New-York tribune., 1911-01-12
DIX MAY FOLLOW GAYNOR
Told He Is at Parting of Ways
and Must Take Sides.
rBy Telegraph to The Tribun. !

and Must Take Sides,
fBy Telegraph 70 The Tribunel
| Albany. Jan. 1l.-Wth the declaration
| tonight that so far as Tammany Hall was
concerned Edward II. Shepard was elm
| mated from the United States senatorshlp
| contest, Charles +. Murphy, boss Of Tam
many, threw political circles here into
| feverish turmoil. out of the brew is like
| " TO come trouble-trouble unlimited for
the Democrats, who only week ago were
celebrating their return TO power so jubi-
lantly.
The silk stocking" Democrats, who
| have been backing Mr.. Shepard, are up in
arms, and aren't taking any trouble TO hide
the fact. II thcv fight Tammany and Muir
ply. who referred contemptuousy 10 them
| tonight as men who vote the Republican
ticket, but occasionally vote for a Demo-
| crat." half aS hard as they say they will,
that worthy is likely TO have his hands
| full. Indications tonight are that before
very long they Will have induced Governor
| Dix TO follow the example OF Mayor Gay
nor in declaring publicly for Shepard. That
| Is Tsmmanys chief fear now.
| Briefly, the situation tonight Is this.
Murphy has declared against Shepard,
but In favor OF no candidate for the SEN
| atorshp
Sheehan is here, suave and smiling,
talking with Murphy end the lesser lead
ers. His friends say he will have eighty
or more legislators on the first ballot in
| the Democratic caucus.
Shepard's supporters. including Thomas
Mott Osborne, William Gorham Rice, Will
fap rrt,
ings" on whom Governor Dix relies for
support in his administration, have de-
clared they will fight for Shepard to the
end. They could not retreat in honor,
! they declare.
Tremendous Pressure Being Brought
Tremendous pressure is being brought by
men of this type on Governor Dix TO de-
clare publicly his belief that Shepard should
get the senatorship. II the somewhat
! heated talk in the corridors is correct
words have not been minced by them in
| presenting the situation TO the Governor
! He has been told that he has come to a
! parting of the ways He must do busi-
ness with one element of the Democracy
or the other, roughly. with tho "silk stock
! ings' or Tammany. Also, the boat is in
| pretty rough water. and he must row or
bail without any great time to make de-
| liberate choice. Since the Governor has
| exulted openly in his success I'm allying
| William Church Osborn and Thomas Mott
| Osborne with him In the administration
words less emphatic even than these from
| them beyond question would have great
| weight. odds are being offered that Dix
will follow Gaynor in advocating the elec.
ton of Shepard.
Just one further fact should be noted
! in any summary Of the situation. The
| special committees appointed to revise the
rules Of both houses of the Legislature are
| not ready to report In consequence no
committee assignments will be handed down
when the Legislature meets tomorrow
| night. This delay is very extraordinary.
| Speaker Frisbie and Senator Wagner both
say that II Is not due 10 the fact that Boss
Murphy has not made up the lists yet. II is
quite possible that the astute Tammany
chieftain hasn't been figuring on the ad-
vantage he could derive from manipulat-
ing the committee lists. If he hasn't. he is
less sstute than his opponents In the
Shepard camp give him credit for
Nearly All Talking Trouble.
Very frankly everybody here tonight
except the Sheehan men is talking trouble
/ The prospect Of n split in the party. with
Gaynor and Dix and their "silk-stocklng"
| following aligned against Tammany and
Murphy, opens endless possibilities Demo
Gratis fight bare fisted. Gaynor and Dix
have at their disposal much patronage
Much of the discussion tonight hinges on
|
worse than Dix needs legislation which
Murphy could hold UP through control Of
legislative committees The general opInion
on this line is that Murphy has rather the
advantage, but that by allying himself with
| Mayor Gaynor the Governor could make a
bitter fight
! The Gaynor letter to Senator LOOMS de-
! claring for Shepard is worrying Murphy
and his colleagues not little. Murphy
went TO dinner with Sheehan, Dan" Coha-
| Ian. Cassidy, OF Queens, and one or two
others tonight. One OF the chief topics OF
discussion was the Gaynor letter II is
quite evident Murphy isn't looking for any
! break with the Mayor now. and there are
some here who say his making a public
statement against Shepard without first
consulting the Mayor was contrary to an
understanding between them. Murphy him
self said that he tried hard TO see the
Mayor before he came up here
When this dinner conference broke up
Murphy read n copy Of the Gaynor letter
IIip comment was brief
We'll. that's the Mayors letter. I've
said my say"
He shook his head. tiGhtened his lips
until his mouth appeared a mere slit and
, turned away.
The Shepard mon arc not much n loss
as TO their future conduct. except that
may be they haven't quite worked out the
details Of their campaign from tho blood
rcd haze through which they were seeing
things tonight They want fight, ard
plenty Of IT, they say. Also, they're en-
tirelv confident they have with them a
great majority OF the members Of their
party.
| Plans for tho var were discussed at
iitilo dinner party given by Colonel Rice
tonight All the guests wore perfectly
proper evening clothes. In contrast to
Murphys dinner party. where the guests
wero clad in ordinary utilitarian street
garb. After proper deliheraton. the Shep-
ard eupporters issued the following mani
festo:
with reference 10 tho statements attrih-
uted to Charles T. Murphy TO the effect
that the Democratic organization In the
county Of New York IS opposed 20 Mr.