Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-07-05


the curse Of elections III DeIaware fuf
years, and Is to this day Outside
political infilienoes we're made aware
~ Tie Delaware situation. and at
quiet gathering of phiiadelplla Re-
publican leaders IN the t1pian Ieaeue.
the saturday night prior TO election
day. 4 special fund Of thousand dol
lars was quickly raised ard setit ~
ence te Gepreetown to be astd where
It would do The most coed.
That extra thousand dollars turned
the trick II carried Sussex county
for the Republican legislative ticket
and nearly everything else. New
castle county was heavily Democratic.
and Kent also gave q fla5ofity FOR
Cleveland and Pennington. BIT the
SALISBURY revolt elected one Republic
can state Senator and seven Isepuhll-
eau Representatives In Kent county
and these. with the similar contingent
elected By that last thousand dollars
OF Republican money IN Sussex made
the Legislature stand g Republicans
10 Il Democrats. and thus turned over
the pti1e Of the senatofshin 60 the Re
publican party nf Delaware FIJI the
first time IN It's history
Notable Fight For sennter.
Naturally. The ensuing campaign for
The senatarshin attracted great at
tentinn abroad as well as here a hurae
and vas Watched with deer interest
Candidates we're In evidence all over
the State Anthony tieeins nf wiz
nlington. George Z. Massey nf Dover
and Charles II Treat af Georgetown
ware The leading contestants, while the
also mentioned included JAMES
pennewiil. Harry 4 Richardson and
Nathaniel y. snIthers af Dover. ex-
Congressman James r. Iofland IF
Milford. Charles r Richards Of
Georgetown. n. Hiram Il Burton 81
lsewes. and several others. Dover was
crowded with workers and interested
dsieeations from the opening efs the
legislative session until the decisive
ard memorable Republican eaucns.
II vas my Torture 10 he IN ihs centre
~ this swift and changing political
whitl p political editor ~ Every
Evening at that time. and my fnyps-
| LEGATIONS led RE into knowledge ef the
various intfisues and combinations
soon aaeertainsa. by inquiry and infof
nation from most reliable sources.
that Massey and Treat were the lead
ore. and That Higgins was low man
The friends gf the latter were deeply
| ineensad at an estimate / had pub
ilshed IN Every Evening on the eve
Of the caucus. which gave Higgins
| only two votes and said he would lose
enc of them after few ballots. and
| they almost nlabhed me- a. Dover that
night. They confidently expected his
nomination. rome of them looking fer
| If on the first ballot. But my infor.
matien catne from sound sources and
proved to be absolutely correct.
Failed 10 Sire I'D Treat.
A very curious feature Of this in
| teresting struggle was the euutemp-
tuous manner in which the other con-
testants and their supporters looked
| upon the candidacy OF Charles n.
Treat. They did not believe he would
figure any more than aa the recipient
| of few complimentary votes on the
early ballots. I we'll remember n
lquiet talk with Mr. Massey and Levi 6.
Bird. his campaign manager. in the
formers office. one evening. during
which Mr.. Bird casually asked me
what | would do if In his place. Treat
was TO come To Dover the next day.
with large delegation. and / replied
!" would sec this man Treat soon after
/ ho strikes town. tomorrow. aud en-
deavor to make terms with him But
MIR, Bird laughed my suggestion TO
Sc orn. derisiveIy declaring that Treat
was not a factor. and would not get
two votes" fAll right" | replied, but
/ | know he viii get six votes az the
Start. and while he will lose one. the
others viii stand BY him until be tells
| Them to break Mr.. Massey later told
me that he felt | was right and nss
advice good. But my camnaign was
II. the hands Of my friends. he added.
and | could take no part.
Long Struggle for the Prize
The caucus was held at the State
House on the night of Monday. Janu-
larry Il. 1889. and VERY interesting
affair il was. Every Republican mem-
efstf the Legislature was present. and
IA great crowd outside awaited results.
Fofty-fhree ballots We're taken. the
first resulting Treat. 6: Massey. s..
Smithers, j. Higgins. L Lofiand,
on the seventh ballot Higgins re-
ceiyed two votes, and there he STAYED
until the 3ath. when he suddenly jump
ed TO seven. State Senator d. o.
Moore of Laurel. who had been voting
fol Smithers. then left the caucus.
thereby causing some CONSERVATION
/ as the others feared bolt, and all their
Votes were necessary to election.
| Whether Treat had passed the word
for his men 10 vote for Higgins has
never been positively known but it Is
presumed he did Had be favored
Massey. the latter would have won.
/ In fact. Massey was very close 10
| winning. as his vote increased fo
eight. and during the balloting nine
different men voted for him. but not
Ian on the same ballot. On the 42d
ballot the vote was. Higgins. Mas
sey. [. On the 43d Higgins. D Mas
sey. 6. This gave the nomination 10
/ Higgins.
Long before this unexpected result
was reached. MIR. Higgins had aban-
doned hope and gone to bed. but on
hearing the news. about o'clock in
the morning. his enthusiastic friends
dragged him out and held Joyous
demonstration in the Hotel Richard
.son. The next day he received the
votes Of all the Republican members
/ Of the two houses. in separate ballot
ling. sixteen in all, and at the joint
session Of the following day was duly
declared elected United States sena-
/ tor from Delaware for the term OF
-