Evening star., 1924-06-28
First Convention IN Ne,u York
Was Also Dark Horse Affai,

, of the three men walked with them
and instinctively delegates and specta-
| tors held their peace"
Sunday was a day of rumors and
| final grooming for the dark horses.
But nominations did not begin until
| Tuesday, when the roll-call finally
got under way. Connecticut was the
| first to offer a candidate in the per-
| son of James L. English, former gov
| eTnor and a stanch conservative.
Maine followed with Gen. Winfield
| Scott Hancock. and the convention
| of cheers. minority from Maine
| spoke up for George II. Pendleton of
| Ohio Then came New Jersey. with
, ex-Gov. Joel Parker as a candidate
| New York followed promptly in nom
| mating Sanford E. Church. Pennsyl-
| vania put in the name of Asa Pack
| er. Tennessee named Andrew john
/ son, curious nomination, because
he was the Vice President under Lin
coin and the man who succeeded to
the Presidency. But Grant had re-
| ceived the nomination for the next
term
the convention Wisconsin nominated
James r. Doolittle. Thus eight can
didates began the race and dozen
| more were waiting in the paddock
for chance to show their PAGES. 1t
looked at this point as if Pendleton
| would be the man, with the west SOL
idly behind him. Another element
inclined strongly to Seymour, al
though not an avowed candidate. One
delegate remarked that the governor
| private why he should not be nomi-
| mated and every opposing reason. in
public why nobody else should be-
1t did not take long to show their
stood this way: English, 16; Han
cock, 33h; Pendleton. los; Parker,
1a; Church, "a: Packer. IS; Johnson
65; Doolittle. IS. The names of four
other candidates were added to the
list of entries: one with a half vote.
The total balloting strength of the
convention reached but 3I7, with
211 votes needed to nominate,
against the 734 required this year.
hs darS boEss Ss out in front in
could not be headed off Win With 1os os
votes. But headed of he was. and
that before long. On the seventeenth
soss dfea Like so IBIS paEkst Han
=; Andrew johnson, 6; Doolittle, IL.
New dark horses coming down the
stretch were Thomas A Hendricks of
Salmon P: Chase, one-half vote, and
John T. Hoffman. 3.
Tildea Prominent Fixure.
t.t; Io al OF these notableS were
teseing thelr strength for the great
est office in the land, other nofa hIes
OF many degrees were on the convans
ton moor. Vailandigham of Ohio
was was an outstanding figure. Scanning
over the proceedings of that meeting
or the long ago it is easy to see thai
TINS was no ordinary man He rose
TO many points Of parliamentary pro-
fenurG iefentian and IL IN every case checked the
1t happened to be. This ValIandie
ham was the man. of such ardent
southern sympathies that Lincoln had
nm MN +, taken 70 the southern outposts
Another factor in the convention
was Samuel ]. Tilden, who took a
Leading part In the deliberations Of
Ine new YORK delegation and was
in 1875. Then, as now, Tammany was
wen organised and undertook to rnn
things to its taste. an achievement
Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair Of Mis-
souri, was prominent personality Of
the convention and well-known soI
dler. When his name came up for
VGminasi9n Tirainis as Vice ad the
cious courtesy Of saying that it be-
lieved the soldiers of the country
should have a man on the ticket, and
found than the general. That S1o Srourbt 9a
some real cheering that shook old
Tammany to it's sills.
Such was the convention that
struggled through a week of hot
weather in the effort to pick a can
didate. Finally. on Friday, after a
great deal Of horse swapping and
private politics, Seymour's name went
before the convention just at the
right moment and the tide Of cheer
ing began with that deep earnestness
way or another. A battery of ar
tillery had been waiting for days
in Union Square to fire a salute for
the nominee and word reached the
commander. Of Seymour's selection.
So he ordered a volley and the
hall whore the delegates were near
ing the end Of the twenty-second
ballot. And Seymour was named.
| The rest Is history, Of course. No
! conceivable Democratic candidate
could have defeated Grant that year
But the Democratic ticket made an
excellent showing, rolling up q vote
Of z.7os.s1s against a.o1s.071 Tor
Grant