The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-01-19
SERO-COMIC REMIFN ISCENCES
OF FLORIDA POLITICS

TIE Issue of Dixie of January 13,
Robert McNamee contributes
article entitled as above which will
We great deal of pleasure to those
nose recollections antedates the
primary.
<kAfter giving an account of his polit-
2eriences in Lake county when
Nd part of Sumter he re-
following bit of laughable
erience:
Tive session of 1899, at
ID the broils and bat
avs, railroad correc-
There disputes would
Eolmonious, an occa-
jab would be
ber's pet bill that
81 house at the ex-
60 4 member who
us very fresh in my
lF that session, where,
5he house, I was a
anne, but not advisedly
participants in the mat
yaembers Calfrey Wilder, of
20; Geo. P. Rainey, Sr., of
and Major G. P. Healey, of
la, all now deceased. Wilder,
ilsboro. had once seen an event
ch dog, at a church gathering
nday. bit child while the dog
berambulating around. This was
ght before the house in a bill en-
ID, IAN act to compel persons to
dogs up at church meetings" The
reached the second reading, and
Nitwas then subject to amendment,
mber Geo. P. Raney arose and
mnly sent an amendment to the
ing clerk, which being read, stat
Substantially, THAT the provisions
81 the bill should not apply to ST.
Bernard dogs attending the Episco-
bal church" Judge Raney had such
q dog, and the Judge attended that
church). The house Immediately tack
ed this amendment to the bill and be-
Efore Wilder, of Hillsboro, could get
on his feet, Healy, of Volusia, sent an
0ther amendment to the desk worded
Something like this: provided the
said dog shall not be tied to the col
Iection basket" This amendment
convulsed members of the house.
That was one too many for member
Wilder, so with wrath in his eye, he
rose and moved to indefinitely post
one his own bill. I thought that the
Wilder bill was just diversion or
joke all the time, or l would have
rnled out the amendments as frivol-
OPS. All the members, including
Members Raney and Healey, thought
Il was joke bill, but, we at the con-
cluasion, found that member Wilder
vas terribly in earnest for the reasons
ave stated.
then the distinguished ex-
enator gives the following graphic
ecount of a ratification meeting in
Jacksonville in which Ocala took
art.
Conventions and legislatures are
iot alone a fertile field for cheek
hacking episodes.
AT the time of the nomination of
ryan for president, when they hung
,ewall, of Maine, on the ticket for
INNING mate, no one knew Sewall or
rhy he was named for vice president. |
tut the party must he revived, so the |
siue blue democrats of Jacksonville
ad to whoop up the unterrified dem
cracy, and they held a large meeting
{ the opera house where they called
he "Spellbinders' from different
arts of the state to edify the cleo
prs.
j can see the speaker now, about
eady to charge on that unterrified
udience that night, sitting in semi
Ercle on the opera house stage like
4burnt-cork minstrel troupe. There
Is Bob Burford and Bob Anderson,
ON Ocala; Willis l.. Palmer, from
rlando; Gus Hartridge and Frank
Ark, from Jacksonville, and some
~. or other Bob. McNamee, your
want, was also in the charmed
srcle."
We were to do big stunts for the
cd of the democratic party as Will
ed Clarkson, of Tampa, always puts
and the "jaw-fest" was fast and
j Irious in our charges on the enemy.
First, Frank Clark ripped the dome
%ff and related all the good stories the