The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-06
.LORIMER FACES SECOND FIGHT FOR
 SENATE SEAT
Poll of Senators Indicates That Illinois Man May be
 Expelled

Washington. July s-when prayer was over and routine business had been disposed of in the Senate today. William Lorimer, of Illinois again
 faced a battle over his right to a seat as Senator. On March l. 1911,
 the Senate voted 46 to 40 to retain him as a member. Defeat today would
 mean that in the judgment of the Sen ate Lorfmers nomination was procur-
 ed by purchase.
 Such a, case involving the standing
 of a member, is a question. of the
 June 8, 1912, the upper house, by
 unanimous consent. decided to take up
 the reports of the Loriner fnvestigaf-
 ing committee on the legislative day
 of July 9th. A legislative day. in
 Senatorial fiction, may run for any
 the final vote that will decide the
 fate of Lorimer is taken, no other question can be taken up by the Sen- ate
 Great changes have taken place in the membership of the Senate since Lorimer won his fight in 1911. Many of the stand-patters from whom his strength was mainly recruited, have been retired to private life. They have been succeeded by a younger class of Senators, to whom historic "Sena- torial courtesy is not a fetish.
 Polls taken and generally accepted as being accurate, hold no hope for Lorimer. That view was so strong that Vice President Sherman made a. special trip to Chicago several months ago to advise Lorimer to resign. The arguments in favor of his retirement were that he could avert what ap- peared to be certain defeat and, more over, save his Senatorial friends em- barrassment by not requiring them to line up for him again. Many of the Senators who voted for Lorfrner in 1911 were retired mainly because of that vote. Polls recently taken show not less than 50 Senators against the blonde boss and not more than 40 in his favor. A majority in the Sem ate is 48
 There is no possible gauge by which the time of the final vote may be even approximated. A number Of Senators said today that it might come next week, but the general impression was that it would be much later.
 Lorimer was elected Senator on May 26, 1909 following a long deadlock in-. the Illinois Legislature. A coalition of Republican and Democratic forces his election. A year later several members of that Legisla- ture signed confessions alleging that they had been paid for their votes. Later charges revealed "slush fund.- to put Lorimer over" to which biGi corporations were invited to contrib ute.
 In all the various Investigations to date Lorimerftes have vigorously de- nied any corrupt practices in the Sem atorial election
 Senator Dillingham;, of Vermont, who as chairman of the privileges and elections committee, was chairman of the committee which investigated Lorimer's election, was the first speaker. He analysed in detail the evidence secured.
 Late in the afternoon, Lorimer ap- peared on the floor and listened at .entively to Dillingham;. At one time ne interrupted the speaker to explain why Speaker Shrotleff, of the Illinois Assembly, supported Foss and not Hopkins for the Senatorship. The reason was, Lorimer said, that a writ ten agreement had been made that the candidate who carried Shrotlefrs dis .rict should receive his vote.