USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
Preparations for the political conflict of the presidential year of 1884 began in February, when the republican state-central committee, as had been the custom in many previous campaigns, was called together for conference at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago. As is usual on such occasions, the leading men of the party throughout the State were invited to attend and participate in the proceedings by reporting the condition of the party in their several congressional districts. Candidates for the various offices to be filled were also invited, and given an opportunity to present their best side to these "heads of messes" and to feel the public pulse.
The state convention was called to meet at Peoria on April 16-an earlier date than ever before-and Col. Jas. A. Connolly, United-States district-attorney for the southern district, was selected to preside. Gov. Hamilton had been a candidate for the nomination for governor, under the mistaken idea that because the office fell to him as lieutenant-governor in conse- quence of the promotion of the governor to the senatorship and he had discharged its duties "faithfully and conscientiously,"*
* Extract from his public letter to the republicans of the State on withdrawing from the contest -"I have endeavored to discharge the grave duty of the office faithfully and conscientiously ever since. Under these circumstances, I thought in justice I ought to have one full term in the office unless the people were able to find some grave fault with my administration."-Davidson and Stuvé's "History of Illi- nois," 1004.
895
CONVENTIONS, 1884.
unless the people could find "some grave fault" with his admin- istration, he was entitled to an election to a full term. An office is a public trust freely bestowed by the people, and can not be claimed as a right by an incumbent who has been so fortunate as to fill it with general approval, let alone by one who can only lay claim to the negative qualification of not having committed grave faults. Perceiving that public senti- ment unmistakably tended in favor of another, he wisely with- drew from the contest. The favorite was ex-Gov. Oglesby, the veteran of 1864, who, although "his hair was silvered o'er and there was that in him which smacked of the age and salt- ness of time," possessed a spirit yet young and a vigor of intellect yet unimpaired. His nomination was made by accla- mation. General John C. Smith was the choice for lieutenant- governor, receiving 511 votes to 236 for Gen. John I. Rinaker, and 43 scattering. Henry D. Dement was renominated for secretary of state with but slight opposition. The candidates for treasurer were Jacob Gross of Cook, Frederick Becker of St. Clair, D. T. Littler of Sangamon, and Frederick Remann of Fayette. The contest was a close one, after the withdrawal of the others, between the two first named, resulting in the success of Gross by a vote of 425 to 338 for Becker. There was also an animated struggle over the nomination of attorney- general between James McCartney, the then incumbent, and Senator George Hunt, the latter carrying off the prize by the close vote of 421 to 352. Charles P. Swigert was renominated for auditor of public accounts by acclamation.
The enthusiastic choice of the convention for president was expressed in favor of Illinois' distinguished son, Gen. John A. Logan, and a nearly unanimous delegation in his favor was sent to the national convention .*
* At large: Shelby M. Cullom, John M. Hamilton, Burton C. Cook, Clark E. Carr; Ist district, J. L. Woodward, Abner Taylor; 2d, W. H. Ruger, C. E. Piper; 3d, George R. Davis, J. R. Wheeler; 4th, Samuel B. Raymond, L. C. Collins, jr .; 5th, L. M. Kelley, Charles E. Fuller; 6th, Norman Lewis, O. C. Town; 7th, I. G. Baldwin, H. T. Noble; 8th, R. W. Willett, A. J. Bell; 9th, S. T. Rogers, Thomas Vennum; 10th, W. W. Wright, R. H. Whiting; 11th, C. V. Chandler, C. A. Ballard; 12th, A. C. Matthews, William W. Berry; 13th, Dr. Wm. Jayne, D. C. Smith; 14th, Jos. W. Fifer, George K. Ingham; 15th, Charles G. Eckhart, L. S. Wilson; 16th, Charles Churchill, Harrison Black; 17th, John I. Rinaker, J. M. Truett; 18th, R. A. Halbert, H. Reuter; 19th, Thomas S. Ridgway, C. T. Strattan; 20th, T. M. Simpson. W. McAdams.
896
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
The platform contained several new planks, as follows: in favor of a readjustment of the revenue law; and of a revision of the criminal code; the duty of state and national legislators to enact laws in the interest and for the protection of labor; favoring laws to promote the fidelity and efficiency of the civil service.
The republican national convention met at Chicago, June 3, 1884. James G. Blaine was nominated for president on the fourth ballot, and John Alexander Logan for vice-president by a unanimous vote .*
The democratic state-convention met at Peoria on July 2. Judge Monroe C. Crawford was selected as the permanent president, and William J. Mize, secretary.
Upon the presentation of the platform, a heated discussion was precipitated by Carter H. Harrison on the question of instructing the delegates to the national convention to vote as a unit in favor of a tariff for revenue only, which he moved to strike out. The debate was continued amid great confusion and excitement by Gen. Palmer, Col. W. R. Morrison, opposing the motion, and others. The motion to strike out the instruc- tions was carried by a vote of 753 to 623.
Carter H. Harrison was nominated for governor and Henry Seiter for lieutenant-governor by general consent. The other nominees were as follows: Michael J. Dougherty for secretary of state, Alfred Orendorf for treasurer; Walter E. Carlin for auditor, and Robert L. Mckinlay for attorney general.
The platform contained strong resolutions against the tariff, all sumptuary legislation, and the republican party, and in favor of the rights of labor, wage-workers, honest money, and home rule.+
* Ballotings for republican candidate for president, 1884:
BALLOT
BLAINE
ARTHUR
EDMUNDS
LOGAN
SHERMAN
SCATTR'G
Ist,
33472
278
93
631/2
30
18
2d,
349
276
85
61
28
19
3d,
375
274
69
53
25
23
4th,
541
297
41
7
-
17
+ The delegates appointed to the national convention were, as follows: at large, John M. Palmer, William R. Morrison, John C. Black, Lambert Tree; Ist district, Joseph C. Mackin, W. C. Seipp; 2d, E. F. Cullerton, J. H. Hildreth; 3d, Carter H. Harrison, Christian Casselman; 4th, Harry Reubens, Frederick H. Winston; 5th, J. F. Glidden, G. W. Renwick; 6th, T. J. Shehan, F. H. Marsh; 7th, C. H.
897
RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1884.
The nominees of the greenback party were, as follows: for governor, Jesse Harper; lieutenant - governor, A. C. Vander- water; secretary of state, H. E. Baldwin; treasurer, Benjamin W. Goodhue; auditor, E. F. Reeves; attorney-general, John N. Gwin. Their convention was held at Springfield in July.
The prohibition state-convention was held again at Bloom- ington, June 18, and nominated the following ticket: for gov- ernor, J. B. Hobbs; lieutenant-governor, James L. Perryman; secretary of state, C. W. Enos; treasurer, Uriah Copp; auditor, A. B. Irwin; attorney-general, Hale Johnson.
The democratic national convention met, also at Chicago, July 10, Gov. Grover Cleveland of New York was nominated for president on the second ballot, and ex-Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana for vice-president.
The nominees of the "greenback national" party at their convention held at Indianapolis, May 28, were Gen. Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts for president, and Gen. A. M. West of Mississippi for vice-president.
The "prohibition, home protection" party nominated its ticket at Pittsburg, July 23, as follows: for president, John P. St. John of Kansas, and for vice-president William Daniel of Maryland.
The national battle-ground in 1884, as it had been in 1880, was New York, where the contest was so evenly waged that for two weeks after the election the result was still in doubt, both parties claiming success. The official count, however, gave the state to Cleveland by the small plurality of 1047 votes; and for the first time in twenty-eight years, the democrats succeeded in electing their candidate for president.
In Illinois, the returns showed the following result:
For the Blaine electors, 337,469 Cleveland electors, 312,35I
For St. John, 12,074 Butler, - 10,776
McCouthre, Sherwood Dixon; 8th, A. J. O'Connor, J. R. S. Scoville; 9th, Andrew Kerr, W. R. Dunn; Ioth, S. P. Shope, Strother Givens; 11th, B. T. Cable, John Hungate; 12th, Ellis Briggs, W. L. Vandeventer; 13, W. P. Callon, Benjamin Prettyman; 14th, A. E. Stevens, Charles A. Ewing; 15th, J B. Mann, William A. Day; 16th, W. B. Parsons, J. H. Hawley; 17th, Anthony Thornton, Jesse J. Phillips; 18th. William H. Kane, Douglas Haile; 19th, Charles E. McDowell, W. A. J. Sparks; 20th, William J. Allen, William H. Green.
1
898
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
On state officers, it was as follows:
§ Oglesby, 334,234
Hobbs, 10,905
Governor, - { Harrison, 319,635
Harper, 8,605
Secretary of State
( Dement, 338,240
Enos, 8,860
( Dougherty, 314,490
Baldwin,
10,219
Auditor, - § Swigert, 337,886
Irwin,
11,344
Carlin,
313,322
Reeves,
10,142
The figures for the other state-officers were about the same as those for auditor.
A new and important question was presented to Governor Hamilton growing out of the election of a senator in the sixth district of Cook County. The returns showed that Rudolph Brand received 6696 and Henry W. Leman 6686 votes, but the state board of canvassers reported to the governor that from the statements and affidavits presented with the returns, Leman in fact had received a majority of 390 votes; the board reported further that being in doubt as to who did receive the highest number of votes they declined to certify the election of either claimant.
Upon this state of facts, the governor took the ground that, under the circumstances, he had a right to go behind the returns, and becoming satisfied upon careful investigation that the original returns as made out were fraudulent, and that Leman had received a majority of the votes polled, he assumed the responsibility and issued to him the certificate of his election. And by this determined and unprecedented action, the governor thwarted that scheme, conceived after the election, when it was discovered that this one vote in the senate would secure a democratic majority in the legislature and the election of a democratic United-States senator in the place of Gen. Logan.
The action of the governor in thus converting a merely minis- terial act into a judicial enquiry was severely criticised at the time, but he was sustained by the legislature, by the press, and by the public generally .*
The message of Gov. Hamilton to the thirty-fourth general
* The perpetrators of the fraud were indicted and three of them convicted in the United-States district-court, and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of two years and to pay a fine of five thousand dollars. The case being removed to the United-States circuit-court, the defendants were admitted to bail, and upon the
899
ELECTION FRAUDS IN SIXTH DISTRICT.
assembly was an intelligent and business-like statement of the financial and institutional interests of the State. Of the old bonds which had been supposed lost or destroyed one for $500 had been presented for payment. It now amounted to $1145.
In view of the frauds in the sixth senatorial district, the governor recommended that the election law be amended so that election precincts should not contain more than 300 voters; and that the registry of voters be completed ten days before the election.
Owing to the failure of the house to organize, Gov. Oglesby was not sworn in until January 30, 1885. Soon afterward, ex- Gov. Hamilton removed to Chicago, where he now resides, practising his profession.
hearing, before Judges Harlan and Gresham, a divided opinion was certified to the supreme court of the United States. Joseph C. Mackin, one of the defendants, was subsequently tried, in the criminal court of Cook County, on a charge of perjury for swearing falsely as a witness in the case, and sent to the penitentiary for four years.
Another event of this period, the Haymarket riots of May 4, 1886, although local to Chicago in its immediate bearings, was of national importance. The communistic element in the city, confined mostly to foreigners, took advantage of the eight-hour labor strike of May 1, 1886, to precipitate the fearful catastrophe which had been long premeditated. It is impossible within the limits here pre- scribed to set forth the injurious extent to which this element of anarchy carried its defiance of law and order in their meetings and through their press.
At one of these meetings at the Haymarket, on the evening of May 4, every means to aggravate an already-excited populace was resorted to, including the circulation of hand-bills inciting the people "To arms! We call you to arms!" A great crowd assembled, which became frenzied with excitement, and when the police approached the wagon used for a stand, to order the people to disperse, a speaker said: "There are the bloodhounds coming; do your duty and I will do mine." As the police came up a bomb was thrown and exploded in their midst, followed by the sharp report of fire-arms. Seven policemen were killed and sixty wounded. The number of casualties among the rioters, certainly very large, has never been ascertained. August Spies, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Albert R. Parsons, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden, leaders of the mob, were arrested and tried for murder, and all found guilty; the four first named being hung, November 11, 1887; Lingg committed suicide, and the sentences of Schwab and Fielden were commuted to life-terms in the penitentiary.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Second Administration of Oglesby-Thirty-fourth General Assembly-The Logan-Morrison Contest for United- States Senate-Special Election in the Thirty-fourth District-Laws-Strikes-Conventions and Elections of 1886-Thirty-fifth General Assembly-Election of Farwell to the Senate, vice Logan deceased-Laws- Conventions and Elections of 1888.
T HE nomination and election of Gen. Oglesby to the office of governor for the third term, an interval of twenty years having elapsed between the first and last event, was a political triumph as creditable to the party to which he had been always steadfast as it was personally gratifying to him. Perhaps no other similar instance of gubernatorial preferment can be found in the history of the states. The record of his first term had been without a stain; his second term had scarcely begun when he was elected to the United-States senate, as a candidate for which office, during the interim between his second and third terms, he was twice defeated; and it was asserted in some quarters that the governor had been relegated to the category of "back numbers." But when the republican convention of 1884 was called, remembering the telling blows which he had dealt the opposition during previous campaigns, all eyes were turned toward the favorite of 1864, who had never disappointed their expectations .*
Gen. John Corson Smith, the lieutenant-governor elect, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., February 13, 1832. He became a resident of Illinois in 1854, and being a practical carpenter, suc- cessfully engaged in the business of a builder and contractor at Galena. He enlisted as a private in what was afterward known as Company I, 96th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers and was elected captain. Upon the organization of the regiment, he was chosen major and for gallant service on the staff of Gen.
* H. J. Caldwell was appointed the governor's private secretary, having acted in that capacity while he was senator.
900
GEO.M.BOGUE
L.C.COLLINS:
JOHN C.SMITH.
JOHN H. OBERLY
JOHN I.RINAKER
FERGUS PIG
901
THE THIRTY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
James B. Steedman at Chickamauga was promoted lieutenant- colonel. He commanded his regiment at the battles of Resaca and New Hope; and at Kenesaw, where he commanded a bri- gade, he was severely wounded. At the close of the war, he was brevetted a brigadier-general "for meritorious services."
After the war, Gen. Smith removed to Chicago and engaged in business on the board of trade. In 1877, he was appointed chief grain-inspector, and as has been shown, was elected state treasurer in 1878, and reëlected in 1882. In all of these posi- tions, as in that of lieutenant-governor, the general acquitted himself as a competent, obliging, and trustworthy officer, enjoy- ing the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
The campaign of 1884 showed some surprising features. The republicans carried the State by a small majority for their presidential ticket and for all the state officers except governor, Oglesby running considerably behind in Cook County. This fact may be explained by the circumstance that his opponent, Carter H. Harrison, through personal popularity and the opera- tion of local influences, succeeded in carrying that county by a majority of 103, although the same county gave Blaine a plurality of 8622 over Cleveland. Notwithstanding its suc- cess upon the state and presidential tickets, however, the party failed to secure a majority of the thirty-fourth general assem- bly, which was chosen at the same election.
The senate stood 26 republicans, 24 democrats, and one greenback-democrat. In the house, the two leading parties numbered 76 members each, with E. M. Haines calling himself an independent, holding the balance of power.
The new members of the senate were: Charles H. Crawford, Thos. A. Cantwell, and Henry W. Leman from Cook County; Ira R. Curtis, Mc Henry; Edward B. Sumner, Winnebago; James S. Cochran, Stephenson; Henry H. Evans, reelected, Kane; Hamilton K. Wheeler, Kankakee; George Torrence, reëlected, Livingston; Green P. Orendorff, Tazewell; August W. Berggren, reelected, Knox; Alson J. Streeter, Mercer; Andrew J. Bell, Peoria; Lafayette Funk, McLean; Martin B. Thompson, Champaign; Henry Van Sellar, to fill out the term of Geo. Hunt, resigned, Edgar; Wm. B. Galbraith, Coles; John M. Darnell, Schuyler; James W Johnson, Pike; David Gore,
902
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
Macoupin; Elizur Southworth, Montgomery; Wm. S. Foreman, Washington; Robley D. Adams, Wayne; Richard L. Organ, White; John J. Higgins, Perry; and George W. Hill, Jackson.
The following members of the house had served previously : Robert B. Kennedy, William H. Harper, Hilon A. Parker, John W. E. Thomas, John Humphrey, George G. Struckman, Clayton E. Crafts, Charles E. Fuller, E. M. Haines, Albert F. Brown, E. L. Cronkrite, P. A. Sundelius, Luther L. Hiatt, Andrew Welch, Albert G. Goodspeed, Henry C. Cleveland, Thomas Nowers, jr., Albert W. Boyden, S. H. West, William F. Calhoun, E. R. E. Kimbrough, John W. Moore, Benjamin F. Caldwell, Charles A. Keyes, George H. Varnell, Joseph B. Messick, and David T. Linegar. Among the new members, taking leading parts, may be mentioned the following: Abner Taylor, Thomas C. Mc Millan, Henry S. Boutell, Francis W. Parker, James Pollock, Frederick S. Baird, John Stewart, Henry C. Whittemore, William M. Hanna, Charles Bogardus, Robert E. Logan, Orrin P. Cooley, Clarence R. Gittings, James H. Miller, S. B. Kinsey, Ivory H. Pike, Virgil S. Ruby, Perry Logsdon, J. Henry Shaw, Frederick P. Taylor, James M. Dill, Samuel Mileham, William H. Collins, William H. Breckenridge, Byron McEvers, Theodore S. Chapman, Edward L. McDonald, Charles Kerr, William R. Prickett, and John Yost .*
The republicans organized the senate on the first day of the meeting of the general assembly, Jan. 7, 1885, by the election of William J. Campbell president pro tempore. The eminent fitness of Mr. Campbell for this position is evidenced by his elec- tion for a third term. Although born in Philadelphia in 1850, his father removed to Cook County in this State, when his son was but two years of age and there he has resided ever since. His attendance at the Chicago public schools was supplemented by two years study at the University of Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the bar in 1875, and is now among the leading members of his profession in Chicago. Mr. Campbell is not distinguished as a public speaker, but he possesses executive abilities of the highest order. His smooth and clean adminis- tration of affairs in the senate was the theme of just encomium on all sides. Lorenzo D. Watson was reelected secretary.
* A complete list of all the members will be found in the Legislative Record.
903
ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE.
The organization of the house was not so easily effected. The republican caucus nominated Charles E. Fuller of Boone for speaker, and the democratic, Edward L. Cronkrite of Stephenson. The candidates for temporary speaker were E. M. Haines and Joseph B. Messick of St. Clair, the former being elected on January 8. Other temporary officers, the democratic nominees, were elected on the same day.
The time of the house was occupied in preliminary motions -which were usually declared out of order by the speaker-in appeals from his decisions, and in calling the roll on motions to adjourn until January 21, when Haines resigned the chair. He was succeeded by E. L. Cronkrite, who occupied the position of temporary speaker until January 29, when the democrats find- ing it impossible to elect their own candidate, concluded once more to accept Haines as the lesser of two evils. The ballot stood 78 for Haines, who received the vote of his opponent and of E. A. Sittig, republican, of Cook; and 74 for Fuller; and one, Haines, for Cronkrite. The other permanent officers upon the democratic slate, including Robert A. D. Wilbanks as clerk, were also elected. The new state-officers were inaugurated on January 30.
The public interest taken in the work of the organization of the general assembly was intense. Yet it dwindled into insig- nificance in comparison with the excitation of feeling aroused by the subsequent contest over that far more important event, the election of a United-States senator, which was regarded as fraught with such momentous consequences as to lead to the perpetration of a grave crime with a view to controlling the result.
Had the conspiracy to seat Rudolph Brand as a member of the senate been successful, the election of a democrat as the successor of Gen. Logan would have followed with reasonable certainty, which event would probably have changed the politi- cal complexion of the United-States senate. The first part of the scheme had failed as hereinbefore related, but should Haines -who had just been chosen speaker by democratic votes-act with the party which had elevated him to that office, Logan's defeat was assured.
The choice of the democrats for senator, as shown in their
904
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
caucus was unmistakably Col. William R. Morrison, although his selection was not so unanimous as was that by the republi- cans of Gen. Logan. In the case of the latter, it was admitted that there were two or three representatives, whose preference was for somebody else; while the number of those of his fellow-democrats who would probably refuse to support Col. Morrison was still larger.
On February 10, the day fixed by law for the taking of the first ballot, no vote was had in the senate and but an informal one in the house. The contending parties did not meet face to face in joint-session until the 18th, when there were present 51 senators and 151 representatives, and the first complete ballot disclosed the following result: for Logan 101, Morrison 94, Haines 4, and 3 scattering-Logan lacking one vote of an elec- tion. On the 19th and 20th, every member of both houses was present and the balloting was continued with about the same results. These were the only days that both parties met in joint-session and voted during the months of February, March, and April. Sometimes one side, sometimes the other, sometimes both sides refrained from voting, the object being to break a quorum.
Had it entered the head of Speaker Haines, who was in- clined to take original and striking views, to rule as did Speaker Reed in the fifty-first congress, that the speaker had a right to count those as present who had been considered constructively absent because they refused to vote, a conclusion must inevitably have been reached long before it was.
To lend additional complications to the contest during its pendency, the seats of two members of the house and one senator became vacant by death. These events occurred in the following order: Robert E. Logan, republican, of the nine- teenth district, died February 26; Senator Frank M. Bridges, democrat, of the thirty - seventh district, March 20; and J. Henry Shaw, democrat, of the thirty-fourth district, April 13. Elections were called by the governor, and these vacancies filled as soon as possible-Dwight S. Spafford, republican, succeeded Logan; and Robert H. Davis, democrat, succeeded Bridges. It was the masterly capture of the thirty-fourth district, which had given Cleveland a plurality of 2060 votes, by the republi-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.