420      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

CHAPTER XX.

POLITICAL HISTORY.

BY SAM P. DAVIS.

[From The History of Nevada, edited by Sam P. Davis, vol. I (1912)]

            The political history of the State began in 1864 when Abraham Lincoln with his far reaching brain conceived the idea of giving statehood to the Territory of Nevada as a war measure to enable the Republican party to have two more votes on the side of the Union in the United States Senate. Time demonstrated that his plan was a wise one. Congress passed the Enabling Act on the 21st of March, the Constitutional Convention met at Carson City on the 4th day of July and after a session lasting twenty-three days, framed a Constitution which was submitted to the people on the fourth Wednesday of September and adopted by a large majority.

            On the 31st of October, 1864, a proclamation declared Nevada to be a part of the American Union.

            Coming into being during the darkest days of the Civil War she has since been known as "The Battle Born."

            The next Legislature elected James W. Nye and William A. Stewart as Senators to represent Nevada in the Upper House of Congress.

            Their terms were to be respectively four years and two, and they drew straws to decide which should have the longer term. Stewart won and served four years.

            Both men became candidates for re-election when their terms expired, and each were sent to the United States Senate for six years.

MONEY IN POLITICS.

           In the fall of '72 John P. Jones, who had been beaten in his fight two years previous when running as the Sheriff of Mariposa County, Cal., came into the fight for the United States Senatorship. Since his

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advent into Nevada he had succeeded in mining and reaped a fortune from the bonanza uncovered in Crown Point.

            When he entered the race the Republican party was strongly intrenched in Nevada and it was not necessary to spend a dollar for his election.

            When fairly in the campaign, however, he began scattering money with a lavish hand and inaugurated the system which for years ruled in Nevada whenever a man with political ambitions sought a seat in the Upper House of Congress.

            He was worth at the time a million or two, and without the slightest necessity of doing it, is said to have put considerably over half a million into his campaign.

            When asked his reason for this action he said jocularly that he was enjoying himself and also setting the pace for the next man who aspired for the Senatorial toga.

            Two years later, 1875, William Sharon, then representing the Bank of California on the Comstock, announced himself as a candidate to succeed William H. Stewart. He said he would outdo Jones in the extent of his expenditures, and the lavish scattering of money throughout the State attracted the attention, first of the San Francisco newspapers and finally was discussed throughout the United States. It is claimed that he spent no less than $800,000 in securing his seat in the United States Senate.

            There is another story current which credits him with having so manipulated Ophir during the campaign that he recouped all his expenditures.

            He gave out that a deal was to be made in the stock during the fall and winter and gave every legislative candidate the tip to get all the Ophir possible and above all things not to hold it after it reached $300.

            The "confidential tip" spread all over the State and Sharon unloaded in the neighborhood of $200.

            Before reaching the coveted $300 mark it broke and went down with a run. Sharon unloaded and then "shorted" and when he filled his "shorts" it is said that he got back all the money he had spent in his campaign and several hundred thousand more.

            In '79 John P. Jones succeeded himself but did not find it necessary to repeat the free handed expenditures which marked his first campaign for the Senatorship.

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            In '81 James G. Fair announced himself as a candidate, having been urged to run from the fact that the Democrats were anxious to have the ticket headed by a man of unlimited means.

           Realizing that the Democratic party was in the minority he found it necessary to make a thorough monied fight. In the entire history of Nevada politics there had never been such a saturnalia of corruption as in this campaign. Votes were purchased openly on every side and the price, which in ordinary campaigns had generally ranged at about five or ten dollars, struck the $80 mark for single votes.

            His "sack bearers" were in every county and precinct on election day, and the State elected a Democratic legislature for the first time in years.

            When the Legislature met, however, Fair was unexpectedly confronted with an opponent in the person of Adolph Sutro of Tunnel fame.

            Sutro had always been a bitter enemy of Fair and he sent a representative in the State to announce his candidacy. He claimed afterwards that his representative was bought up by Fair and silenced.

            How true this might have been is not known but it was nevertheless a fact that no whisper of Sutro's candidacy was ever heard in the sagebrush during the campaign.

            It was not until after the Legislature had met that Sutro appeared and announced that he was a candidate for the office at the hands of the Democratic Legislature, most of whom had been elected by the liberal expenditure of Fair's money.

            Sutro's appearance in the field with a quarter of a million cash to do business with made a great excitement in Carson City. He took rooms at the Ormsby House and made his first assault on the caucus. His only hope of success was the breaking of the caucus and this he succeeded in doing, but the Fair adherents padded the roll-call and after announcing a full caucus, carried things through with a high hand, and broke the force of Sutro's first victory.

            Sutro won over to his cause a sufficient number of votes to elect, but they needed some special excuse to desert the Fair colors after being pledged in the campaign platforms and participating in the Legislative caucus. His managers conceived the idea of swearing out complaints against some of the men who had used money corruptly in Washoe County during the campaign. Arrests were to be made of members on the floor of the House in open session on the charge of purchasing votes

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in the election, and these charges and arrests were to furnish the excuse for members to desert the Fair side and go to Sutro. Men who had received Fair's money with which to be elected planned to desert him as soon as the expose was made and cast their strength for Sutro. Fair had a man, however, who took an active part in the councils of the Sutroites and he knew just when the coup was to be sprung.

            The night before, a team was driven furiously to Reno, and next day, when a Carson attorney went down to swear out the complaints on which to make the necessary arrests, he was unable to find a single official before which a complaint could be sworn. They had been spirited away. Without these complaints no arrests could be made and it was too late to get action in other counties. Sutro's fight fell to pieces like a house of cards and Fair was elected.

            With the exception of Fair all the Senatorial representatives were Republicans and from the beginning Nevada only sent its wealthy men to the Senate of the United States. This earned for the State the name of the "Rotten Burough" and this name seems destined to cling to it.

            Notwithstanding this reproach the State for years held the reputation also of having in the Upper House of Congress two men, Jones and Stewart, who equalled in ability the representatives of any State in the Union.

            It was generally conceded that Jones was the abler of the two, and Stewart the better politician and the most indefatigable worker in the Senate. As a thinker and logician Jones had no peer in the Senate. He spoke but seldom, but when he took the floor he was listened to with the most marked attention and if the public had any previous notice the galleries were crowded. He could cram more meaning into a fifteen minutes' speech than any of his peers. His terse, epigrammatic sentences and his sledgehammer logic carried everything before it. Sometimes, after days of wrangling, a short talk from the "Man from Nevada" would dispose of the question and close the debate. In his Senatorial career of thirty years he made but one extended speech and it was his masterly dissertation on the silver question. It extended for several days, and the mass of information presented in that speech caused a worldwide discussion, a discussion which has not subsided even today. Later, at the celebrated Brussels Conference, where the money question was

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under discussion by the leading financiers of the world, he delivered another speech on the same subject.

            The various speeches delivered on that occasion resulted in a worldwide discussion and every speech made in favor of bimetalism brought forth a public response from some prominent monometalist, but no one ever attempted to answer the speech of Senator John P. Jones of Nevada, and it remains unanswered to this day.

            Meanwhile the lower house of Congress contained some notable men from Nevada who made their marks in National politics.

            The first Territorial representatives were John B. Cradlebaugh and Gorden N. Mott.

            H. G. Worthington was the first elected Congressman from the State followed by Delos B. Ashley who served two terms.

            Thomas Fitch followed Ashley and made such an impression by his oratory that he earned the title of "The Silver Tongued Orator."

            He was followed by Chas. W. Kendall who served two terms, William Woodburn, Thomas Wren, Rollin Daggett and George Cassidy.

            Both Wren and Woodburn were attorneys and Daggett and Cassidy, journalists.

            Daggett edited the Territorial Enterprise, the leading Republican paper in the State, and Cassidy owned and conducted the Sentinel in Eureka when the town was in the heyday of its prestige.

            Woodburn made one notable speech on the tariff in the forty-fourth Congress, which, while it occupied not over fifteen minutes in delivery, was so well regarded by the party leaders that over a million copies were printed and circulated in the Presidential campaign that followed and it was regarded as a party text-book. Woodburn retired to practice law, but the lure of politics was too strong for him and he was returned to the forty-ninth and fiftieth Congress where he served with marked distinction.

            Daggett, after his first Congressional experience, became Minister to the Sandwich Islands and afterwards aspired to become a candidate to the United States Senate, but was beaten by Stewart.

            James G. Fair also aspired to a second term, but Stewart, his Republican competitor, sent for Joseph T. Goodman, who had formerly owned and edited the Enterprise, and secured his services to make the main editorial fight against Fair. Goodman's first editorial was a challenge

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to Fair to come into court and disprove certain charges which had been made against him in connection with prize-fighter John Kosser and the death of Fred Smith. This public arraignment of Fair was the first time he had been called to account for the commission of certain alleged criminal acts which had been common talk on the Comstock for years. The editorial conduct of the Enterprise was then in the hands of a Mr. Taggert, who had previously been engaged as a private Secretary for Whitelaw Reid, and had also been connected with the New York Tribune.

            When the editorial written by Goodman was turned into the Enterprise office, Taggert refused to run it on the ground that it charged Fair with a series of felonies and would result in as many different libel suits. It was held over for Goodman to produce the proofs of his assertions which he was perfectly willing to father over his own signature.

            The editorial was never printed. Fair got wind of its contents in some way and withdrew from the fight.

            John Mackay had been often urged to enter the political arena for the high office of United States Senator but could not be lured into the game.

            The last times Jones ran he and Mackay had been somewhat at outs over business matters and Mackay was quite inclined to throw his influence for Rollin Daggett, for whom he had a great personal regard.

            A small thing, however, turned the scale against Daggett. It came to Mackay's ears that Daggett, when Minister to the Sandwich Islands, received visitors barefooted with his trousers rolled up to the knees.

            When this argument was brought to bear on Mackay he voted Daggett a savage and withdrew his support.

            While Jones and Stewart were fighting the battles of silver and making political history in the United States Senate, Horace F. Bartine was striking effective blows for the white metal in the Lower House.

            He was a member of the fifty-first and fifty-second Congress, and while there, was regarded as authority on the Silver question. He was a logical and incisive speaker and wrote the minority report on the Windom bill, a report that became a text book for bimetallists. After finishing his two terms in Congress he continued to reside at Washington and edited the National Watchman, a publication devoted to bimetallism and national politics.

            Bartine was followed by Francis G. Newlands who served his first

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term as a member of the fifty-third Congress and served five successive terms, the longest service of any Nevada Congressman,

            He was recognized as an able debater on any public question, but his principal work on behalf of the West was his Irrigation Act which established a system for the conservation of natural resources, mainly the waters which ordinarily run to waste. This Act has reclaimed vast areas of waste land and added millions of dollars to the resources and wealth of the West. In 1903 he was elected to the United States Senate and succeeded himself in 1909.

            Clarence Van Duzer followed Newlands and served two terms. On the last he became involved in trouble over a wildcat mining deal and his sphere of usefulness was over in Nevada.

            Since its admission into the Union, Nevada has been normally Republican and could be safely counted on to cast its electoral vote for a Republican President, until the formation of the Silver Party which first appeared in Nevada politics in the election of 1892 when it swept the State by majorities averaging in the neighborhood of 5,000. In that year the Republican vote was less than 3,000 and the Democratic vote fell below 1,000. The first suggestion relative to the formation of a Silver Party to protect Nevada's chief industry appeared in the Morning Appeal published at Carson City. On January 1, 1890, it made the announcement, editorially, that it was time for Nevada to raise the standard of revolt against the Republican party for its demonetizing of the chief product of Nevada's industry. It called for the formation of a party having the remonetization of silver, the chief plank of its platform.

            This stand was treated derisively at the time, but within a year other newspapers took the matter up and finally in 1891 the Editorial Association of the State met at Reno and passed a resolution that it would have nothing to do with any political party that did not include in its platform a plank demanding the free and unlimited coinage of silver.

            The declaration did not attract much attention at the time, but when the political pot began to simmer later on, its full force and effect became apparent. The calls for primaries and conventions sent out by the Republican State Central Committee did not appear in a single Nevada newspaper with the exception of the Reno Gazette. They were simply committed to the waste baskets of the newspaper offices and left without any newspapers to make the political announcements, the party seemed

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almost as dead as if it had never existed. Later on a Republican convention was held at Reno but it split on the subject of free coinage and nearly       half the convention rose and left the hall headed by Charles Wallace, otherwise known as "Black Wallace" from the fact that all his life he had been an ardent and altogether "black republican."

            Another convention was held during the afternoon, and the Silver Party was launched. George Cassidy, an old line Democrat and formerly a Democratic Congressman, addressed the convention, and after an impassioned speech, which called for a great deal of physical effort on his part, he retired to the Arcade Hotel to rest and after reaching his room died in a few minutes from a stroke of apoplexy.

            The first Silver Club formed in the State was started by Frederick Fairbanks, editor of the Times at Dayton in Lyon County.

            In the campaign that launched the Silver Party into active politics, it carried the State with a clean sweep and in a majority of the counties carried every precinct for Silver.

            The greatest enthusiasm prevailed and a banner was offered by the State Central Committee for the county rolling up the heaviest percentage of votes. It was won by Eureka county.

            In 1890, J. E. Jones had been elected Surveyor General on the Republican ticket, and when the Silver party sprang into existence he took part in a public meeting at Carson City which declared for Silver. The meeting was a very small one and he was the one State officer who dared to take the e platform and declare for the white metal. This meeting was received with derision and laughter by every one except the few who participated. But in 1892 the fact that Jones had been the only Republican office holder who had the nerve to declare himself resulted in his nomination for Governor on the Silver ticket and he was elected by a tremendous majority.

            Many strange things happened in the campaign of 1892. Four tickets were in the field. Silver, Republican, Democrat and Prohibition.

            Out of compliment to Judge Belknap of the Supreme Bench, who was the Democratic nominee, the Silver Party put up no candidate, which practically gave him a walk-over in the election.

           Newlands was nominated by the Silver Party in their convention at Reno, and the Republicans in order to prevent his spending any money in the campaign, nominated him as their candidate for Congress on the

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Republican ticket. He was at once notified by the Silver men that if he accepted the nomination from the Republicans the Silver convention would reconvene and place another candidate in the field.

           When the Republican Notification Committee called at his house to inform him of the action of the Republican convention he was "not at home."

            It was then decided to place Hon. William Woodburn's name before the convention, and a majority of the convention left the hall when the vote was taken that the Chairman might be in a position to announce that there being no quorum there could be no nomination.

            The programme not having been made clear to the Chair, however, he announced that William Woodburn having received "a majority of all the votes cast" was declared the nominee of the convention.

            Woodburn felt that he was in duty bound to make a fight or rest under the imputation of having been bought off by the Silver-men and made a vigorous and conscientious campaign, speaking all over the State and leading a forlorn hope. He was beaten by Newlands by nearly 5,000 majority.

J. C. Hagerman, the Democratic nominee, received 345 votes, and the Prohibition candidate polled but 67.

            In the campaign of 1894 the Silver men elected every nominee on the State ticket by overwhelming majorities and both houses of the Legislature was almost unanimous for the dominant party. The former leaders of the Republican party, Jones, Stewart and Newlands, had come into the Silver fold, and the movement in favor of the remonetization of silver grew into a national issue.

           In 1896 the Democrats and Silver men fused on most of the nominations and carried the State by heavy majorities, not losing a man on the ticket.

            In the election of 1898 friction developed between the Democrats and Silver men. Stewart was a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate and it was the aim of Black Wallace, his campaign manager, to fuse the Democratic and Silver parties. The convention of both parties was held in Reno.

            The friction began over the division of the offices. Both factions counted on their own party having the predominance in numerical strength and consequently demanded the bulk of the offices.

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            A Committee on Fusion was appointed by each convention, but after several hours of wrangling, in which each side stubbornly held its ground, the meeting adjourned without reaching any agreement and both parties placed a full ticket in the fight.

            The campaign found four tickets in the field, Silver, Democrat, Republican, and as in the previous campaign, a People's party.

            The only tickets between which there was any contest to speak of was the Republican and Silver Party. The Silver men elected their entire ticket with the exception of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Democratic ticket ran third in the race. The People's party polled less than 1,000 votes, which was a slight gain on their run in the previous campaign, and passed out of existence in Nevada.

            During this campaign friction developed between Stewart and Newlands which was carried on after the campaign and came near disrupting the party.

            Stewart made the charge early in the fight that Newlands was secretly knifing him and was planning with the Republicans to run as a candidate for the United States Senate.

            As Newlands was a candidate for Congress and pledged to the party platform that endorsed the candidacy of Stewart, but little attention was paid to Stewart's charges at the time. Later on, however, Newlands openly announced himself as a candidate for the Senate in opposition to Stewart and the fight was on all over the State. It was without question the bitterest political battle that had been seen in the sagebrush for many a day, and no quarter was given or asked on either side.

           Newlands gave as a reason for his candidacy that Stewart had made an alliance with the sugar trust.

           When the Legislature met, the adherents of the respective candidates met, and gathered at the Capitol with knives whetted for the combat.

            William Sharon, a nephew of Senator William Sharon who had previously represented Nevada in the United States Senate, was the manager of Newlands' fight, and Black Wallace and J. C. Hagerman were lined up with Stewart, Next appeared upon the scene the famous Jack Chinn, of Kentucky, one of the most skillful politicians of the Bluegrass State. He claimed to represent the National Democratic Central Committee sent out to investigate the alleged treachery of Newlands to the Democratic party.

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            The Newlands faction insisted that he represented the sugar trust who was assisting Stewart financially. The presence of a number of Pinkerton detectives in Carson added to the complications and mystery of the situation.

            Wallace, who as a politician, was in a class by himself and never accepted orders from any one, resented the intrusion of Chinn in the fight, and for a while there was bad blood between the parties.

            Wallace engineered a call for the State Silver Central Committee to meet at Carson to take up the question of Newlands' alleged treachery to the party platform and to Stewart. The Committee met in the Supreme Court room and formal charges were made against Newlands and Sharon, Sharon at that time being the Chairman of the Committee.

            After considerable debate, a motion to adjourn the meeting for one week, was carried by a small majority, and after the adjournment Chinn called on Wallace at his rooms in the Ormsby House and asked him to explain why he had allowed the meeting to adjourn without decisive action.

           Wallace informed him that it was none of his business, and a fight seemed on the tapis when Stewart intervened and mollifying the two men induced Wallace to explain that he had allowed the meeting to adjourn without action that the opposition could not raise the cry of "snap judgment."

            Chinn leaned forward and, tapping Wallace's knee with his finger, asked him if he proposed to take definite action at the next meeting, and being assured that he would, replied :

            "When my father used to buy coon dogs and the owners bragged about the coons the dogs could kill he always asked to see the coon skins. Now Wallace, I will consider you a good coon dog when I see the skins of Newlands and Sharon tacked up on the cabin wall of the State Central Committee."

            Wallace laughed at this comparison and Chinn, shaking his clenched fist under Wallace's nose, continued:

            "I'll give you until next Thursday to tack those hides up on the wall." A week later, by a decisive vote, Newlands and Sharon were read out of the party on the ground that their treachery was clearly proven, Sharon was deposed as Chairman of the Central Committee and a successor was elected.

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            This meeting was one of the most exciting and dramatic ever witnessed in State politics in the sagebrush. The adherents of both men were intense and bitter in their partisanship and at times the situation was so tense that a general fight with weapons seemed imminent.

            The resolutions submitted to the meeting were passed by a roll call after a long and patient hearing of both sides of the case and the charge that Newlands had entered the fight for the Senatorship after being publicly pledged to a platform endorsing Stewart for the same office, was considered substantiated on the showing that Newlands and Sharon had conspired to elect the Republican Legislative ticket.

            While this act of the Committee was considered a body blow to New-lands' Senatorial aspirations, his adherents still maintained the struggle for the toga. They had ample money to carry out their plans of electing Newlands over Stewart, provided they could deadlock the Legislature and prevent Stewart from winning on the first ballot.

            J. C. Hagerman, who had been one of Stewart's managers, had advanced to many of the members money to pay their election expenses, and in turn exacted a written pledge to vote for Stewart and a receipt for the money advanced. He held these documents over the wavering members,

           Stewart could absolutely count on two majority in the Senate, but his managers could only muster 15 votes in the House out of a membership of 30. Day after day the count showed the same result, 15 for Stewart, scattering 15. The Stewart managers felt that after the men who were pledged to Stewart had kept their platform pledges by voting for him once, they might feel at liberty to wander away in almost any direction on the second ballot. The Senate voted and gave Stewart two majority.

            When the time came for the House to vote every one appeared to be at sea, and when the roll was called but twenty-nine members answered to their names. Gillispie of Storey was absent. He belonged to the "scattering" contingent and had never been counted as a Stewart man. The anti-Stewart people demanded a call of the House, but the motion was voted down 15 to 14. A motion to call the roll on the election of a United States Senator carried, and a tremor went down the line of the opponents of Stewart. The roll call proceeded and the result, 15 for Stewart and 14 scattering, gave Stewart the fight by the closest margin by which a Senator was ever elected in Nevada. Before the result was

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announced a dozen men were on their feet protesting and raising points of order, but Lieutenant Governor James Judge brought down his gavel and announced that Stewart having received a majority in both Houses he was hereby declared elected to the office of United States Senator for the ensuing six years.

            For a few minutes the Chamber was the scene of a regular pandemonium as members denounced each other vociferously, and in the midst of it Black Wallace, the arch manipulator of the job which elected Stewart, sat calmly watching the turmoil and keeping a still tongue and the demeanor of a Sphinx. The absence of Gillispie of Storey happened in this way. A few minutes before the two Houses met in the Assembly chamber in joint session Gillispie was asked by some friends in front of the Bullion Bank, if he did not want to ride to the Capitol. He entered the hack in response to the invitation and was rapidly whirled away to Empire, three miles distant, and locked up in the house of State Senator Williams where he remained a prisoner for two days,

            The invitation to ride in the hack came from Sam Jones, a brother of Senator Jones, and it is a matter of history, that Sam Jones, who was always regarded as one of the best story tellers on the coast, regaled him with some excellent anecdotes during the two days and in other ways rendered his stay a pleasant one. It was charged that Gillispie was willingly abducted and got $1,800 for his absence from his seat.

            During the entire fight Stewart was many times on the verge of defeat. When the caucus was called of the lower House to pledge the members to him there was one short until he was brought in by Assemblyman Folsom who took him out of a house and marched him several blocks to the Chamber at the muzzle of a six shooter.

            Although the Silver men elected Stewart, he rejoined the Republican party almost as soon as he reached Washington and was execrated by his former political associates. He also voted for the tariff on sugar.

            Two years later Newlands succeeded in his ambition to reach the United States Senate and was sent to Washington by his former political party.

            The next Senatorial fight was between Gov. John Sparks and George Nixon who had formerly been a State Senator from Humboldt County.

            Nixon had at one time entered the field against John P. Jones and been

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beaten. Entering the lists against Sparks he captured the Legislature by three majority on joint ballot.

           Finding the Legislature so close some friends of the Governor raised a fund in Salt Lake to back Sparks. One evening a stranger reached Carson City and hunting up Sparks' friends announced that he had a quarter of a million behind him to elect Sparks. He was told that the Governor was not making any monied fight and that he would not consider such a proposition for an instant. The man was insistent, however, and finally got an audience with Sparks and made a proposition to elect him with unlimited money. The reply was characteristic of the man.

            "If I had won this fight with a Democratic majority I would not expect Mr. Nixon to buy my supporters. I should regard him as a contemptible whelp if he did and he would have the right to regard me in the same light if I used money to corrupt his adherents. As long as I am Governor of this State and sworn to obey and uphold its laws I shall do so. If a single nickle is used to get me any votes in this Legislature I shall decline to accept the certificate of election. I guess we are now through with all the business you have to transact, sir. There is the door."

            The person addressed made a hasty exit and slid through the door with the air of a man who wanted to escape being kicked through.

            Nixon was elected and at the banquet that followed Gov. Sparks sat at his right hand, the guest of honor.

            In the campaign in 1908 Francis G. Newlands was the Democratic candidate against P. L. Flannigan. He was elected with both houses Democratic.

            The campaign of 1910 was memorable from the fact that a Legislature Democratic, on joint ballot, gave a unanimous vote for George Nixon, a Republican. The fight was between Key Pittman and George Nixon. They were the choice of their respective parties in the primaries and made the campaign under a new law which allowed United States Senators to be elected by a direct vote of the people. There having been some question raised about this law being constitutional, the principals signed what was known as "a gentleman's agreement" by which the candidate receiving the smaller number of votes in the general election should withdraw and not allow his name to go before the Legislature. Nixon won in the general election and Pittman withdrew his name. An attempt was made to keep him in the fight on the ground that there was

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nothing binding in the agreement. He declined to be persuaded and asked all Democrats in the Legislature to cast their votes for Nixon.

            In addition to the agreement signed by Senatorial candidates, each Legislative candidate was by law compelled to sign one of three statements, either that he would abide by the will of the majority, that he would not, or that he would merely regard it as advisory.

            The new plan proved satisfactory and no candidate could be elected to the Legislature who did not agree to abide by the popular vote.

            This plan has absolutely eliminated the use of money in the Legislature, which in times past was the rule and not the exception, and gave Nevada the title of "The Rotten Borough" all over the Union.

            After the election of the Republican Senator the Legislature passed the following resolution by a unanimous vote, which was signed by the Governor and every member of the Legislature.

"SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3.

"PASSED JANUARY 25, 1911.

                "Resolved, By the Republican minority in this Joint Session of both houses of the Twenty-fifth session of the Nevada Legislature, in which a Democratic majority has voted to make unanimous the election of a Republican candidate to the Senate of the United States, that our thanks and congratulations be extended with a hearty good-will to the Democratic members for the honorable way in which they have accepted the result of the last election and bowed to the will of the people as expressed by the popular vote. Be it further

                "Resolved. That we extend our sincere congratulations and good-will to the Hon. Key Pittman, of Nye County, for the unequivocal manner in which he has carried out his part of the 'gentlemen's agreement' made between himself and the Hon. George S. Nixon in the campaign of last fall, in withdrawing from the contest after the result of the election was announced, and that he has earned the lasting regard of his political opponents by the fair, able and honorable campaign made by him in his fight for the Senatorial toga, thereby making a record of which every true Nevadan may well be proud. Be it further

                "Resolved, That the election of a Republican, who was chosen by the popular vote, as against a candidate for the same office, with a Democratic majority in control of the Legislature on joint ballot, emphasizes an epoch in American politics of which the Senate of the United States may well take heed, until the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people, shall become the law of the land, Be it further

                "Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to both houses of Congress at Washington."

            While the Democratic State Convention was in session at Fallon in 1912, word was received from Washington of the sudden illness of Senator Nikon. He died on the following day and Gov. Oddie named

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Nixon's partner, George Wingfield, as his successor. While congratulations were pouring in on Mr. Wingfield he astonished the State by declining the honor.

            Nothing so unprecedented had ever happened in American politics, and by this act Wingfield stood out alone like some tall monument on the desert to be observed from every point of the compass.

            It does not seem to the average mind that any one could refuse an honor second only to that of being President of the United States, an honor that men have spent years trying to obtain, beside in many instances, millions in money and a chance of landing in the penitentiary. Yet George Wingfield turned it down and his modest refusal of the office won him many friends. It seemed to have been a characteristic of his that everything worth having was worth fighting for. He had carved his way to position and opulence by hard fighting and he seems to have had little regard for anything, to use a common expression, "handed him on a platter."

            In his letter of declination, however, he stated that he was not prepared "at the present time" to accept the office which, to the politicians of the State, reading between the lines, meant that he might at some future time make a regular fight for the place.

            Judge Massay, formerly of the Supreme Bench, was then tendered the office and accepted.

           Hon. Key Pittman of Tonopah, announced his candidacy soon after, and in the fall election was elected by a majority of 89 on a popular vote which was followed by a regular Legislative election in which he was sent to Washington with but two dissenting votes.

            The innovation in the election of U. S. Senators is soon destined to become popular all over the Union. Nevada stands as one of the first states to adopt it, following in the lead of Oregon, in a heroic endeavor to atone for its shameless past.

            Nevada politics have from time to time brought many powerful conflicting interests into the field of strife and provided issues for many a hot campaign. For some time there was a battle royal waged over the payment of a bullion tax on the net products of the mines.

            The Bonanza firm held this tax to be unjust and inimical to mining development. The Legislature that enacted the law and the subsequent Legislature that retained it on the statute books, maintained that the

436      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

miners were the richest people in the state and ought to pay the heaviest tax.

            During Governor Kinkead's administration in 1880, the Bonanza firm put a bill through the Legislature repealing the Bullion tax law.

            Governor Kinkead promptly vetoed the bill, as Gov. Bradley had done before him, and that night a gathering of delighted citizens, headed by a band, went to his house to express their warm approval of his course, The newspapers of the state, irrespective of party, commended his course and he seemed to have the entire state at his feet. He was a candidate for re-election at the next Republican convention and only received two votes.

            Governor Bradley was the first Democratic Governor to sit in the executive chair. He was placed on the ticket by the Democrats mainly because he possessed vast herds of cattle and was called "Old Broad-horns" in the campaign. In spite of the predictions of the opposition and the fun poked at him, he was elected by a handsome majority and made a sterling Governor, following his own ideas about what the state needed, and accepting dictation from no clique.

            He was re-elected by an increased majority.

            Jewett Adams, who had been Lieutenant-Governor under Bradley, succeeded him as Governor, beating Enoch Strother over twelve hundred votes. In the following state campaign he was beaten by C. C. Stevenson.

            The next Governor was J. E. Jones, the first Silver Governor. His inaugural ball was "pulled off" at Carson City with great éclat. He died in office and Reinhold Sadler became acting Governor.

           Sadler ran on the Silver ticket as Governor and was elected by 22 majority, beating McMillan, who contested the election. After a long drawn contest which cost several thousand dollars, Sadler was seated.

            He was an eccentric man and spoke with a German accent. His peculiarities subjected him to considerable ridicule but it was generally admitted that he was one of the best business Governors the state ever had.

            He enforced the revenue laws and compelled the tax dodgers high and low to respect the obligations they owed the state.

            When there was an epidemic among the cattle of California he placed a quarantine on the California cattle and refused to allow any to be shipped through Nevada. Agents of the big beef interests called on him

POLITICAL HISTORY          437

and attempted to secure his signature to a document lifting the quarantine, but he was obdurate. They plied him with liquor, but the more he drank the more obstinate he became, and finally, when they offered him a bribe of $100,000 for his signature, he ordered them out of his office with an avalanche of Dutch profanity.

            He lost the nomination for the same office at the next convention, and ran for Congress on an independent ticket.

            He was before the people of the state in five separate campaigns, being a candidate for State Controller in '86 on the Democratic ticket, Lieutenant-Governor in '90 on the same ticket ; Lieutenant-Governor in '94 on the Silver ticket. This was his first success, beating Emmitt nearly 2,000 votes. He next was elected Governor on the Silver ticket and was defeated for Congress on the Stalwart-Silver ticket.

            John Sparks succeeded him as governor, going into office with over 1,700 majority.

            As the end of his term drew to a close Sparks announced that he would not again be a candidate. As a result James Sweeney, Attorney General, and Sam P. Davis, State Controller, both became candidates to succeed Sparks. Sweeney represented the Democratic, and Davis the Silver party.

            The two parties fused at the Reno Convention and it became apparent that the majority of the delegates desired Sparks to succeed himself. He was at Sacramento at the time judging the cattle exhibits at the State Fair. His friends wired him of the situation and he declined on the ground that he had pledged his word to Sweeney and Davis not to be a candidate.

            Davis promptly wired him that he would turn over all his delegates to Sparks if he would run, and within an hour Sweeney followed suit. Sparks arrived on the morning train and agreed to run if the convention was unanimous. Sweeney placed him in nomination on behalf of the Democrats and Davis seconded the nomination on behalf of the Silver party.

            Sweeney accepted the nomination for Supreme Judge. Davis declined the nomination for State Controller.

            Sparks swept the state and led the ticket with over 3,000 majority.

            During the last year of his administration labor troubles broke out in Goldfield. The I. W. W. organization, finding the camp one of the

438      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

richest producers in the state, entered it to repeat the tactics which had made them notorious in Cripple Creek.

            They compelled all classes of labor to affiliate with their order even down to the dance-hall girls.

            Men and women who refused to enter into such affiliation were ordered out of town with threats and intimidation.

            Some men were beaten almost to death and compelled to walk at night over a desert without food or water.

            The ore was so rich in some of the mines that miners working for four dollars a day were able to secrete from fifty to a hundred dollars worth of ore about their persons, One man staggered out of the hoisting works and fell back unable to carry the weight of ore in his clothes, and when he was relieved of the burden the value of the gold was over eight hundred dollars. Since the beginning of operations on the Comstock the miners had a changing room where they laid aside their mining clothes and walking a short distance resumed their street attire. An attempt was made to introduce the changing room in Goldfield as the only means of protecting the mine owners from the looting of their properties by the "high graders," as they were called. This resulted in a strike, the miners who were guilty of taking ore being the loudest to protest that the proposed change was "a reflection on their honor" and the changing room degrading to their manhood.

            For months there was almost a state of anarchy in Goldfield, and it culminated in the shooting down of a restaurant keeper in his own place of business, because he served meals to non-union men. This wanton killing resulted in the conviction of the principal and another as his accessory, and they were both sentenced to long terms in the penitentiary. The labor unions throughout the country made a strong effort to save the men indicted for the crime, but failed and the Socialists of the United States nominated Preston, the chief one accused, as a candidate for the Presidency. During these troubles Gov. Sparks was called upon to preserve order and sent a message to President Roosevelt. The fact that the local authorities were unable or unwilling to preserve order was notorious, but later the President, who had given his moral and executive support to Gov. Sparks, suddenly withdrew it and threw the blame on Sparks for asking for Federal troops when there was no necessity for such action.

POLITICAL HISTORY          439

            There had been a very strong friendship existing between Gov. Sparks and President Roosevelt, and the blow from Washington was a severe one to Sparks. He felt, and justly so, that he had been sacrificed upon the altar of politics, as there was a presidential election coming on and the party leaders feared that the sending of Federal troops into Nevada at the time would be construed as an assault on labor.

            Sparks was a man who had a high regard for his personal honor, and extremely sensitive and the unexpected repudiation by the President, for whom he entertained a strong personal regard, was a humiliation. His death followed before the end of his term, and Denver S. Dickerson, the Lieutenant-Governor, became Acting-Governor.

            Dickerson's administration was marked with a great deal of executive ability and backbone. He made a fight against the low valuation of railroad property before the State Board of Assessors and effected a substantial raise. He was able and conscientious in the discharge of his executive duties and thoroughly honest in his convictions, but he lacked tact and made several highly undesirable appointments. He also antagonized the friends of his predecessor, Gov. Sparks. Being the logical candidate for the head of the ticket, he was nominated, but was unable to reconcile the different factions and was beaten by Tasker Oddie, who at the present writing is still the chief executive of the state.

            In Van Duzer's second run for Congress he was opposed by James A. Yerington and won by 224 votes. The fight was so close that it was for a long time in doubt. When it was finally decided the loser met his father H. M. Yerington on the street and announced that he was defeated. "It's pretty rough on me, but I have been defeated," H. M. Yerington replied, "Rough on you! What are you talking about? I've lost both my County Commissioners in Ormsby."

            George Bartlett succeeded Van Duzer and was elected two terms. He was elected on the Democratic ticket but in the contest between the Progressive Republicans and Speaker Cannon, Bartlett sided with the stand-pat Republicans. This caused a question to be raised as to the quality of his Democracy. In the election in the fall of 1912 he ran as a nonpartisan candidate for Supreme Judge. In this campaign he urged that the judiciary be taken out of politics, but was defeated by Patrick McCarran. In the election of 1910 E. E. Roberts was elected to Congress

440      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

over Charles Sprague of Goldfield. His majority was 2,378. In 1912 his majority over Clay Tallman was less than 50.

            Ever since Nevada was a state, politics has been the pastime of a large number of its inhabitants. Owing to the fact that its population has been the smallest of any state in the Union, it has been easier to handle the voting population than elsewhere, and the prizes to be won with small effort has caused the field to be an inviting one.

            The U. S. Senatorship has been regarded as the capital prize in the lottery of politics, and the charge of non-residence has been frequently raised. California has played an important part in furnishing Senators, and the Palace Hotel for years was the headquarters for political conferences in which slates were made for the subsequent submission to the voters of Nevada. The second time Sharon ran he was challenged to name the place in Nevada which was his abiding place, and he failed to show it.

            Senator Jones maintained a princely residence at Santa Monica during most of his term of office.

            Stewart was imported from California to run a third time for the Senatorship, and Newlands came from California to Nevada for the express purpose of engaging in politics, first running for Congress and later for the Senatorship.

            George Nixon may fairly be regarded as the first bona fide resident of the state to be elected Senator, who maintained no residence outside the state, and who lived and died and invested his capital where he made it. Fair was a resident of the state, but his capital was largely invested in San Francisco.

            Of the big politicians who fought in the arena for the honors of the game, Stewart was regarded as the best all round campaigner of the lot. He was a man of tireless energy and resourceful brain and knew every trick and turn in the art of political warfare.

            Once embarked in a fight it was to the finish and to win. His physical energy was that of a Roman gladiator, and when on the wing week after week with frequently not more than two hours sleep a night, he seemed as fresh as a lark at the end of the fight. His store of reserve vitality seemed practically inexhaustible and his staying qualities the wonder of all observers. With Stewart in a fight it was a case of "Night on the Numidian desert and all the lions up."

POLITICAL HISTORY          441

BOSSES.

            A chapter on Nevada politics would be incomplete without some mention of the various political bosses who have directed the trend of political parties in the state at various times.      

           Unquestionably the chief of them all was Charles Wallace, better known as "Black Wallace," a title he earned by being known as an absolutely "black Republican," He was peerless in his ability to handle men and measures, and his skill as a political organizer and lobbyist gave him a coastwise reputation. He first did politics in Eureka county, where for many years he held the office of Assessor. Later he became the recognized political agent of the Southern Pacific R. R. Co., and handled all their political business in the state.

            He was smooth and diplomatic when the occasion called for such tactics, and a rough and ready fighter when cornered, and he was seldom cornered. His chief personal asset was unwavering fidelity to his word, which once passed, was as good as any United States Government bond anywhere in Nevada. He made it a practice never to lose a fight and he led some of the sorriest looking battles to ultimate victory. He knew every twist and turn of the political game, and some of the men who entered the lists against him retired in a short season to realize that they had yet the alphabet of politics to learn. Legislatures, Central Committees and State Conventions were mere pieces on his political chess board. His rule finally became so absolute that delegates to state conventions waited for him to say what he wanted, and when his word went down the line it came as the general order of a military commander to his troops.

            He enjoyed the confidence of all classes, and while he sometimes allowed his personal prejudices to influence him in the selection of a ticket, he generally settled upon representative men for party honors, and his activities in the field of politics were usually in the direction of financial economy and good government in the administration of state affairs. He died of heart disease while riding in a stage coach a few miles from Grass Valley, Cal. Since his death no man has ever been found who has proven his equal as a political manipulator.

            Among other politicians who gained distinction in the sagebrush years ago, may be mentioned Matt Cannavan, George Cassidy, Jewett Adams,

442      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

Louis Wardell, James Haines, A. C. Cleveland, C. C. Powning, Charles Stoddard, Adolph Shane and others.

            Two instances may be quoted to show Cannavan's sagacity. It was his habit to run the Democratic primaries of Storey his own way, and Senator Brumsey formulated a new primary law and passed the bill in the Legislature. It was framed to prevent Cannavan from practically appointing all three judges of election. It provided that the majority of a County Central Committee should appoint two of the judges and the minority to select one. The first meeting of the Story Central Committee after the new law was in operation found Cannavan in the chair. Brumsey called his attention to the new law and Cannavan read it all through with the air of a man who had seen it for the first time.

            He said he was willing to abide by the law, as it seemed to be a very fair one. The first vote was something of a surprise to Brumsey. The Committee consisted of seven, and the vote stood four to three for the judges named by Cannavan. Brumsey had expected it would be six to one, he being the solitary one.

            The three who had voted against Cannavan's judges then proceeded under the law to select a third. When the vote was taken another judge of Cannavan's choice was elected. On the first ballot two Cannavan men had gone into Brumsey's camp in order to become the majority of the minority. Brumsey left the room satisfied that old Matt was too much of a practical politician for him.

            On another occasion Cannavan framed a bill to present to the Legislature, which, if passed, would compel the stock brokers of the Comstock to pay a quarterly license. The brokers raised a purse of $5,000 and gave it to Peter Burke, a lobbyist to beat the bill.

            When Burke reached Carson he was lured into a resort and soon put to bed badly intoxicated. Cannavan soon had his clothes in his possession and securing the $5,000 in currency, took the numbers of every bill and marked them all with a little red cross on the knee of the Goddess of Liberty. He returned the wallet to Burke's clothes and next morning, meeting Burke on the street, told him that there was a plot to land him and several other people in the penitentiary by tracing marked money which he had to buy votes in the Legislature.

            Burke scoffed the idea, but Cannavan offered to bet him that he could tell the number of every bill in his pocket. He demonstrated this to Burke

POLITICAL HISTORY.         443

and then called his attention to the red cross that was there on every one to trace the currency. Burke, thoroughly frightened, went back to Virginia City, and hurling the bills at the brokers, denounced them for their supposed attempt to land him in the State's Prison. Before they could recover from the setback Cannavan had passed his bill and it became a law.   

            He was once a candidate for Governor on the Democratic ticket, but was beaten by Jewett Adams at the Eureka convention. Matt bought all the champagne in Eureka that night ratifying his opponent's victory.

            Before coming to Nevada he ran against Pat Crowley in San Francisco for the office of Chief of Police. They were both fast friends and being about the most popular men in San Francisco at the time, their adherents took such an interest in the fight that the presidential campaign was practically lost sight of.

            Both men were kept busy keeping their followers from practicing the various forms of chicanery then so prevalent in San Francisco.

            Both were fair men and both tried their best to have a square election. This, however, was practically impossible. Crowley won, but he insisted on Cannavan taking the office on the ground that he (Crowley) was fraudulently counted in. Cannavan refused, insisting that Crowley's majority was honestly reached and that his own men had stuffed the ballot box, tampered with the returns and voted hundreds who had only been in town over night. The two men actually got into a wrangle, each trying to prove that his opponent was fairly elected.

            Crowley finally took the office and was the most efficient as well as honest Chief of Police the city ever had.

            Cannavan owned the New York mine and was the first man in the state to give a ball in the lower levels. He fitted up a ball room a thousand feet under ground, and it was a society event, the crème de la crème of the Comstock being invited. The heat, however, became so intolerable that the gentlemen shed their coats and vests and the ladies had to be taken out in the cooling chambers. The affair finally wound up in the hoisting works above ground and lasted until daylight.

            A. C. Cleveland of White Pine County, began his political career in California. He was a political agent for the Southern Pacific R. R. for many years and was finally sent to the Legislature to represent Nevada County.

444      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

Somewhat to the astonishment of the R. R. Co., he was found supporting some very drastic anti-Railroad Bills. He was sent for by the railroad people, who demanded to know what he meant by his course, and bluntly stated that as their political agent, working on a salary, he was a railroad man, but representing the people of his county, elected by anti-railroad votes, he was in an entirely different position. This ended the conference and the railroad people knew Cleveland too well to waste any further time parleying with him, He stood by his constituents through the session and went home with the respect of both parties.

            Coming to Nevada he became a leading factor in politics and was regarded as one of the shrewdest manipulators in the state. On one occasion, as a delegate to a Republican convention at Winnemucca, he placed a candidate into a fight which deadlocked the convention two days. In the interest of party harmony he was asked to withdraw his man, but he was obdurate and only consented finally to do so after securing thirty votes to use as he pleased and the promise in writing from the Storey delegation that they would run his candidate for State Treasurer in the next campaign. He withdrew his man and used the thirty votes to nominate his choice for Supreme Judge. It was not until some time after the adjournment of the convention that the discovery was made that Cleveland's candidate had been dead nearly twenty years.

            Charles Stoddard was always a familiar figure about a State Convention, and lobbying was also one of his accomplishments. He once took a contract to pass a bill in the Legislature for a San Francisco firm. It was an act to refund some worthless county bonds and the bill if passed would put about $200,000 into the pockets of the bondholders.

            Stoddard was to receive $5,000 for his work, and was also allowed the same amount for "contingent expenses" which was supposed to cover whatever amounts of money members of the Legislature might ask of Stoddard for looking favorably on the measure.

            It was passed, but when Stoddard went to headquarters to get the $10,000 they handed him $5,000 for his services, but said they would not advance the other $5,000, as they did not care to be mixed up in anything that might look like corrupting the Legislature.

            Stoddard pitched the $5,000 back across the table, remarking that his word to members was his only stock in trade, and unless he kept it inviolate he would have to go out of business.

POLITICAL HISTORY          445

            After leaving the conference he roused up old Gov. Bradley at midnight and stated his grievance. He said that if he could not deliver the money to the members if the bill became a law, it would ruin him, and the only way out of it was to veto the bill. He actually asked the Governor to veto it on the grounds that it was passed by gross bribery and corruption. The Governor remarked that "those Frisco chaps must be pretty ornery people," and promised to veto the bill. Next morning his sizzling veto message electrified the Legislature, and the San Francisco bond manipulators went home impressed with the idea that fair play was a jewel in Nevada politics.

            One of the longest dead-locks in a political convention was at Carson City, when the Republicans were in session several days over the nomination of a Supreme Judge, Beatty, Sabin and Hawley were the opposing candidates. Charles Varian, a Reno attorney, and an exceptionally shrewd politician, was handling Beatty's fight.

            He had a trusted man voting each time with the Hawley and Sabin factions, and on the second day of the dead-lock each faction caucused. The Sabin and Hawley factions made a combination and agreed that if the third ballot after recess showed no change, the Sabin delegates were to go in a body to Hawley. On the second ballot Varian caused three of his men to vote for Sabin. Scenting victory, the Sabin men did not "deliver the goods" as agreed to the Hawley people on the next ballot. This failure to keep faith proved their undoing, for the Hawley faction revenged themselves by casting their entire strength for Beatty, thereby giving him the nomination.

            For years one of the oddest figures in the political life of Nevada was Morris Pinshower of Virginia City. In 1868 he announced himself a candidate for Sheriff of Storey County. The contest for this office had always been regarded as the bloody angle of the fight in that county, and a nominee to have any chance at all had to be a member of the Miners' Union. Pinshower came out boldly as an independent candidate, announcing that he was the only true friend of the miners and was also solid with property owners.

            Pinshower appears to have been the originator of strenuous campaigning in Nevada. He purchased a big raw-boned horse and it is claimed that the two neither ate nor slept during the two months that Pinshower devoted to his campaign. He suddenly became the most

446      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

ubiquitous person on the Ledge. He was charging up and down between Virginia City and Gold Hill buttonholing voters, distributing circulars and sizzling campaign literature and making a dozen speeches daily. He wrote signed articles for the newspapers and when the halls were all engaged he launched his oratory from the tops of dry goods boxes. No such persistent campaigning had ever been witnessed in Nevada, and his work attracted attention and drew crowds. On election day he hired men to watch the voting to see that he got fair play and had his representatives also in the polling places to watch the count. The fact that he received less than a dozen votes did not in the least dampen his ardor to participate in politics.

            The question of bringing water into Virginia City was being agitated, and the delay in selecting a site was Pinshower's opportunity. He announced that he would form an independent water company, and called on the public to subscribe for stock.

            He then disappeared for a season and, returning in about a month, announced that he had located sufficient water to supply every inhabitant of the Comstock with 1,000 gallons a day. This announcement caused quite a flurry until it was ascertained that his water locations were all for water supplies several hundreds of feet below the Comstock,

            When this fact was demonstrated to him he packed his grip and rushing off again returned with the glad tidings that he had located Mono Lake. This body of water is located about 150 miles from the Comstock and so impregnated with alkali and other minerals that animals will die of thirst before they will attempt to drink it.

            The fight between Adolph Sutro and William Sharon over the tunnel project had the floor about that time, and Pinshower threw his talents and energies into the breech and became a political coadjutor of Sutro.

            He returned to his dry goods box oratory and night after night enlivened C street by hurling invectives at Sharon and fighting the proposed V. & T. Railroad. He carried the fight to San Francisco, and assaulted corporate iniquity in its very stronghold. Making no special impression in San Francisco, by reason of the general competition of crank politicians, he migrated to Washington and attempted seriously to regulate national affairs.

            Congressman Daggett is authority for the statement that the poor fellow could be seen standing on the steps of the National capitol every

POLITICAL HISTORY          447

day for years stopping the members as they passed in, telling them what the country expected of them and exhorting them to do their duty by their constituents.

            After many years of fruitless endeavor he gave up the task of regulating the affairs of the country, and starting a tailor shop, spent his declining years in mending and renovating clothes. After that all he asked of Congress was its patronage.

            In the early days men made a regular business of handling or pretending to handle the votes of various nationalities.

            Before the adoption of the Australian ballot in Nevada, each party had a separate ticket, and it was an easy matter to hand a man a ticket and see that he voted it.

            A man in Eureka claimed to be able to handle the vote of a certain nationality and demanded pay of the political bosses for his work.

            It was suspected that he merely pocketed the money and never delivered any votes, and accordingly he was, on the night before election, given a thousand dollars in counterfeit money and told to see that his countrymen were properly taken care of. He disappeared next day and inside of a week was arrested in San Francisco on the charge of passing counterfeit money. He had over $900 of this Eureka money on his person when taken into custody and spent a term in the State's Prison as an aftermath of his political activities.

            John Snow was a noted political character of the Comstock and for years no political convention was considered complete without him.

            On one occasion, after the Democrats had completed a particularly strong ticket, it was proposed to ratify the work of the convention with a barbecue on a date which happened to fall on Friday.

            Snow was on his feet at once.

            "Mr. Chairman, I move to make it a fish barbecue, as the heft of the Democratic party eat no meat on Friday."

            The shout of laughter that greeted Snow could be heard for blocks.

            In the palmy days of the Comstock there was always more or less rough work connected with politics. A primary election was frequently an affair with all the elements of a riot. Roughs were hired "to preserve order," and other roughs and heelers engaged to keep the other side orderly. Money flowed like water on those occasions and what was

448      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

usually designated as the "graveyard vote" was called into requisition by both sides.

            It was thought nothing amiss to resurrect the dead and vote them by the wholesale. So long as the memory of the departed was respected by not voting him, except in proper alignment with the party with which he affiliated in his lifetime, the ethics and traditions were considered as having in no way been violated. Hon. William Sharon was accorded the credit of having first invaded the cemetery for primary votes, but he had no patent on the method, and the practice was in full force and effect years after his death.

            During one of Senator Jones' campaigns, a rough from San Francisco called on the Senator at his Gold Hill residence and signified his willingness to hire out as a fighter for $10 a day. Jones stated that he was looking for just such a man and the price seemed reasonable. He then stated to the new comer that he had a man in the next room whom he kept in constant readiness to test applicants.

            "If you fight him to a draw you go on at fifty a day, and if you lick him you take his place at a hundred a day. Step right in."

            Ushering he newcomer into the next room, he introduced him to the "trier out" who at once began removing his superfluous clothes.

            The San Francisco applicant looked the man over and, turning to Jones, queried : "Is this man a friend of yours, Senator ?"

            "Yes, one of long standing,"

            "In that case I decline to lick him. I will never have it said of me that I ever deliberately did violence to a friend of John P, Jones," and with these words he grabbed his hat and made for the road.

            During Stuart's last campaign he had some difficulty with the local band in Carson and secured a hand of excellent musicians from the Stewart Institute, a training school for Indians on the outskirt of Carson. They appeared at the meeting and the leader asked the master of ceremonies what music they wanted. He was told that anything that they were well accustomed to playing would be all right and they treated the audience to the lugubrious music of "The Dead March" from Saul. It threw the audience into convulsions of merriment and spoiled the evening for the speaker.

            It is related of John P. Jones that when he was last elected Senator he gave a banquet at a local hotel in Carson City. The spread was on the

POLITICAL HISTORY          449

usual scale of such affairs and in a few days a bill of $2,500 was rendered. Jones considered the bill as somewhat exorbitant regarding $600 as about the correct figure. When he paid it he remarked to the landlord that he thought it the best service for the money he had ever met with in all his senatorial experience. He also incidentally gave a quiet tip to buy Crown Point. The unsuspecting Boniface fell into the trap and inside of thirty days Jones had the $2,500 back in his vest pocket.

            Jones was one of the quickest thinkers in all the west, He never was cornered in anything where he did not have an answer ready.

            In the early days of Placerville he was arranging to attend a ball and found that he had no "boiled shirt." It was but the matter of a few minutes to rummage among the effects of a neighbor's cabin to "lift" the necessary piece of wearing apparel.

            Later in the evening the owner trailed Jones to a saloon and accused him of stealing the shirt. Jones denied the charge and the owner, whose name was Jim Ownes, offered to bet $40 that his name was on the tag at the bottom of the shirt front. Jones immediately put up the money to cover the bet and opening his vest read off the owners name from the tag as follows: "J-O-W-E-N-S. That's the way I spell my name Sir," and pushing the forty dollars across the bar invited all hands to drink.

           When he had plenty of money after the unearthing of the Crown Point bonanzas he had a weakness for investing in patents. Anything that was patented from a clothes wringer to a car coupler would find an investor in Jones.

            One afternoon a queer looking specimen called to interest the Senator in a scheme to revolutionize the manufacture of butter. First ascertaining that Jones knew absolutely nothing of butter-making, he told him that the best results ever obtained was not over 4 per cent. of butter from each 100 pounds of milk. He claimed to have a patent that covered a process which extracted 95 per cent. "I will bring my machine here this evening and you have a hundred pounds of new milk ready and I will show you results."

            Jones had the milk ready at the appointed hour and the stranger brought his new principle churn. The milk was poured in one end of the machine and after a few turns of the crank over 80 pounds of perfect butter tumbled out of the other. It was weighed and tipped the scale at 82 pounds,

40        THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

            The stranger looked disappointed and thoroughly crestfallen.

            "I find my machine isn't working very well tonight. I suppose you won't want to do business after such a poor showing." And the man began gathering up his traps as he moved toward the door.

           Jones grabbed him and wanted to see his patent papers. He had a patent for some improvement in butter making and Jones grabbed the opportunity to secure it. He drew a check for $200.00 and closed the deal.

            Next day he confided to his brother Sam that he had purchased an invention that would give him control of the butter markets of the world. Sam was skeptical. John P. got 100 pounds of milk and passed it through the machine. It passed through very easily into a receptacle all ready to receive it, but no butter materialized.

            "You have been duped," said Sam. "Stop the check and have the rascal arrested."

            "Oh let it go," was the reply. "It's only a small matter financially and I don't want the public to know what a d— fool I have been. Then again mebbey the fellow needs the money worse than I do."

           Jones was in the midst of a Senatorial campaign and the opposition would have extracted a great deal of amusement out of such a situation.

            Tom Fitch was the greatest orator the State ever produced. He had a fine presence and magnificent delivery and could woo the English language as no one else could.

            His invective cut to the bone, and his praise was like scattering showers of pearls. In one of Sharon's campaigns Fitch called at the bank and asked for the loan of $10,000.

            "Any security ?" queried Sharon.

            Fitch reached into the inside pocket of his coat and drew out a formidable piece of manuscript which he tossed over to Sharon.

            It was a crushing arraignment of Sharon's course on the Comstock. Every sentence was the swing of a club.

            "Guess the security is all right Tom," said Sharon, and calling the cashier he directed him to fix up a check for the amount payable to Fitch. After Fitch received the check he pulled out another manuscript and remarked that he needed another loan of the same amount. He pushed the manuscript over to Sharon. It was a studied eulogy of Sharon. It painted him as a deliverer of the country, the guiding spirit

POLITICAL HISTORY          451

of the State and the peer of Julius Caesar. Sharon liked nothing better than flattery and none knew of his weakness better than Fitch. The second check was paid with an agreement that Fitch should deliver the eulogy on the following evening at the Opera House, which he did with great unction.

           On one occasion when Fitch was a candidate for Congress before a convention which assembled at Carson he was beaten after a long fight for the nomination. After the vote was announced Fitch rose in his seat and remarked, "Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention. I feel like a scriptural gentleman named Lazarus. I have been licked by dogs."

            Fitch, during his varied political career, strove on many occasions to reach the United States Senate. He was an avowed candidate in Nevada, California, Utah and the Hawaiian Islands, and invariably fell a few votes short of the prize. The stars seemed never exactly propitious for his success and his interesting explanations of how he come to be beaten would make marketable literature.

           In one of his campaigns he was bitterly assailed by the Enterprise at a time when Joseph T. Goodman was the owner and editor. Goodman did not write the article and when he saw it in the proof he expostulated with the staff who had formulated it as a sort of joint production.

            Goodman said that if Fitch had any manhood in him such an article would mean a challenge. The staff admitted that, but said they would take care of any challenge that Fitch might send. In spite of Goodman's warnings the article appeared and the challenge came from Fitch before the writers had reached their breakfast. When the challenge reached the office the fire eating writers who had insisted on the publication were in no hurry to respond.

            "Of course Joe you are really the responsible editor and owner of the paper you know," was the way they passed the matter up to Goodman.

            "I deserve to be challenged for not having squelched that article," was Goodman's response, and he accepted it at once.

            Seconds were chosen to arrange preliminaries and swords were chosen as the weapons, A French restaurant keeper named Chaval was a very expert swordsman and Goodman applied to him for instructions in the art of using the foils. He declined an offer of $500 for a course of lessons unless he could also teach Fitch declaring that to instruct one

452      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

man and not the other would be equivalent to being accessory to murder.

            The principals finally settled on revolvers at 20 paces, and in the midst of the preparations the friends of both men placed them under $10,000 bonds to keep the peace.

            This was regarded as a happy settlement of the difficulty, but the men who went on the bonds apparently did not know the characters of the men they were striving to protect and whose lives they were endeavoring to save.

            Goodman paid his bondsmen $10,000 in cash to indemnify them, and notified Fitch of his action. Fitch began to rustle for money and had some difficulty in raising it. Inside the week, however, he negotiated the amount and notified Goodman that his money was up and he was ready for the battle.

            The affair was "pulled off" at Bower's Mansion at six in the morning, and every vehicle that could be pressed into service on the Comstock was there. Some of the spectators walked and when the men took their places bets began to be offered and taken as to who would come out alive, who would draw first blood, etc., etc.

            Just before the seconds were ready to give the word Goodman stepped over to Fitch's second and asked him if his principal was a good shot.

            "Would have to be inside of a barn to hit it," was the reply.

            "Then I'll hit his left knee and let it go at that," was the response.

            At the first fire Fitch dropped with a bullet just above his left knee. Goodman was unharmed and stepping over to his prostrate antagonist lifted him to his feet and asked leave to apologize for the article which he did not write. The men shook hands and left the field of honor together.

            The wound was not serious and the two, now fully reconciled, spent the next six weeks at Lake Tahoe camping out and occupying, the same tent.

            Of such was the indomitable metal that men were made of in those days. The duel caused the next Legislature to incorporate a clause in the Constitution depriving citizens of the right to hold office who sent or accepted a challenge to a duel, and the same is incorporated in the oath each officer has to take today.

            At the present writing Nevada is represented in the United States Senate by Francis G. Newlands and Key Pittman.

POLITICAL HISTORY          453

            After the assembling of Congress in March, Newlands took issue with President Wilson over the tariff schedule. The fight was mainly over placing beef, wool and sugar on the free list. Newlands talked for a gradual reduction, and fought the proposition of free listing these products.

            He was first publicly called to account by Sam Balford of Ely, who, in a letter to the Reno Journal, denounced his stand as a repudiation of Democratic principles and platforms.

            The result was that for a time the Nevada delegation was bombarded with telegrams and letters on the question. Many leading State Democrats united in a telegram to the delegation calling upon them to support the President in the tariff fight. The Democratic papers took up the fight mainly for free sugar, beef and wool.

            Public opinion ran high and there was a wide variance of sentiment on the subject. The Senator had spoken against free sugar on the floor of the Senate, making a defense of the beet sugar industry at Fallon as a reason for his action, and then fell in line with his party after the caucus fight was over.

            After the adjournment of the Session the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified by Congress, which provided for the election of United States Senators by a popular vote.

            The present State law provides that the election of United States Senators shall be by a vote in the Legislature and it is held by Constitutional lawyers that before the election of a United States Senator can take place in this State it will be necessary to call an extra session for the purpose of amending the general election law.

HISTORY OF THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY IN NEVADA.

BY GEORGE SPRINGMEYER.

            Shortly after Col. Roosevelt, yielding to the letter of the seven Governors and the importunities of his friends, announced his candidacy for the 1912 Republican nomination for President, the Republican State Central Committee of Nevada was called to meet. The supposed purpose of the meeting was to arrange for the selection of delegates to the National Convention through the medium of a State Convention, in

454      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

accordance with long-established custom, but there developed a plan to immediately select and instruct the delegates without the formality of State Primaries or a State Convention. The friends of Col. Roosevelt—the embryo Progressives—objected so strenuously to the program that even the "old-liners" and federal office holders, who were much in evidence and who really directed the ostensible stand-pat leaders, became frightened, and it was decided not to perpetrate the iniquity.

            Following the avowed policy of Mr. Roosevelt, a proposition for preferential presidential primaries to determine the choice of Nevada Republicans was submitted by George Springmeyer. Unhappily, many of the members in sympathy with the plan became confused by devious parliamentary tactics, and, after perhaps the most stormy session in the history of Nevada politics, during which very bitter accusations and recriminations were made, presidential primaries were denied the people.

            The meeting had the effect of thoroughly frightening the old guard, despite the strangle hold it had held on the party for many years. Immediately a well-known railroad boss, whose fine hand had been shown at the Committee meeting, his petty henchmen and servitors, and, to the surprise of the uninitiated, practically all those holding federal positions, became active throughout the State. As it later developed, they purposed, by fair means or foul, to send a Nevada delegation pledged to Mr. Taft. The Roosevelt men, disorganized and without an announced leader, and asking only for the expression of the people at the primaries, made the mistake of resting on their oars. As the campaign developed, through an unfortunate misunderstanding, they were further handicapped by one who assumed to be manager and was utterly without the confidence of the people, The Roosevelt forces were short of funds, and, worse still, at least ninety per cent. of the money raised was not spent by the manager for campaign purposes. The result was that these forces were out-generaled by the machine at every turn. And the machine went far ; for once, the invisible government was visible in all its hideousness. Where it was obvious that the Roosevelt sentiment was overwhelming, as, for instance, in Esmeralda County, the County Committees, disregarding the plain mandates of the law for precinct primaries, appointed the delegates without giving the rank and file a chance to make the selections. Elsewhere, as in Reno and Carson, where they did not entirely control the County Committees, the machine men impressed into

POLITICAL HISTORY          455

service all classes of voters, regardless of political affiliations. The riffraff of politics were made use of in approved fashion. The railroad employees were allowed time off, and as the ballots were of different colors and many of the bosses watched at the polls, the men were really intimidated. The Taft supporters had automobiles and money; the opposition had none. Some of the federal office holders in Carson and Reno, and even postmasters in the smaller towns, were so perniciously active that at last the eyes of the people were opened, and the methods of the dominant forces were revealed in all their iniquity.

            Under the circumstances it was scarcely worth while for the Roosevelt delegates to attend the Fallon Convention held for the selection of national delegates. But the Roosevelt sentiment was so strong and the people were so insistent in their demands that the delegates did attend, and they made things hum while they could. Their determined fight for an uninstructed delegation was in vain. Although the system was without precedent in the history of Nevada, and although instructions had been denied in the previous campaign, the Taft leaders quickly and ruthlessly put through a resolution instructing for Taft, "first, last and all the time." Never had the machinery worked more smoothly ; never had the "steam-roller" been more perfectly oiled. The Roosevelt men were even denied the right of presenting their case, and the few who were allowed the right of speaking to the questions before the body were limited to two minutes.

            The travesty of the Fallon Convention made a profound impression upon the progressive wing of the party in Nevada. At last they realized what forces had for years been the power in the party, and they began to doubt that party names and party traditions were sacred things. The political scandals throughout the country deepened their feelings. They came to the verge of party revolt, and when the iniquitous larceny of a presidential nomination was perpetrated and a reactionary candidate on a stand-still platform was thrust upon the people, the storm broke. Everywhere in the State the liberal minded cast aside the Republican Party as they would a pair of old shoes that had outlived their usefulness. When the Big Bull Moose himself sounded the battle cry, there was an instantaneous response by Nevadans. Having some iron in their mold, they considered not that it might mean political oblivion for them.

            When the call for the Progressive National Convention was issued,

456      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

a petition was circulated in every county appointing delegates to attend its meeting. However, the manager of the primary campaign, who was not on the list, objected and called a State Convention for the same purpose. This convention was held in the Odd Fellows Hall in Reno on July 20, 1912, and was presided over by L. W. Haworth of Austin. The convention was attended by about a hundred delegates and proxies, representing every county but one, and was easily controlled by those opposed to the former manager, who was deposed, and heatedly renounced affiliation with the party. A permanent organization was effected, H. B. Lind of Goldfield being made State Chairman and F. N. Fletcher of Reno, Secretary of the State Central Committee. P. L. Flanigan of Reno, for twelve years Republican National Committeeman, was agreed upon for member of the National Committee. P. L. Flanigan and S. Summerfield of Reno, and George Springmeyer of Carson, the candidates named on the State petition, were elected delegates to the National Progressive Convention at Chicago on August 1, 1912, and Peter Anker of Lovelock, Dr. M. A. Robinson of Reno, and J. B. Kaufman of Yerington were chosen alternates. The convention adopted a clear and unequivocal platform of party principles, a platform free from time-worn platitudes and entirely new in kind.

            After the meeting of the National Convention, the work of organizing the new party in the State went rapidly on. The difficult task of forming County Committees and placing candidates in the field was substantially successful, for they were placed upon the ballot in all but two or three counties. The State Central Committee, aided by interested party workers, selected a full State ticket, nominated by a petition having almost five thousand signers. Thereupon arose an unexpected difficulty. The Secretary of State, a Democrat, declared his intention to certify the nominees as Independents instead of as Progressive Party nominees, which they were designated to be on the petition. Decades before, the older parties, and a few years before, the Socialist Party, had, by petition, been given party designations, and hence it was evident that the threatened action of the Secretary of State was intended to discriminate against and to discredit the new party. Mr. Summerfield and Mr. Springmeyer therefore quickly sued out a writ of prohibition in the Supreme. Court,

POLITICAL HISTORY          457

which at once decided the point in favor of the Progressive Party. The following were the Progressive candidates : For Presidential Electors, J. G. McCarthy of Ormsby, Charles M. Way of Churchill, and E. V. Hatch of Esmeralda; for United States Senator, Sardis Summerfield of Washoe; for Representative in Congress, George Springmeyer of Ormsby; for Justice of the Supreme Court, W. R. Thomas of Clark; for Regents of the State University, H. A. Comins of White Pine, Peter Anker of Humboldt, and L. W. Haworth of Lander. The party was without funds, and practically without newspaper support. Only two of its candidates made a campaign. But everywhere the herd fought savagely, albeit as courteously as the exigencies of a strenuous political war permitted. Had one or two of the men high in public life in the State, who privately espoused Mr. Roosevelt's cause, courageously and publicly announced their positions, the party might have carried the State, It is such men, always with their ears to the ground in order to gauge the public pulse, regardless of political justice, that the new party proposes to eliminate; the public grows weary of delicate men. Aided by a rousing open-air meeting in Reno, addressed by Col. Roosevelt, the Progressives managed to poll 5,700 votes for the head of the ticket and to come second to the Democratic Party, thus distancing the Republican Party almost two to one and badly defeating the long-established Socialist Party.

            Among well-known Nevadans, in addition to those already named, who are active in the Progressive Party, the following may be mentioned : Senators Mack of Douglas, Jones of Elko, Stickney of Lyon, Chapin of White Pine, and Gault of Washoe. Assemblymen Liddell of Lander and Wilson of Lyon. Professor Romanzo Adams of the University of Nevada. Professor Hunting of the Carson High School. Judge Averill of Tonopah. Alfred Chartz of Carson. William Easton of Austin. H. H. Springmeyer of Minden, and a large number of county officials. We are undaunted by tirades and serve notice that we propose to firmly establish the Progressive Party, regardless of sacrifice,

           "We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord."

THE SOCIALIST PARTY.

            The Socialist Party of Nevada was first recognized by the National organization by the issuance of a charter to the Nevada organization

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bearing date of July 13, 1908. At that time there were only seven locals in the State and a very small membership.

            The growth has been steady and at the time of the election in 1912 there were over 1,100 dues-paying members reported to the State office.

            The value of the propaganda work carried on by the State Secretaries, Harris, Miller and Taylor, was proven in the campaign of that year by the election of M. J. Scanlon to the Senate, I. F. Davis to the Assembly and various county and township officers to a total, including school officials, of 29. And an average vote of over 2,600.