Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-19
THREE IN THE RACE
Test of Strength Between Bal
timore Democratic Bosses.
MAHON'S RULE AT STAKE
If Preston Loses in Primary, New
Leader May Arise.
TWO REPUBLICANS ENTERED
Timanus and Force Will Fight It
Out for the Party's Mayoralty
Nomination.
MAHON'S RULE AT STAKE
TWO REPUBLICANS ENTERED

Special Correspondence or me star.
BALTIMORE Md. February Is. 1911.
There will be three democratic candl.
dates in the mayorslty primaries this
spring. One will he James IL Preston.
who. has been picked by sonny" Ma
hon. the machine boss; another will be
Col. Sherlock Swami, former president
of the police board, and the third will
be May or Mahool.
Col Swami has not announced his can
didacy, hut II IL known that lie Will make
known his intention within the next fort
night AMI lie will be supported by tho
same element of tho democratic orEani-
cation that lined up behind j. Charles
Iinthicum, the successful candidate IN
the congressional primaries last August.
Mayor Mahool during the past week in
a public interview practically placed him
self in the race. and now, although tho
machine has declared for Preston, the
mayor finds himself in such a position
that he IS practically forced 10 enter the
| fight. There is no denying the fact that
during the past few days the tide has
been running strong toward Mahool. and
| it Is known that this, more than any
| thing else, caused Boss Mahon to come out
into the open and declare for Preston. II
now remains To be seen whether Mahon
| can deliver the nomination IL Preston.
| for 1t is an open secret that many of the
organization leaders will not get behind
| the choice OF the boss
| 1t is well known that Frank Kelly, the
West Baltimore leader. Is unaltorably OPP
posed to Preston, and 1t is expected that
| he will line up with Swami. whom he
has openly declared to be his choice for
the mayoralty. Now, Kelly is the most
powerful wheel In the Mahon machine.
and his personal influence is always felt
| for against any candidate.
| Therefore, with Mahon backing Preston
and Kelly behind Swami, the primaries
will in reality he test Of strength be
4 hos al hlG
! such struggle Kelly Will have all 1,
gain and nothing To lose while Mahou
will be fighting for his life as tho head
| of the city democratic machine. IL
| Swami wins out in the primaries Mahon
will be a dead one, and Frank Kelly will
be the new boss Of Baltimore.
1t has been gossip for months In the
| clubs where politicians congregate that
the parting of the ways between Mahon
and Kelly was not far distant. and that
the latter had about made up his mind
| to make an effort to wrest the control of
the party machinery from Mahon. In
| the congressional primaries last August
Mahon's henchmen supported Preston.
while the followers of Kelly were behind
| Linthicum, who defeated the Mahon can
didate by I611 votes in the fourth dis
| trict.
Brown Behind Mahool.
| Former Gov. Brown is in favor OF a
i
pected will manage the mayors primary
campaign. If Brown decides to take up
4 the reinS for Mahool he will have To
build up an organization in every ward
and precinct in the city and will be thus
| heavily handicapped at the outset.
| It Is true that the city political ma
chine will be rent in twain at the outset
of the campaign, but the general impress
sion prevailing today is that Mahool will
! be beaten and that the real fight will be-
hot Stra M xxrifh ha
chances In favor of the former. Close
political observers assert that the breach
| between Mahon and Kelly as a result of
| the boss espousing the candidacy OF
| Preston will reach an acute stage within
| a few weeks. and that Kelly will then
proceed to gobble up the licutenants OF
Mahon. Kelly is a boss in his section
| who rules with rod of iron, while
Mahon is utterly lacking in that stamina
! which goes to make an effective political
boss. The wiseacres are therefore pre-
dieting that Kelly's candidate will win
in the primaries and that Mahon will
pass out as political factor in Balti-
more.
The republican leaders are very san
guine OF success this spring with former
Mayor Timanus as the party standard
bearer. They point out that the breach
within the democratic machine will
cause much kniting of the ticket. n
matter which candidate may win. The
also point to the fact that the demo
cratic party mas several TO 1N-
plain away to the voters, and that a
boss made ticket. such as the democratic
slate will be, will drive the independent
vote to the republican candidate
In the republican primary Timanus
will be opposed by Charles II. Torsch,
who is making an active campaign The
leaders assert that the field is an open
one. but they claim that there is an over
whelmng sentiment among the rank ana
file for Timanus. In any event. they
say, there will be no bitterness following
the primaries, and that when the contest
is over yictors and vanquished will MAKE
common cause against the enemy. 1t is
conceded all sides that the conditions
in the city this year are such that the
prospects for republican success are ex-
ceedingly bright.