The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-13

The collapse of the forces
 of Gov. Frank o. Lowden and their transfer in large part to Senator Harding put the Ohio
 candidate over.
 General Wood lost heavily, however, when the Harding
 drift began, and Senator John
 son, the third of the trio of the
 leaders on the early balloting yesterday, also went steadily
 down hill.
 WAS A DARK HORSE Entering the convention four days ago as a candidate distinctly of the dark horse" class, Senator Harding got only sixty-four votes on the first ballot yesterday and on the second he dropped to fifty-six. When ths
 convention adjourned last night at the
 end of the fourth ballot he had sixty one.
 In all-nght conferences among the party chiets. however, he was men, toned many times as the most likely to break the nomination should neither | Wood, Lowden nor Johnson take a 1 commanding lead today They au l failed to do so, Wood and Lowden rum 1 ming a neck and neck race for leader- I ship on four more ballots while the l strength of the California candidate 1 dwindled steadily.
 | Meantime Harding pushed his total | to 133. individual delegates from many 1 states swinging to him from the col umns of the leaders and of various fa- l vorite sons. The Johnson manag gers, l fearing a landslide was impending,
 then made a last play to save the for ! tunes of their candidate. They moved | to recess for a couple of hours in or | der to take an inventory and seek | new combination. The Wood and Low
 den forces both virtually at the peak 1 of their strength but both disheart- l ened at the long string of ballots with- ! out material gains. fell in with the re- l cess plan and the convention adopted | it. In the dramatic succession of con l ferences that followed the fate of the candidates virtually was sealed. some | of the Wood and Lowden managers | tried Intellectually for an agreement 1 by which they could get their dele | gates in line and kill off the Harding | boom. Some tried to get q Wood Low den-Johnson agreement to adjourn un- til Monday without making a notnina- 1 tion. There also was a conference be- tween Johnson and Harding supporters in which the Ohioan's supporters tried without success to have the remaining strength swung to Harding It was the parleys between the Harding and Lowden men, however, which apparently bore the most fruit when the balloting began again, for Governor Lowden came to the conven- tion during the ninth roll call and disregarding a previous plan to go be- 1 fore the convention itself issued in- i structions from behind the scenes re- l leasing his instructed delegates. Sena- 1 tor Harding also was in the rear of l the Coliseum platform during the vot- | ing and conferred with Chairman l Hays.
 Almost ms soon the alphnbeti- l cnI call of stutes began after the recess the ground swell for Hard ing demonstrated that 1t could not be forestnlled. Connecticut, when her name wns called, took thir- 1 teen of her fourteen votes from 1 Lowden and gave them to Hard ing. In Florida he got from Wood and then Kentucky. almost from the first solid Lovden ] state. fIopped complete into the Harding column.
 Amid signs of rising enthusiasm.
 other blocks of Lowden delegates fol. lowed suit. while many of the routed 1 Wood supporters also went into that Harding camp. By the end of the roll cali Senator Harding had rolled up a total of 374 putting him far into the lead. and several score of votes nearer the nomination than any candidate had been before Lowden at the end of tho
 ninth had only 121 votes left out of the BOT, with which he ended the eighth. and General Woods strength
 had fallen from 299 on the eighth to 249 on the ninth. Johnson dropped from ST to S2.
 REGULAR LANDSLIDE
 As the tenth roll call began. dele- gates quit Lowden. Wood and Johnson. right and left. and the big hall was in s.imost continuous applause as state after state announced accession to the Harding standard. It was reserved for
 Pennsylvania to add the crownins
 touch of enthusiasm When the Key- stone State was reached the Ohio sen- Iator needed 32 votes to nominate him.
 and Pennsylvania gave him SO. It was Governor Sproul. himself the candi-
 date of his state. on every preceding
 ballot. and mentioned many times as possible dark horse to break the dead- locx, who announced the big Pennsyls Ivania vote for Harding Entering the coliseum floor for the first time since
 the balloting began. he made his way to the Pennsylvania standard. and.
 amid cheers. released the delegation from longer supporting him. Then he
 took a poll got the total and threw in
 the winning Harding votes.
 A demonstration of several minutes followed. most of the delegates and spectators standing and cheering while Ia procession carrying large pictures lof the candidate and standards of some of the states that supported him took up It's march around the hall But it was too tired a convention after the (Continued on Page Teai