Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-10-28
fected. And between times .ney

last test OF Strengtn would come upon
the selection of Committee on Creden-
tials, since 1t was to this committee
that the contests Of the six larger
counties for the right to sit In the
convention would go for settlement.
Previous conventions had always de-
cided that delegates whose seats were
contested should not be allowed to sit
as members of the Committee on Con.
tested Seats. Give Standish iruo-
Gently supposed this rule would be ad.
hered to by this convention. He was
wrong. Conover had no Quixotic no
tion of giving his rival any such ad-
vantage. The night before he had de-
creed that the chairman should rule
that this Committee on Contests
should consist of three members from
each county, and that these members
should be chosen by the sitting dele
gates from each county. This meant
that the committee would stand
eighteen delegates for Conover and six
for Standish. And so 1t was. Chair
man Bourke ruled exactly as Conover
had dictated.
When the convention understood
the purport of it all the maddest up
roar broke out. All semblance of Or
der was lost. A dozen fist fights
started simultaneously. A longshore-
man-Conover district captain from
one o. the railroad" wards of Gran.
ite-wittily spat in the face Of vo-
ciferating little farmer from Wills
County, and then stepped back with
a below of laughter at his own powers
of repartee. But others understood
the gentle art of "retort courteous"
almost as well as he. Losing for once
his inherited New England calm. Karl
Ansel drove his big gnarled fist flush
into the grinning face Of the dock-rat,
and sent him whirling backward amid
q splintering of broken seats.
Ansel, smarting and past all con-
troll. ploughed his way down the main
aisle, and hating below the stage,
shook his clenched fist at Caleb Con.
overs crayon likeness.
1--WE seen forty pictures of Juads Is-
CARROT in my time" he Numbered,
apostrophizing the portrait in nasal
voice that rose high above the clamor,
"and no two of them looked alike.
But by the Eternal. they all were the
living image of YOU!"
Then he went down under an ava.
lanche of Conover rowdies. giving and
taking blows as he was borne head
long to the floor. At the cost of
brief interim of fruitless rioting, the
Machine at last had its way. Stan
dish had but six members on the COM
mittee.
The contest was over
The Standish delegates offered but
a perfunctory opposition to the work
If choosing the Committees on Organ.
ization and Platform. This much hav-
ing been done, the convention took
the usual recess, leaving the commit
tees to go into session in separate
rooms back of the stage.
The delegates filed out, the men
from Wills and Matawan angry and
silent in their shamed defeat, those
from the six victorious counties crow
ing exuberant glee at their easy tri-
umph.
The adjournment announced, Give
slipped out of the Convention Hall by
rear entrance, and went across to
his private Office at the League rooms.
He wanted to be alone away from
even the staunchest friends in this
black hour. Against all counsel and
experience, against hope itself. he had
hoped to the last. His bulldog pluck,
his faith in his mission, had upheld
him above other, colder, saner reason.
Even the repeated warnings of Ansel
had left him unconvinced. Up to the
very moment Conover's final success
full move was made Standish had
hoped. And now hope was dead.
He was beaten. Iiopelessly, utter
IL, starkly beaten. From the outset
Conover had played with him and his
plans as a giant might play with
child. 1t had been no question of
open battle, with the weaker antag.
onist battered to earth by the greater.
the whole campaign had been a futile
struggle of an enmeshed captive to
break through a web too mighty for
his puny efforts, while his conqueror
had sat calmly by, awaiting a victory
that was sure as the rise of the sun.
Standish knew that in few min
utes he would be able to pull himself
together and face the world as a man
should. In the interim, with the hurt
animals instinct, he wanted to be
alone.
Save for a clerk in the antecham-
Der, the Leagues rooms were de-
serted. Everyone was at the conven-
ton. The clerk rose at CF g en-
trance and would have spoken, -, the
defeated candidate passed unheeding
into his own office. closing the door be-
hind him.
Then, stopping short, his back to
the closed door, he stared, unbelieving.