River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-08-21
Wake your hands off AIlu, a3u.. :.

uduu VI DOuS1dS, Was LIS OWH, duu
gripped 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 d look out of his lit
tie eye. His left shoulder dipped, his
left fist frightened. Grogan halted.
Vote, Jimmie, me lad" said Nolan,
in soft voice.
Underwood" said Donahue, in a
whisper. His weak, pinched, hungry
face turned appealingly toward Gro
gan. His blear eyes were f1lmy with
disappointment.
HE votes for John w. 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 of
a change in the atmosphere. The air
was perhaps no hotter than 1t had
been for hours at the close of that
sitting day, no bluer with tobacco
smoke, no heavier with TIE smell
borne in from Clark street on hot
winds that had started cool and fresh
from the lake four blocks away, q
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 Precipitation,
was leaning on his improvised gavel,
his keen eye, the Irish eye that sn
readily seizes such situations, dart
ing into every face before him.
And suddenly came that for which
they were waiting. A 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 Dos.
ON striking a vivid note in the scene.
He walked briskly, but his mind was
so intent upon his pose that it was not
until he had removed his cigarette
from his lips and had observed Tn.
derwood, that his white teeth showed
beneath his reddish mustache in the
well-known 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 him an IN.
slant, and then returned him, as 1t
were, to his place in the delegation.
Then he brought forth another, wills
pered to him for an earnest moment
and sent him back, with a smile and
slap on the shoulder The third
delegate detained him longer, and
once, as he argued with him, the
slightest shade of displeasure crossed
Baldwin's face, but in an instant the
smile replaced it, and he talked-con'
vincingly, it seemed Before Baldwin
returned this man to his delegation,
he shook hands with him.
The secretary was calling the
wards, and Nolan had announced tie
result in his delegation. The Fifth
ward was a long while in preparir G
its ballots. There was trouble Ot
some sort there, among the Under
wood men. Nolan was urging, expos,
tulating, cursing, commanding. The
air was tense. 1t seemed to Underwood
that it must inevitably be shattered
by some moral cataclysm in the soul
of man. Grogan's brow was knit, az
he waited, hat in hand. The delegates
voted Feverishly, with trembling fir
gers, Grogan opened and counted tha
bits of paper. Then he sprang to his
feet, with a wild, glad light in his
face.
Mister Chairman" he cried, ."the
Fifth ward casts twenty-five votes fer
Conway and four for Underwood"
The three boilers in the Fifth ward
delegation sat with defiance in their
faces, but they could not sustain the
expression, even by budding close to
gether. They broke for the door
wriggling their way through masses
of men, who made their passage I'M
certain, almost perilous. A billow oil
applause broke from the Conway men,
and submerged the convention. Dele
gates all over the hall were on their
feet, clamoring for recognition, but
Malachi Nolan's voice doomed heavily
above all other voices. His fist was In
the air above all other fists.
"Misther Chairman!" he yelled, 81
challenge that vote!"
"Misther Chairman" yelled Grogan
"a point of order! The gentleman
isn't a member of the Fifth ward dele
cation and can not challenge its
vote!"
"The point of order is well taken
promptly ruled the chair. "The ger
tleman from the First ward is out oil
order-he will take his seat"
Men were screaming, brandishing
fists, waving hats, coats, anything
scraping chairs, pounding the floos
with them. There were heavy, brutal
oaths, and, here and there, the smack
of a fist on a face. In the tumult, the
five Simmons. votes went to Conway
Muldoon was beating the table with
his club and crying:
Order! ORDER order!"
ITO hell with order! bawled some
one from the First ward delegation.
"On this ballot" Muldoon was call
ing, there were sixty-nine votes cast;
necessary to choice, thirty-fve
James P. Conway has received forty
-zoAa.. dorrunnd tWlntX.