The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1928-06-15

With a majority of 273 votes inl
the State convention Tuesday,
Senator Simmons and his cohorts
announced their determination onl
the. eve Of the convention to enforcel
the unit rule, send a solid instruct
ell delegation to Houston for Cordell
Hull and crush the Smith movement
in North Carolina forever.
BY using the steam roller. in the
use Of which Simmons Is an adept
Of old. 1t was the determination OF
Senator Simmons and his allies to,
organize here In North Carolina a.
Battalion of Death to march on
HoustJI. confident that other
Southern State would fall In behind.
But something happened; it hap
pened on the stage Of the conyen-
ton among the leaders Ct two furi-
ous sides. And the 5000 or moro
delegates and spectators packed al
most to suffocatiO4 In the Raleigh
auditorium never knew how 1t all
happened. They had no voice in IT.
/ And IL they could have seen and
heard what went Oh up there OH the
stage there would have been more
disorder. For among other things
one man walked up to Frank Hamp-
ton. the big secretary Of Senator
, Simmons. looked him In the face and
said: you are contemplate son
| of y" Hampton WINGED, hut
did not take 1t up; and his friends
out I'm the auditorium couldn't take
it up because they neither saw nor
heard.
The test vote of the convention
had been taken on the naming Of
delegates to the Houston convention.
The Simmons slate Of eight dele
gates got 1913 votes; the Smith
slate headed by. Cam Morrison got
$50 votes. The steam roller was al
ready to go: the unit rule by which
Smith supporters were to be depriv-
ell of their vote was about to be
invoked. But 1t wasn't; the steam
, roller was suddenly and mysterious
ly withdra yin and the simmons dele
gntes, .waa bail leen led to believe
that they would nlfnihflate tha
Smith. forces I'm Nerth Carolina,
were told that the delegation to
! Houston would go uninstructed. .
"Of the "a votes for North Caro-:
lian we have 1917 definitely pledg-
ed for Hull" said the Simmons men.
"Of the "a delegates we can count
eight for Smith and possibly ten"
said j. W. Bailey, speaking for the
Smith forces. ysgA ~
: And, being uninstructed, the ma
jority of the delegation may reas'
onably be expected to break for
smith at Houston after the first per-
functory ballot!ng; for 1t is going to
he Smith convention.
/ The Simmons Collapse !. y
Now let's see If l can tell You
why Senator Silnmons and Editor
Daniels weakened at Raleigh lies
/ day and hew their audacious plans
blew up. ~
Now don't let them tell you at
this late date that the steam roller
was not prepared to run rough shod
over the Smith delegation. The
, steam roller was used I'm the district
conventions with the result that
many Smith delegates were squelch-
el before they went into the State
. convention.
The convention hall was packed
ly the s;imman forces. No badges
were issued to delegates. There
was nothing to distinguish a dele
gate from any one else. No tickets
were issued for spectators; the Raj
eish auditorium was thrown wide
open to the public and the seats
were packed by Simmons-Daniels-
burlington followers who had come
/ In to seq the Smith killing and cheer
at the death. Delegates found seats
with difficulty and many Delegates
never found seats at all. Having
mixed In several thousand Ku Klux.
Junior Order, Anti-Saloon League
and Methodist rOOters with less than
1000 delegates, the Simmons steam
roller was all set to flatten out
what would appear to be small
Smith minority in n hall packed
with 1900 to 5000 anti-Smith men
md women who were not delegates.
Then Hell Broke Loose ~
After the brilliant keynote speech
of the Hon. Aubrey l.. Brooks, OF
Greensboro. to which the packed
house listened more or less atten-
lively. the convention got down to
business. The first business was
the naming of Simmons Chairman,
(Cortinre, or page t.-c)