There will be no combine of the Morris and Arnold forces unless an eleventh hour agreement can be reach ed. which is not likely.
 The outlook is that the general pub lie will not have the opportunity to to hold the caucus in the same room as the convention is held. If the doors of the Republican Club rooms are locked upon the caucus the delegates will undoubtedly have to decide mat ters before the doors are opened. Town Chairman M. H. Rogers said this morning that he had been out of town for two days and did not know
 much about tine conditions of things
 but that he is ready to support any of the many good men that the party may nominate.
 There are two candidates for each of the other three of the four princi- pal offices upon the ticket. The pros
 poets are that the nomination Tor city clerk will go to John Rose, the well known newspaper accountant who has a number of friends among the delegates. Loren Delbridge is candi- date for the place and there is every indication that his name will go be- fore the convention.
 The town clerk fight is up in the air and although B. F. Cooney seemed to have the lead when the primaries closed it is stated that James N. Booth has been gaining strength and is more formidable opponent than was first expected. It is said that MT. Booth will be nominated from his home district, the Ninth. which is also the home district of his opponent. Un- der the corrupt practices act it is ille- gal to trade votes for candidates, but if it were possible to swap the Cooney- Booth fight would have been termin- ated long ago. Frank TH. Allen seems to have the lead for the nomination of tax collector and although Former Collector Gotthardt is mentioned as a candidate his campaign has been very quietly conducted.