Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1889 — DUDLEY’S WORK IN INDIANA. [ARTICLE]

DUDLEY’S WORK IN INDIANA.

Congressman McClellan Discourses on Politics in Indiana. Hon. Charles A. 0. Md.Clellan, Representative in Congress from the Twelfth District of Indiana, while on a visit to Detroit, recently, was interviewed by a Free Press reporter. We quote from the Free Press: Congressman McClellan had considerable to say about Indiana politics, and he spoke with authority for the reason that he was in the thickest of the fight during the recent Presidential campaign. In Mr. McClellan’s district, which includes Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, his predecessor. J. B. White, a Republican, was very popular, and was elected by a plurality of 2,500 over his Democratic opponent. In his campaign Mr. McClellan succeeded in drawing these 2,500 votes to himself, and, besides, h »d a very neat plurality to fall back upon. “Around where iwas, ” said the Congressman, with a grimnce and scowl which indicated that he still stored it up, “the work of W. W. Dudley was particularly successful, and the wholesale purchase of votes, ‘in blocks of five,’ is a fact which can be proven. All there is about it, the Democrats spent their money for brass bands and fireworks, while the Republicans were on the margin of the crowd arranging for the purchase of five-in-a-bunch from our side.

“I will tell you what I know to be a fact. Our counties were filled with strangers armed with maps of roads and crossroads, and the names of Democratic farmers, who would drive through in carriages and call at houses and offer consideration for votes. This sort of thin«, too, was carried on throughout the State’ and it was the way the Republicans carried Indiana. When a man tells you it iB not true, but mere partisan claptrap, you may state that you can prove it, and refer such persons to me, if they are not satisfied. Why, you know hundreds of men were indicted for violation of the election laws, largely through the efforts of a Democratic United States Attorney They were tried, however, before United States Circuit Judge Woods, a Republican, and all cases were nolle pressed. In the test cases he charged the jury that it must find that there was a Congressman to be elected, to give the case jurisdiction, and must also find that the Derson charged with the offens6 had actually voted for a Congressman. Of course there could be but one result, that of acquittal, because there was no possible means of proving such a thing. “The election down there shows that Indiana Democrats are tariff-reform Democrats. That issue did not hurt ns in the campaign, as has been boasted by the Republicans. We not only lost no votes by it, but actually gained some. The whole State Democratic element was for Cleveland, without a dissenter, and the whole State is still for Cleveland and the principles which he so nobly and bravely advocated.”