Norwich bulletin., 1909-01-13

GOulisg Jdils lG-Olll States Senator Frank B. Brandegee of New London will succeed himself as the junior senator from Connecticut for the full term of six years. He was nominated by the republican caucus of the members of the general assembly this afternoon over Congressman Eb- enezer J. Hill of Norwalk, member of the ways anl means committee who has served several times in the lower body of congress. Senator Brandegee's s winning margin was Is votes, very narrow margin to win ty considering that before the November election 1t was not thought he would have any opposition to the nomination.
 Assembly Begins Voting on Contest
 Tuesday.
 The general assembly will begin vot- ing on the senatorial contest next Tuesday. and the joint assembly will be on the day following, as provided by law. At that time Senator Brandegee will have the votes of all the republi- cans while those of the democrats will probably be cast for Judge A. Heaton Robertson of New Haven, who was the party gubernatorial candidate at the state election.
 A Very Quiet Caucus.
 The caucus was a very quiet affair,
 
 omitted by consent of each side the proceedings included simply the organ iZation with Speaker E. $. Banks as presiding officer; the selection of Rep resentative Hayes of Waterbury as clerk; the clearing of the floor of out siders: the decision as to a method of balloting, and then the casting of the vote. The Brandegee votes were count cd first and upon the number-126 be- ing made known, a few enthusiastic BranJegee men in the chamber broke out with a cheer which told the crowd in the corridors the result. It was some minutes before the HilfS ballots were counted and the number seen to be III. but in the meantime many men had rushed into the rooms of the lieu tenant governor to tell Senator Bran degee the e-news. which he accepted as a matter of course. Other men rush ed down to the telephone to spread the news state HFe and in a twinkle the whole aoitol was ringing with shouts of the happy followers of the junior senator.
 Ballot Made Unanimous.
 As soon as the tellers had formally announced their court. Representative Chandler of Rocky Hill moved that the ballot be made unanimous, and this was carried and the caucus was at an end.
 How the Ballots Were Cast.
 In casting their ballots most of the members tightly folded the small slips of paper, and it was hard to tell just how they voted. The Hill ballots were Q little larger than those used by the Brandegc-s men. It appeared, however, that MT. Hill got all but three or four 1itchfield county votes, the detection being apparently in Wood bury and New Milford, while on the other hand the defection from a solid delegation for Mr. Brandegee in Holland county seem ing to be in Somers, Holland, and to- Salling for the county about six. MT. Brandegee seemed to get the solid vote of New London and Windham coun- ties, and the vote of Fairfield, New Ha- ven Hartford and Midlesex counties semed to be evenly divided. The in- dications were that his representatives in Meriden, Stamford and New Haven, which had been 6ebatable ground, cast their votes for MT. Brandegee.
 Hard Fought Battle.
 MT. Brandegee's margin of 15 votes was. all things considered, a very close one. Mir. Hill started with very little backing after the November election and slowly made inroads in- to the Brandegee column until on Sat urday last the Rrandegee men real tzed the tide was going against them. Over Sunday a determined effort was made to bring into use every device known in political tactics and in many places great pressure was exerted on lec6l representatives under the guise H party discipline. The Hill men quickly countered and all day yester- day the battle fought behind the scenes was one of master minds. Railroad Commissioner o. R. Fyler ha anIr 3v, aI,o the Hill campaign, were matched against Chairman Kenealy and Rail- road Commissioner Andrew F. Gates, to whose assistance came last night the senior senator, Morgan G. Bulke- ley, the hero of many a hard fought battle and the master hand at tacti- cal manouevring. There were many after the caucus who, in their discus sion, laid Mir. Brandegee's success to the arrival of the senior senator.
 Personal Friendship Told.
 This morning. in the lobby of the Allyn house, where everyone who knew the political game was camped, the Brandegee men were convinced that things looked little better for them. Personal friendship of the state leaders -seIrh the local leaders was be- ginning to tell, and those members of the legislature who had been back ward In declaring themselves were brought under the influence of those leaders who were in a position to de- mand definite avowals of position On the other hand the Hill men were us- ing all their power to hold their own men in line.
 Views Changed RtpidIy.
 There was nothing spectacular in the contest. Much of the work was not discernible to those who were not closely in touch with the situation The gossip fiuctuated first from one candidate to the other and views changed rapidly and it was only the wiser heads who made predictions and clunR to them.
 Vote in Caucus of Full Republican
 Strength. The vote in the caucus was the full republican strength. Representative NacLane of Hamden, Tifft of Beacon Falls and Frink of Chaplin, who were elected on democratic tickets, although republicans themselves, were not ad- mitted to the caucus. This left 236 l votes, but O. c. Hill of Bethlehem | sat in the caucus fin place of James l F. Allen of that town, g democrat who l has not qualified. This brought the | vote to 237. making 11s necessary for