Jasper County Democrat, Volume 16, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1914 — THAT DISTRICT CONVENTION [ARTICLE]

THAT DISTRICT CONVENTION

As Seen by the Editor of the Tippecanoe County peinocraj. Political historyhas been made with considerable speed since the last issue of the Democrat. The primary personally conducted by D. M. Boyle, under the direction of the state central committee, was patronized by about 2,000 voters and in some wards the voting was very' spirited. Little attention "was given to the primary in the outside townships. The most spirited contest was in the First ward, where the Murphy ticket, headed by Rev. M. ,1. Bryne, was defeated by 17 votes and in the Second ward where the old democratic war horse, Stephen J. Hannagan was defeated by William G. Scherer by 1 8 votes. The Murphy men carried the Third ward and Tippecanoe township and secured one-half vote in Randolph and Wea townships, giving them four of twenty-nine votes. It is stated that the Murphy slate polled *3OO votes in the entire county, or 100 less than were supposed to have signed the historical and spectacular protest to the state committee. Thus it would seem that 100 who demanded a primary failed to avail themselyes of the opportunity when it was given them. The primary' passed off quietly and without friction. The democrats of Tippecanoe county are a loyal lot and while they felt the interference of the state committee to be an unwarranted outrage yet they accepted the order and went out and cleaned them up in their own primaries officered by their own men. ,? On Sunday the hosts began leaving for Hammond where the stage was set for the show at 10 o’clock a. m. Monday'. Some left on the night train and arrived in time for the convention. It w ( as evident from the start that Mr. Mtirphy was to be re-elected and the-only fight was whether that election should;, be unanimous or not. The Hon. E. B.'Selers, of Monticello, was elected chairman of the convention. A strange thing about Sellers was he, with Messrs. Hanna and Reynolds, was elected on an an-ti-Murphy ticket in Monticello op a square issue. Mr. Sellers is considered an authority on ditch laws, he

was a member of the state senate and in ’96 espoused the gold democratic .cause and bolted Bryan. Editor Swaim, of the Hammond News, who is an applicant for the Hammond postofflee, was chosen as secretary. Mr. Swaim’s paper has Inot been against Murphy because of ihe postoffice plum and we hope he’ll land, for some place along the line, some newspaper man in this district ought to get something. Congressman John B. Peterson arrived from Washington on Monday morning and made an address while the committee on credentials wrestled with a contest from Gary. A democratic congressional convention wjthout a contest from Gary woukj, seem like a sunless summer. Mayor Knotts has a bunch there who proposed to cast their votes for William Cain, a Gary contractor, and had they done so Mr. Cain would probably have received 35 or 40 votes, but not enough to have elected him. The committees were hand picked. Usually the roll of counties is called and each county suggests its members of the comimttees. On this occasion, however, some kind friend of Chairman Sellers furnished him with a list which he read and appointed. From this county Hunter Learning, having one-half a vote from Randolph township, represented us on the credentials committee. Joseph Scanlan was on the committee on resolutions and Ed. Brady, who had one-half a vote from Wea township, was on the permanent organization committee.

Congressman Peterson made a good talk, reviewing the work of congress and his own experiences in law making. The resolutions presented were of the usual order and made a departure in endorsing Thomas W. O’Connor, former mayor and banker of Monticello, for state treasurer—which will probably have little effect on the district when the next convention meets. Mr. O’Connor is capable Band a good democrat, but whether he gets the votes out of Tippecanoe county was not for our delegates to this convention to decide, and so we say this endorsement means very little. Charles J. Murphy, judge on the utility commission, was the only man mentioned for district chairman. AVhen Tippecanoe county was called Mayor George R. Durgan, who was chairman of the delegation, explained the' vote of this county, saying that the issues had been squarely drawn and that 25 of the 29 votes were anti-Murphy and that if any regularly elected delegate from any county wanted to move to make Mr. Murphy’s choice unanimous this county was not opposed to it.