Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-01-30

were the victories CeleOrated after n
battle was over.S In every township
In the county active strikers among
the farmers were selected, and they,
also, got to be expert in rushing eau
cuses." With THIS sort of organiza-
ton ramifying the city and county It
was exceedingly difficult for the re-
form element to get a foothold, and it
was not until after several years of
aggressive warfare that the strangle
hold was obtained the gang laid
upon it's back,
Early in April caucuses were held
in the various precincts in Grand
Forks county to elect delegates to the
county Republican convention. Both
factions made a desperate fight for
delegates, but my adherents devoted
their activities largely to the farming
precincts; thettowns being dominated
was not expected.
The returns the following day indi-
Gated that my friends had won out in
the county by a good majority. Con-
vention day came; the town was full
of delegates and the delegates were
full of enthusiasm, spiritual and
otherwise. The gathering took place
in the old court house, and much to
our surprise, when the clans were
DAASN W. WV A~GA - Shok IA
tests had been instituted in nearly all
the rural precincts, leaving uncontest-
ed only a few country precincts and
the delegates from the towns, which
were controlled by Martin Sullivan
and his strikers. This attempt to
steal the convention was so bold and
%audacious that my forces declined to
recognize the authority of he Walsh
adherents-to organize the convention.
For an hour Or m Oro ct rifa and t1r.
mol reigned, and there were several
near smuggling matches. Neither Walsh
nor L got belligerent, but I presume
we looked daggers at n another.
Finally our side came to the decision
that We would not stand for the theft
contemplated, and instructed our
delegates to assemble on one side Of
the and organize our W con
vention. Chas. Lavalley Of Reynolds.
was chosen chairman, and in due
| process our work was completed and
the following delegates elected to at
tend the territorial conventions: Geo.
b. Clifford, w. ]. Anderson, Jas.
Elton, rP. N. Train, H. r. Dickinson.
W. T. Collins, j. w. Smith, Geo. B.
Winship.
The Walsh side OF the house was
organized by, electing Jerry Church,
chairman. Eight delegates to the
territorial convention were elected,
but only two attended. Geo. H. Walsh.
himself, and Dick Forrest, of Turtle
River. Attendance of full delegations
at conventions was not required or
desired by the leaders, for if they held
! the proxies Of absentees their power
was more concentrated and deals
could be consummated with more IA
cility. 1t was my desire, however,
that every man of our delegation
should attend the convention, because
I needed as many active hustlers,
| shouters and fighters on the ground
as could be procured. In order to
complete our delegation I had to pay
the hotel bills of two delegates, who
felt that they could not afford to go
unless their expense account was
guaranteed.
Our delegation arrived at Huron
two days before the assembling of the
convention. Details of our contest in
the county convention had preceded
us. Alex. Mckenzie, Gov. Ordway, r
! r. Pettigrew, Alex. Hughes. Cal Cald-
| we'll, Frank Washabaugh, Major Ed.
wards, Chas. Mccoy, Judge Moody
and other prominent leaders were on
the ground. and all gave our delega-
ton a cordial welcome.
The principal political ssue in the
territory that ear was the unpopular
work of the capital commission the
year previous. There were three pc.
litical subdivisions in the territory
the north and south Ind the Black
Hills. In all these districts were
strong opponents OF the capital com
mission cOterie, which was led by
Alex. Mckenzie, and whose chief de.