The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-05
Race fin House

Between J. Lee Long of Butler coun-
 ty and Judge E. B. Almon of Tuscun1-
 bia in Colbert county there exists but
 hairbreadth margin in their race for
 speakership of the house. If the opin-
 ion of their friends is any index of
 the true situation. Both candidates have been at work constantly during
 the past month in lining up their con
 stituencies in the lower body of the legislature, with the result at the pres ent time that the situation seems to be
 fairly rounded up.
 On the face of the contest, so far. it
 would seem that J. Lee Long, by virtue
 of his activities in the recent amend
 ment fight. has the better of the ar
 gument, provided that the anti-amend-
 ment votes in the lower body should be
 solid for him. This. however, is de-
 nied by friends of Judge E. B. Almon.
 who say that the most recent canvass
 of the legislators shows that the Tus- cumbian is in the lead Judge Almon, who was in Montgomery tonight, ex- presses himself as most sanguine of the results. He adds that his majority, while small, will be conclusive. In the house there are 66 who voted against the amendment, as opposed to 40 who favored the organic change. Friends of Judge Almon think that he will be able to gather the solid amendment sup pOElcIS, ana Indl- ne WILL, III dQQltlOn, get 19 ant-aInendment votes, sufficient
 to give him a majority of 14. Judge AL mon fought against the amendment in the recent campaign, and gave to the struggle much of his time Besides, he was an enthusiastic O'Neal supporter, as was MT. Long.
 On the other hand, friends of MT. Long contend that Judge Almon will not get the solid amendment vote. but that it
 x--fI1 l,A fofr rl. Ifc
 are counted.
 Both of the men are among the most
 popular that have served the state in
 tho legislature, and both have hosts of friends who are not letting the grass grow under their feet in the present fight.
 Two other candidates are in the race, Representatives Parks and Pitts, but it is generally thought that their names will be dropped after the first two ballots. Serious Fire Damage Serious damage resulted from a fire which early this morning caught hold in rear room of the John l.. Cobbs &
 Co. dry goods store, on the largest and most congested business block in the city Almost the entire valuable stock of goods was dainaged, many of the finest tailored suits, satins and laces be- ing ruined.
 The origin of the confiagration is sup posed to have been from defective flue, | though the direct cause has not been discovered.
 The coniagration began shortly after | 7:3O o'clock and by S:15 the entire buiid- | ing was mass of smoke and flames. While the flames were quickly checked, the most serious damage was from the river of water which was poured over | the building to check the fire. By heroic work of the firemen all of the adjoining buildings were saved.
 | The Alabama Bible society having rooms over the Cobbs store. was prac- tioally ruined, all of the Bible stock be- | Ing soaked in water.
 | While the damage will run into thou
 sands of dollars the extent of the loss cannot be estimated until an inventory
 is made of the dry goods stock. The store has long been recognized as one of exclusive modes ;, l Bowman nt Courthouse | Col P. G. Bowman, one Of the firsi aid Iieutenants to Col. Emmet O'Neal 1 goyernor-elect, spoke to a large gather 1 ing at the Montgomery county court house tonight in the interest of the dem
 ocratic ticket Colonel Bowman had ad l vertised his address as a reply to tho
 speeches of J. O. Thompson. the regular | republican gubernatorial nominee, wht | is running for office in opposition tt | the democratic candidate.
 Tn attacking the charges of Mir. Thomp
 son, the speaker was scathing in hi'
 denunciation of the republican policy, al l lowing no opportunity ito pass wherebj
 the usual republican administration coult be criticised. Colonel Bowman touched upon the liquor question as being dec
 sively settled. and he referred te MT 1 Thompson as clinging 10 a dead issue fl | his campaign for a drastic 'state-wtde'