Walkerton Independent, Volume 34, Number 5, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 17 July 1908 — Page 7

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. / I A Ao^tiW SOWl® 11 / ^Ss^ wSK// myA i ( i fi/T wifHTHF DEMOCRACY AT DENVER CONVENTION Enthusiastic Scenes Mark the Sessions of the Gathering. A Hilarious, Howling Mob of Delegates and Visitors from Week End to Week End—The Interesting Incidents and Sidelights That Were Gathered During the Big Meeting.

Denver.—The Democratic convention at this place will go down in history as one of the most wildly exci* i political gatherings held for practically half a century. From the time the first delegates began arriving in the city to the time when Chairman Clayton’s gavel rapped out the sine die adjournment, and even throughout all of Friday night and Friday morning while every train leaving the city was being jammed with ti^e convention crowds homeward bound, there was one continuous round of action and enthusiasm. From the first there seemed to be no doubt on the part of any one as to the presidential nominee. It was a Bryan gathering through and through. Gov. Johnson’s followers were true blue, though, and gave many an evidence of strong lung power, especially so when his name was placed before the convention as Minnesota’s favorite son. It seemed for a time as though the entire state had been turned loose in the big hall, so । // ^MINNESOTA? ',///, xY ( OrnpVeV— ) I i Wil / k vWi \ / ) V I J When Johnson Was Named Minnesota Went Wild. great was the cheering. The same was true when Judge Gray’s name was placed before the convention, but both of these demonstrations paled beside the one big show when Attorney Dunn named the man from Lincoln. Old stagers at the political game told me they had turned back the pages of memory for many a year and could discover nothing that equaled the scene then enacted. Enthusiasm marked the naming of Kern as the running mate, wild, hilarious enthusiasm. Up to that last session of the convention the vice-presi-dential nomination was all a matter of pure guesswork. When at one o’clock on Friday, Chairman Clayton called the gathering to order no one could safely prophesy who would be named for second place. But it took only the first mention of the name of Kern to show which way the Democratic wind was blowing, and then as one after another of the men suggested for the place withdrew it was all over but the shouting, and that will continue to ring in Denver’s ears for many a long day. Such was the convention so far as the nominations were concerned. As to the platform, it is a thing made behind closed doors, and is of interest only as it affects the ultimate result of the campaign, but the real interest, the thing that draws the crowd, the thing that makes a convention memorable in the minds of the individuals yho attend, and the things they talk |

about in the years to come, are the little stories and side lights, and it is these things that I have been commissioned to write. Clayton Nearly Lost Flowers. Permanent Chairman Henry D. Clayton came near not getting any roses when he took his seat on the speaker’s platform on the day the permanent organization was effected. It appears there are a dozen or fifteen former residents of Alabama in Denver and the day before they had expended SSO on a great bunch of American beauty roses as a token of their friendship and regard for the distinguished southerner. They took the flowers down to the auditorium, but Congressman Clayton wasn’t made permanent chairman that day. In the wild cheering that followed the mention of Mr. Bryan’s name the Alabama man to whom the roses had been intrusted pulled them to pieces in his excitement, and the ribbon, which had cost $5, resembled a dish rag when it came down to earth. But the sons of Alabama were on hand at the opening of the convention on the third day with another bunch of American beauties and at the proper time gave them to Congressman Clayton. How Sulzer Missed Big Fortune. Congressman William Sulzer of New York, who attended the Democratic convention, might have been a multimillionaire had he been a little bit more observing one time when he was 21 years old. It was in the summer of 1884. Congressman Sulzer had just graduated from the law department of Columbia. He heard that a United States army expedition was to do some exploring in Alaska and he secured permission to accompany the soldiers. Under the command of Lieut. Schwatka the expedition explored and made maps all the way from what is now St. Michaels up the Yukon to a point 35 miles above the present site of Dawson. For some time the party camped at Dawson’s present site. They weren’t thinking of gold and therefore didn’t find any. "I-tad I only known what was lying around loose up there,” said Congressman Sulzer, "I might have made myself fabulously wealthy. In after years some of the richest placer gold deposits in the world were found within a stone’s throw of the place where we camped. Yes, sir. I might now be playing golf with .John D. Rockefeller.” Oldest Delegates on Hand. A. J. Hunter, congressman from Paris, 111., was probably the oldest delegate who attended the convention. He has seen 82 variegated summers and as many winters. He didn’t look it and he didn't act it. He arrived early and stayed until the big show was all over. He found an old companion in the person of Charles D. Griffith, and they saw Denver together. Griffith had hoped to got away from his past record, but his sin found him out —he was in politics back in Illinois; but some time ago he took a solemn vow to never again follow the purple-eyed alligator of political hope, Selah. ‘Yes,” said Congressman Hunter, ‘‘Griffith and I were in some pretty [ warm political campaigns back in Pa ’s, and I tell you he is a hustler whei» you get him warmed up. I used to take him along with me to kiss the babies while 1 talked to the men.” | And the old congressman chuckled

at the joke and they started off up Seventeenth street, arm in arm, humming: “When wo were boys together.” How Campau Rested His Legs. Denver’s altitude, and likewise its “attitute,” were hard on the delegate’s legs. Seats in the hotel lobbies were at a premium, and there were usually long waiting lists on every seat, each prospective occupant keeping an eagle eye on the corners with a view to Inserting his legs into them as soon as the occupant moved an inch. D. J. Campau of Michigan hit upon a scheme that brought him a seat every time he tried it. He would walk up to an onlooker, who would be flattered by the attention, and inquire: “Who is that up there in the balcony?” The party addressed generally jumped to his feet, stepped out a yard or so, and squared off for a look, when Campau would composedly drop into the chair, having lost all interest in his inquiry. The bystanders laughed so loudly at the trick that the loser had to give up gracefully. Col. J. Ham. Dodged Speech Calls. Col. James Hamilton Lewis of Chicago is a wise colonel. The convention had a habit, during moments when there was nothing else to do, of calling upon different notables to speak. That honor was accorded Lewis during the wait for the platform committee’s report. At the same time there were cries for other men to speak. That was the colonel’s tip. He didn’t want to go on the platform to speak and get Hobsonized —not kissed by the ladies, far be it from this —but Hobsonized in a different way—the way the crowd handled Capt. Richmond Pearson Hobson of Merrimac fame and the muchkissed seaman when he tried to tell them of the war with Japan. They hooted and hissed, but Hobson displayed a sample of that same nerve that served him at Santiago and finished his speech. Nothing like that for J. Ham. Bell and His Winery. Congressman Theodore Rell of California was the early bird booked for temporary chairman of the convention. He sailed in from Lincoln on a handcar and the swishing wings of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and brought several casks of the unfermented grape juice of the California i w ® LJiWiv WB /A WweW Eagle Bell Brought His Drinks with Him. grape with him. He said he had heard this altitude is so high that the foam wouldn’t rise on beer and he didn’t want any of his friends to suffer. “And besides,” said Bell, “this is the juice that invigorates, stimulates and percolates but never inebriates—have another. Didn't Want to See Auditorium. On the day before the convention opened, in the lobby of the Albany hotel was a girl behind a counter selling tickets to the concert with which the auditorium, where the convention was held, was formally opened. A man stepped in front of the counter to wait for a friend who was downstairs getting a shine. “Buy a ticket to the opening of the auditorium?” asked the girl. “Guess not,” replied the man. “Don’t you want to see the interior of Denver's fine new, big building?” “No.” “Do you live in Denver?” “Yes.” “Well,” said the girl, sternly, “you don’t seem to show' much interest in the town. Aren't you fooling? Don’t you really want to see the inside of the auditorium?” “No, I don’t,” said the man. “I’ve been working in that building for the past six months. I know almost every brick in it.” Indian Chief Attends Convention. Moty Tiger, a full blood Indian from Oklahoma, chief of the Creek nation, which has 17.000 people, was one of the curiosities at the convention. He is 65 years old. worth SIOO,OOO, and this was the first time the delegates from his state knew that he was a Democrat. “Tate” Brady of Tulsa, one of the political lights of Oklahoma, took him to the auditorium in a motor car. This was the first time the chief ever had attended a convention and he was viewed with considerable interest. He didn’t make many comments upon it. “Ugh, heap talk. Much noise?” was about all he’d say in English. He talked through an interpreter almost altogether. “The chief says he’s impressed and that it looks as though Bryan would be elected,” said the interpreter. “He doesn't understand what the platform is for and I can't make him. He says it is all heap foolish and wants to know how Bryan feels about the Indian question.” Getting Money From Home. There were loud cheers when Martin W, Littleton, in his brief speech before the convention, referred to the thrift and enterprise of Denver in its treatment of delegates. Denverites cheered the utterance as a compliment. but others cheered it as a melan- | choly tribute to the emptiness of their pocketbooks. 1 Denver paid SIOO,OOO to get the con-

vention, and while the municipality of Denver was genen us to the point of prodigality, the si bscribers to the SIOO,OOO did not lo se sight of the fact that they were en itled to a rich return .on the investment, and they got it. Some of the pric as would strain the financial backbone of a Pittsburg millionaire. A man jvith a good husky appetite found thait every day tore a big hole in his bank roll. The waiters of the hotels and large restaurants entered the- gat-ric|h-quick conspiracy. They managed to arrange it every ( time so that a quarter was the smallest coin in the change, and it naturally went as a tip. , Denver had a special committee to keep prices down land prevent exorbitant charges, bu| the dispensers of meals were evidently immune. As a result the tielegraph companies did a big business handling urgent messages, sent bJ delegates, alternates and visitors, to their homes begging for more money. Free Smoke Won by Trick. “Ain’t it awful, awful, Mabel?” sad ly asked Harry E. Insley, commissioner of supplies, of a,group of politicians seated in the maydr’s office before the convention met. I “I am a ruined man,” he continued, as he opened a little black pocketbook. "See this list of 80) lieutenants —good workers, too—and only 150 tickets to go around. I wishl^-ere out in the woods somewhere.’[ This was the geieral trend of convmsilHtin jjjjtfa^ktranger happened in and Col. Joh nV J ohn~ I r 15^7 the mayor’s private secretary, began seeing that the strafeter was formally introduced all arty nd. The gallant colonel purposely jnssed up Col. D. A. Barton, fire commissioner, until last, when he said: I “And this is Colißarton, who holds the place of fire cAumissioner on the side —you know his main proposition is the cigar business.” “D you, colonel, I suspected you were going to work your old trick," answered the official as he emptied every pocket to treat the crowd, and the stranger said, “That’s a nice free smoke." Thirty-Six Feet of Boys. Former Gov. Francis and Augustus Thomas, the playwright, met in the Savoy hotel lobby, and addressed each other like two characters out of the comic supplement. "Hello, Dave," said Mr. Thomas. "Why, hello, Gus," replied Mr. Francis "You're looking mighty fine, Dave.” said Mr. Thomas. “I'm glad to see it at your age.” "Well, Gus, I ou^ht to look fine," replied Mr. Francl?, “I don't do a thing.” Mr. Thomas then asked about the Francis family am the former governor said: “Do you know, I've got 36 feet of Francis 1 oys in my family? There are six boj s and every one of them is six feet tall.” Stories by Judge Wade. Judge Martin J. Wade, In a speech before the con ven Gon, on nominating night, told a couple of good ones, which wore off some of the monotony and helped keep tie spectators awake. He said the promises of the Republican party romindjd- him of a story. This was it: "A<fboy~was promised a horse if he "'oulß get up early every morning during tye winter and chop wood. The boy did it and when his task was over he asked for his reward. His father handed him two mince pies, so that when the boy had m 3 "MB When Dunn learned Bryan the Noise Was Tort Big to Illustrate. eaten them hr might have the nightmare.” I That was Inly one. He told this one as well, on Vice-Presidential Nominee James Saerman: "I was at almeeting in Chicago some time ago where the speaker introduced Sherman like’this: “‘I have Ae honor to introduce to you James ■herman. Who is James Sherman? Ywio is he? I say. Who is Janies Sherman?’ “A small boy on a back seat piped up and said: ‘l’ll bite —who in Sam Hill is Sherman?’ ” The “Kangaroo Court.” The “kangaroo court” was one of the features of the convention. It is an organization established by “Alfalfa Bill” Murray of Oklahoma aud held forth in the lobby of the Brown Palace hotel, with the backs of the seats in the rotunda for the bench of the honorable court. Everybody had to subscribe to Bryan and Bryan Democracy. The prisoners were rushed to the foot of the bench and were then interrogated by the court as to their fitness to be a delegate in the convention. Usually five judges shouted at the prisoner at one and the same time. Some of the hottest arguments held in the convention were pulled off by the “kangaroo court.” If the subject under consideration finally gave in he was at onefe promoted to a seat on the bench and permitted to cross-examine other reca citrants. On the other hand, if he dow red the court in the arguments the jury, which usually consisted of 200 Jr more struggling delegates,

JOHN WORTH KERN. i HU 1 AW I- " i [i-i 'C / ‘

would rend the air with loud shouts for Bryan, Johnson or some other wholly innocent party. New York ami Minnesota delegates were the especial prey of the court, the sessions of which ran as long as two hours at a time. Tom Taggart a Poet. No one would have suspected that Tom Taggart—big, openfaced, yet resolute Tom of Indiana —had a streak of sentiment in his makeup that would burst and bloom into a sunny sonnet, sweet, touching and rhythmical. But. Taggart Coveted Pike’s Peak. he has it—it is in him, and he can’t help it. This is how I know: When the big chairman of the big convention stepped off the train, direct from Indiana, and his eyes caught a glimpse of the snow-capped mountain peak that Zebulon Pike brought here from the Louisiana French grant and planted near the great Manitou, he—the big chairman from Indiana — opened wide his mouth and spake: “O mighty, towering mountain peak, With crest of snowy white, I would that I might win thy heart And take thee home to-night; I Yes, to my Indiana home. Where flows the Wabash stili— Where sweat and dust and heat are rife, And fleas bite fit to kill. I think I'd like to plunge into Thy snowy crest ami lie In frigid raptures, ’till I heard: ‘Come, Tom, it's time to die." This “frigid raptures” is a new one out west, but to those who had occasion to watch the chairman in his strenuous efforts to be everywhere and see everybody at the same and one time, better realize what a "hot time” he had from the time of landing until the gavel dropped in convention hall. Tom Taggart seemed to be the hinge upon which the turnstile of Democracy swung. He was the man who had sat upon the lid since the last convention and had held the guyropes of the big tent in place. To him was given the honor of calling to order such an assembly as had never before been seen within the intermountain region. No wonder he sweat. Yes, sweat, even in this high altitude, and that means there must have been activity; but amid it all he found time to write poetry, and at the close of the convention he wrote this on his cuff and handed it to me: "Your mountains tower to the sky— They’re mammoth, grand and fall— But not one-half so big. my son, As the Bryan vote this fall.” In the Boxes. The hundreds of women who attended the long session which ended in the nomination of William J. Bryan for the presidency plainly showed the effect of the prolonged strain and excitement. All night hundreds of women watched the progress of the nominati’ig speeches, the cheering and the balloting. Brilliant with gown and ge»i, fevered with emotion, brighteyed with excitement, they hysterically waved flags, veils, handkerchiefs, hands, hats, standards and cushions, when Ignatius J. Dunn, the homely Omaha lawyer, brought before the convention the name of “our candidate.” Mrs. Dunn, herself a guest in the box of Mrs. Bird Coler, exchanged constant glances with her husband. The moment he named "the peerless leader,” she snatched her flag from her chair, leaned far over the box and furiously waved the banner, her face beaming with smiles and her eyes tearful from excitement. Near by Ruth Brya» Leavitt, her

eyes filled with tears of emotion, laid one hand in that of her brother, William Bryan. Jr., and with the other tried weakly to keep her small flag waving, while the guests in her box drifting into the mob spirit, were carried away by its enthusiasm. Across the aisle of the section that came to be known as the convention "holy of holies,” because of the social prominence and exclusiveness of its occupants. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, occupying the Roger Sullivan box, wearing a stunning dinner gown of white lace and some magnificent , jewels, looked on rather disdainfully at what, according to her expression, must have been a "wild-eyed” proceeding, and chatted amusedly with her | guests, including Mrs. Medill McCor- । mick. Miss Corinne Robinson and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Leiter. Mr. and Mrs. Longworth bad as good a time as any Democrat at the convention. They attended the sessions and were deeply interested. All efforts to draw from either anything like a comparison between the Denver and Chicago convention was futile. They would not talk politics. Couldn’t Get In. One of the most picturesque figures of the convention couldn't get into convention hall at the Tuesday morning session. They call him “Old Kalnttick," and he came to Denver with the St. Joseph, ; Mo., marching club. He walked 600 miles behind a wheelbarrow once on an election bet. He's an old man. nearly 80, with a gray beard reaching half way down to his waist, wears a battered silk hat, and had on his convention clothes made entirely of bunting, cut after the fashion of the Uncle Sam caricatures. ! Some wag had written upon a card the directions to an entrance that did \ 3 1 I w vT 5 ' \ (IB Gray's Followers Were in Evidence, not exist. The marching club was absent. By the time the old man had found a friend the morning session had adjourned. Haskell Was Informal. Gov. Haskell of Oklahoma is nothing if not informal. As chairman of the committee on resolutions he was the only member of that committee to take off his coat and vest when getting down to business. Furthermore he was backed up by the wildest delegation that ever broke loose in a convention. Oklahomans declare there were fully 1,000 people from their state at the convention. It is certain that they made themselves the most numerous personages in Denver. In their midst were the longest and loudest talkers, the most enthusiastic and irrepressible Indians in the convention. They were always on the job. night and day. They were for Bryan to a man. and they liked 'he sound of the combination of "harmony and victory. ' They sang that phrase at New York, “the big brother of the baby state,” with unceasing fervor. Nuggets. “Mix me up a little whisky, absinthe and Worcestershire sauce,” said the thirsty delegate to the bartender. In ordinary times this would have caused a riot, but the gentlemanly bartenders became used to strange concoctions. The delegate smacked his Hi s ’ walked out. “I wonder what, that is good for said the bartender.

PROOF FOR TWO CENTS. If You Suffer with Your Kidneys and Back, Write to This Man. G. \\. Winney. Medina. N. Y"., invites kidney sufferers to write to him.

To all who enclose postage he will reply, telling ho w Doan's Kidney Pills cured him after he had doctored and had been in two different hospitals for eighteen months , suffering intense pain in the back, lameness. twinges when stooping or

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lifting, languor, dizzy spells and rheumatism. “Before I used Doan’s Kidney Pills,” says Mr. Winney, “I weighed 143. After taking 10 or 12 boxes I weighed 162 and was completely cured.” Sold by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y. CARNEGIE’S RIVAL. '* “He’s a regular pbilanthro—what do you call it?” “Wot’s he did?” “Why, in de last week he’s give away two dozen Deadwood Dick' an’ a dozen ‘Nickel’ libraries!” A Man’s Tact. Nobody but Mr. Henley would have asked such a question in the first place. “Miss Fairley,” he said, “if you could make yourself over what kind of hair and eyes would you have?” i “If I could make myself over,” said Miss Fairley, “I would look just exactly as I do now.” “You would?” exclaimed Henlej in honest surprise, and to this day he can’t understand why Miss Fairley thinks him a man of little taste and less tact. Looking for Work. “Why don’t you go to work instead i or begging and boozing?” ' “I will, boss, as soon as there's an openin’ in my trade. An’ I ain’t got long to wait now, nuther.” “What is your trade?” “I’m a trackwalker for aeroplane lines.” important to Mothers. Examine carefully every bottle of CASTORIA a safe and sure remedy for infants and children, and see that it In Use For Over 30 Years. The Kind You Have Always Bought Fooled One. The Husband (during the quarrel) —You’re always making bargains. । Was there ever a time when you ' didn’t? The Wife—Yes, sir; on my wedding day. Lewis’ Single Binder Cigar has a rich taste. Y'our dealer or Lewis’ Factory, Peoria, 111. The prettiest flowers are not necessarily the most fragrant. IAN A MOTHER I How many American women in lonely homes to-day long for this blessing to come into their lives, and to be able to utter these words, but because of some organic derangement this happiness is denied them. Every woman interested in this subject should know that preparation for health}' maternity is accomplished by the use of LYDIA E. PINKHAM’S VEGETABLE COMPOUND Mrs. Maggie Gilmer, of West Union, S. C.,writes to Mrs. Pinkham: “I was greatly run-down in health from a weakness peculiar to my sex, when Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was recommended to me. It not only restored me to perfect health, but to my delight I am a mother.” Mrs. Josephine Hall,of Bardstown, Ky., writes: “ 1 was a very great sufferer from female troubles, and my physician failed to help me. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound not only restored me to perfect health, but I am now a proud mother.” FACTS FOR SICK WOMEN. For thirty years Lydia E. Jbnkham’s Vegetable Compound, made from roots and herbs, lias been the standard remedy for female ills, and has positively cured thousandsof e beentrou >le 1 with displace ments, inflammation, uleeration, fibroid tumors, irregularities, periodic pains, backache, thet bear-ing-down feeling, flatulency, indigestion,dizziness ornei vous prostration. Why don't you try it ? Mrs. Pinkham invites all sick women to write her tor advice. She has guided thousands to health. Address, Lynn, Mass.