The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1912-02-22
TWO Conventions
HELD AT GREENEv|LLE

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the floor space was TO be reserved TO
the accredited delegates and those whit
in any county contested the seats, th
Massey managers got busy and sum
moned large numbers of their forces
thus preparing to meet force with force
if necessary. The mob succeeded il
breaking down the doors to the hal
and took possession of all the space
they had men to fill. Such was The
state of affairs when Chairman Shipley
reached the opera house ready to cal
the convention to order at noon.
Things started off in regular way
Mr.. Shipley called the great crowd &c
order, and proceeded to read the call
for the convention. He thereupon an.
nounced that the congressional COM
mittee had made up temporary roll
call, which was read. He declared the
convention in order, directed roll call ,
and the temporary makeup of the
convention was informed that the
committee had designated Col. Bowman
as temporary chairman of the conven-
tion. At once Secretary o. B. Lovett,
of the committee, secured the floor and
announced that the Sells members of
the committee had met and decided
upon p. M. DonnelIy, of Johnson
county, as temporary chairman. The
secretary was not recognized by Chair
man Shipley, who conducted Col
Bowman to the chair. The aged man
grasped the gavel, gave a resounding
whack, which calmed the din of the
bowling mob, which was attempting
to prevent the transacting of any busi
ness, and declared the convention ready
for business.
On motion the chair appointed a
committee on permanent organization
and order of business, one on resolu-
tions hnd another on credentials. These
committees retired and prepared their
reports. The first to report was the
committee on credentials, which report
was to sustain the temporary roll call
made up by the committee after hav-
ing listened all night to testimony and
argument from the contestants in vari-
GUS counties. The seating of delegates
gave to Massey So votes on the floor of
A. 70 lS
AT this juncture there seemed to be
signal from some source that the con-
vention was to be broken up. A rush
was made for the platform, and some
person seized the gavel in the hands of
Col. Bowman ard struck him muir
derous blow in the back of the head
with the same. The heavy wood cut
deep into the old gentleman s head and
the force of the blow knocked him to
the floor. Blood flowed from the wound
in stream and in minute his pros
trate body was lying in a pool of his
blood. Friends of Col. Bowman, thor
oughly angered by the assault upon
the helpless man, rushed to his assist
ance. He was helped to his feet and
very soon recovered his poise. The
blood was wiped from his hands and
face and he ut once resumed his place
at the chairman's desk and tried to re-
store quiet in the assembly. The con-
yention had obviously been thrown
into greater confusion by the incident,
but the courage of the chairman COM
manded respect from the moment of
his temperance at the table. He call
ed for the report of the committee on
permanent organization and order of
business, which was to recommend the
temporary organization be made per-
manent and to define the order in
which the various matters in hand
should be taken up. The report was
adopted and then the committee on
reported declaration in
dorsing the administration of Taft and
The administration of Hooper, and in
structing the delegates to be selected to
the national convention. to vote for the