Connecticut western news., 1911-10-05
THE FIRST INSURGENCY.
When Canaan's Young Democracy Beat
 Out the Old Guard in Caucus.

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 Out the Old Guard in Caucus.
 The recent visit of T. Irving ("Irve"l Ferguson, of Bridgeport, to his father Mir. w. J. Ferguson, in this village, at a air, tended to recall to the minds of some of the older Canaanites the first political "Insurgent" movement ever heard of hereabouts. It developed in the local democratic ranks, and "Irve" Ferguson was the chief leader and backbone of the insurgency, and Theodore F. Watson, at that time the Canaan station agent of the Conn. Western railroad-now living in Falls Village-was the beneficiary.
 In the old days the town was immuta- ply democratic by majorities of two or three to one. The party was field marshaled by such political war-horse, as the late Wm. H. Barnum, N. C. Ward, M. T. Granger, Frederick Watson, Elisha M. Rood, L. L. Cartwright, Wesley Tres colt, John C. Richmond, Frederick Bron- son, Luman Foote, Hiram Briggs, Joseph W. Peet, Col. J. B. Hardenbergh and other strategic generals of like caliber, some of whom are still living; and com Plaint arose, among the younger mem bers of the party, that they were not ac- corded the recognition to which they thought they were entitled; that the best offices were passed around in rotation, year after year, among a fla vored few of the old fellows, in fine dis regard of the ambitious element among the younger members.
 In the fall of 1879, when the time ap- preached for nominating a candidate for epresentative-that was five years be- fore the adoption of the constitutional amendment providing for biennial ses- sions of the General Assembly-a few of the young democrats got together in the back room of Camps drug store and matched deep, dark conspiracy to "in- surge," pick a candidate of their own, and run away with the caucus. "Irve" Ferguson was the acknowledged and accepted leader of the young rebels, and "Thede" Watson was unanimously decided upon as the insurgent candidate for the representative nomination.
 The next move was to recruit the in- surgent ranks to a membership that would be strong enough to go into, the caucus with some chance of successfully stampeding it, and to this end each of the original conspirators was constituted a committee of one, to gum-shoe a given district and make converts. The old liners got wind of the movement, but it didn't seem to worry chem. They sneered at it and refused to view it seriously. Nevertheless, the insurgency gained strength, and the movement spread, and when caucus day came round the Town Hall was filled with patriots.
 The candidate of the old-liners was, Eff memory serves aright) the late Henry 1 J. Mead, of Canaan Valley, and the old field marshals received the surprise of their lives when the first informal ballot showed Watson in the lead. Then be- gan a series of tactics that indicated a | final awakening of the old guard to a realizing sense of the fact that they had a fight on their hands. Before proceed ing to another ballot, they tried bluff on the insurgent leaders, but it didn't work. They pleaded and promised to support the young mems candidate "next year" :" That didn't work. As a last resort they hit upon the plan of breaking the back bone of the insurgency through an in sidious appeal to tilial duty, by dropping Mead and taking up "Irve's" father, Will liam ]. Ferguson, as their candidate, on the theory that "Irve" would not refuse to support his own father nor to swing the insurgents to his support. To some of the insurgents that was a critical period for the insurgency. William J. Ferguson was-as he has ever been-a clean, upright popular citizen, who, un- der ordinary conditions, would have been nominated unanimously and sent to the legislature with bells on. But "Irve" showed the Spartan stuff that was in him by rallying his insurgent forces and warning them not to let the old guard take the stampeding job off their hands.
 "Don't let lem work that trick on us, boys stick to your man " he said.
 And they stuck. The informal ballot showed gains for Watson, who was de- clared the nominee of the Caucus, and was elected representative by the usual democratic majority.