Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1908 — BRYAN WAVE A DELUGE [ARTICLE]

BRYAN WAVE A DELUGE

Leading Features Marking the Day Before the Convention OpenedDenver, July 7.—Above the hubbub of the last strenuous day before the Democratic national convention these main developments of the day stand out prominently: The wave of Bryan sentiment had increased to apparently overwhelming and irresistible proportion, and the nomination of the Nebraskan seemed assured beyond any reasonable doubt. All efforts to unite on a vice presidential candidate had |froved futile, and the second place was stlli “In the air.” A majority of the Pennsylvania delegation in caucus named Colonel Janies M. Guffey as national committeeman. In open defiance of Bryan’s demand for his displacement, and on the heels of Guffey’s public arraignment of Bryan as a “hypocrite, Ingrate and falsifier.” A minority of the Pennsylvania delegation held a caucus of its own which sought to depose Guffey from leadership and Install James Kerr, a Bryan man, as I\ nnsylvania’s leader. The New York delegation appointed a coiutolttee of ten to den ft a platform and named Jiid'ge Alton B. Parker a* the New York repiesci'itntlve on the platform committer. The New York caucus was silent bn the presidential and vice presidential st nation. The Democrat! ■ national committee held its first meeting to consider C'utests, which resulted m the dismissal of Senator McCarron's New York contort* and the seating of Koger Sullivan** Illinois delegate*. Th « toregoing were main feature*

of an eventful way—a day marked h the culmination of the noisy demonstration which ushers in a national convention. with delegations and the\ hosts of followers pouring into town, with bands and marching clubs vieing In turbulent demonstration, and with streets and hotel lobbies filled with surging crowds. Amid all this confusion the men of action worked unceasingly. Most of the states effected their organization, electing members of the committees which are serving tod'ay. The anti-Bryanltes made another effort late at night to unite their forces and attar'the "meeting said theF felt encouraged. The movement is not! however, taken with deep serioueneai by any pf the men who are loading the Bryan forces. The greatest effort waj made to keep the antl-Bryan meeting secret, those who were present being summoned by small cards which were quietly passed around. The names of the men who were present were also kept secret to a large extent, but it Is known that among them were Daniel F. Cohalan and William F. Sheehan, of New York; Colonel Guffey, of Pennsylvania: Josiah Marvel, of Delaware, and Frederick B. Lynch, of Minnesota.

BULL HAD A LIVELY TIME Reached Lincoln and Came Near Having to Stay There. Fairview, Lincoln, Neb., July 7. Would Theodore A. Bell, temporary chairman of the Democratic national convention reach the Colorado capital in time to open the convention? This was the question which more than platform or vice presidential candidacy agitated W. J. Bryan and local Democrats. Bell’s arrival was a comedy*, his departure a melodrama. The firs: act brought him tn Lincoln to confer with Bryan. Bell’s carriage was bespattered with mud and his clothes hinted of the flood conditions in which the scene was set. Salt creek was on a rampage: the bridge over Antelope creek had been partly washed aiway, and the hero arrived through remarkable difficulties. The aet closed with a hurried admonition on the part of Bryan that if the hero wished to save the situation he must away on the first train.

Train after train was chosen, only to fail as a possibility of egress; the flood was everywhere. Expedient after expedient was chosen only to be abandoned. It seemed that the convention of which the hero was an indespensible part, must be abandoned, when General Manager Melcher, of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, burst in through the medium of a telegram and proffered a special train. But this involved a trip on a handcar, and tiro handcar trip Involved the temporary chairman in an act that might ba named "Pumping a Handcar;” for the temporary chairman had to “pump” assisted by brawny railway hands, to roach the special train. But he “got there,” and after getting on board the special be was duly and safely landed at Denver in time for him to play his part in the programme. The cause of all this trouble was that in making his visit to Lincoln, ten hours were consumed in making the fifty-three miles between Omaha and Lincoln. His train was side-tracked at half a dozen points for other trains, and was held at a spot five miles from Lincoln for several hours because of a flood which had all but put the Rock Island railroad out of business. The train was halted by a wash-out and facing a “condition and not a theory,” Bell, grips In hand, started to walk to the city. He encountered half a >nlle of track under water, and bravely waded through the lake, part of the time up to bls knees In water, landing on the terra firma when he reached the city limits. He walked to the Lincoln hotel, two miles away, and after securing a bite of breakfast started for Fairview in a carriage, reaching that place exactly at noon. Then, after his talk with Bryan, the question was how to get out of Lincoln and to Denver. This question was solved as told in the foregoing.