The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-08-23
Take your hands off him, Bull No

hand of Douglas, was his own. and
griuped fast. Grogan, his face red.
his eyes on fire. leaped from his place
in his delegation. and started across
the chairs for Nolan. The big saloon
keeper gave him look out of his lit
tie eve. His left shoulder dipped. his
left fist frightened. Grogan halted.
Vote Jimmie. me lad, said Nolan,
in a soft voice.
Underwood" said Donahue. in a .
whisper. His weak. pinched. hungry .
face turned appealingly toward Gro /
gan. His blear eyes we're filmy with |
disappointment
He votes for John ". Underwood
Misther Chairman" said Nolan COM
placently The vote was unchanged
The chairman ordered another ballot. |
And then. all at once. as if breath
from a sanded desert had blown into
the room. Underwood was sensible or
a change in the atmosphere. The air
was perhaps no hotter than II had
beer for hours at the close or that
sitting day, no bluer with tobacco
smoke, no heavier with the smell
borne in from Clark street on hot
winds that had started cool and fresh
from the lake four blocks away,
smell compounded of many smells, the
smell ascending from foul and dark
! cellars beneath the sidewalk, the
smell of stale beer, the ammoniac
smell of filthy pavements, mingled
with the feculence of unclean bodies
| that had sweated for hours in the vi
| tiated air of that low-Ceilinged, crowd
| ed room.
A hush fell. MuldoOn, his black,
curly locks shining with perspiration,
was leaning on his improvised gavel'
his keen eye. the Irish eye that so
readily seizes such situations. dart
ing into every face before him.
And suddenly came that for which
they were waiting man entered the
hall and strobe straight across the
floor into the Fifth ward delegation,
into the group where the Underwood
men were clustered about their lead
er. He wore evening clothes, his
black dinner coat and white shirt bos-
ON striking a vivid note in the scene.
He walked briskly, but his mind was
so intent upon his pose that 1t was not
. until he had removed his cigarette
from his lips and had observed I'm
derwood that his white teeth showed
beneath his reddish mustache in the
wellknown smile of George r. Bald,
win. He elbowed his way into the
very midst of the Underwood men
from the Fifth ward. and leading one
? of them aside. talked with hin an in
: slant. and then returned him, as u
were, to his place in the delegation
Then he brought forth another, whis
Q pered to him for an earnest moment
/ and sent him back, with a smile ant
: a slap on the shoulder. The THIRD
:. delegate detained him longer, ant
O once. as he argued with him, thu
slightest shade of displeasure crossed
, Baldwins face, but in an instant tn
). smile replaced 1t, and he talked-con
~ vincingly, it seemed. BEFORE BALDWIN
returned this man to his delegation
he shook hands with him.
@ The secretary was calling tn
n wards, and Nolan had announced tn
= result in his delegation. The FIT
,e ward was long while in preparin
n. its ballots. There was trouble
% some sort there, among the Unde
m wood men. Nolan was urging, expo
Y tulating, cursing, commanding. Tn
NJ air was tense. 1t seemed to Underwoo
ID that 1t must inevitably be shattere
,c by some moral cataclysm in the Sol
% of man. Grogan's brow was knit. g
" he waited. hat in hand. The delegate
ID voted. Feverishly. with trembling fl
gers. Grogan opened and counted I'll
bits of paper. Then he sprang to h
- feet, with a wild, glad light In b
face.
40 Mister Chairman" he cried, "tf
Fifth ward casts twenty-five votes II
Conway and four for Underwood"
~ The three boilers in the Fifth wal
delegation sat with defiance In the
VI faces, but they could not sustain Il
VI expression. even by budding close
lis gether. They broke for the doc
We wriggling their way through mass
of men, who made their passage u
ne certain, almost perilous. A billow
IN applause broke from the Conway me
ed and submerged the convention. De-
an gates all over the hall were on the
feet. clamoring for recognition. b
o Malachi Nolan's voice doomed heavi
above all other voices. His fist was
to- the air above all other fists.
"Misther Chairman" he yelled.
on challenge that vote!"
"Misther Chairman" yelled Grogs
we "a point of order, The gentlem
ri isn't a member of the Fifth ward de
CATION and can not challenge
nd vote!"
lot The point of order is well takel
the promptly ruled the chair The q
tleman from the First ward is out
red order-he will take his seat"
Men we're screaming, brandishi
ed fists, waving hats, coats, anythii
not scraping chairs. pounding the flo
ted with them. There we're heavy, bru
md oaths, and, here and there, the sma
of a fist on a face. In the tumult'
ion five Simmons votes went to Conw
von Muldoon was beating the table W
his club and crying:
air. Order! order! order!"
and ITO hell with oruer' ua~eu 90
one from the First ward delegation