VOL.XXVII. DELAMATER. How He Captured Cambria County. CHAIRMAN ANDREWS' METHODS The Pltfsbnrgli "Chronicle Tel egraph " Hives the " Man of Victory " a Scathing—Boodle and Promises Played Their Part—The Way the Conven tion Was Packed Tor the Crawford Statesman—Some Party Secrets Made Public- Republican Political Meth ods In the County Laid Bare. Tuesday evening's Pittsburgh Chron icle 'Telegraph contains the lengthy, but interesting article given below : JOHNSTOWN, PA., March 24. " THE MAN OF VICTORY. " If ever there wan a man of victory, that person in Senator G. IP. I tela mater; he captures all hearts and jmsses on from sta tion to station, climbing higher and higher on each occasion . '' All eyes are note turned upon ue ; we are pouring ill review befoie the Republicans of Pennsylvania."—[From an editorial by Chairman Andrews in his Meadvllle Tribune-Republican, March 4, 1890.] How does the " man of victory " cap ture hearts ? What is the result of the passing in re view ? The county of Cambria was stolen by Chairman Andrews for Delamater. The political history of Pennsylvania contains no chapter more shameful. The audacity of the men who planned this cold blooded steal was nut accom panied by an equal shrewdness and care fulness. Thinking that the endorsement and support of Andrews would shield them, the men who stole Cambria and sold it to the State Chairman and his Standard Oil Company Gubernatorial candidate, threw prudence and caution to the winds. Several counties of this Commonwealth have ostensibly selected delegates to the State Convention in the interest of G. Wallace Delamater, of Meadville. Cambria is one of these counties, and the story of the methods employed in it by Andrews illuminates the dark spots in all them. Not a single legal vote mas cast in Cambria county at the January Re publican primaries, yet it rolled up 3.97G votes for Roger at the Fall election, two months previous. Fifty-four districts had representatives in the so-called "Convention" of Janu ary 27th, at Ebensburg. and 104 votes were recorded. Not a single man who was present had a right to vote. There was not a legally elected dele gate in the Convention. George T. Swank and Florentine Bar ker, who were selected as " delegates" to the State Convention and " instructed" to vote for U. Wallace Delamater, have no more right to a place in the Republican Convention which names the candidate for Governor, than two newsboys from the slums of New York. HOW TIIE STEAL WAS CLANKED. It was in September last that the plot to steal the county was born. Chairman Andrews visited Johnstown with H. K. Boyer, then a candidate for State Treas urer, and had a conference with several Cambria county officeholders and office seekers. Then lie visited Ebensburg and saw the postmaster, who hitherto has had some strength in the northern districts of the county. After this there were several conferences between Andrews and Dela mater on the one side and these Cambria men on the other. These meetings took place in Pittsburgh, in Blairsville, on the trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com pany and at other places where they were not likely to attract attentiou and arouse suspicion. The final conference to settle the dctais of the programme, to deliver the last in stallment of cash and to distribute prom ises of reward in the shape of Federal offices, was in Blairsville January 23d; two days before the time fixed for the primary elections. At this time George W. Delamater met Florentine Barker, Chairman of the Re publican Committee of Cambria county, Henry W. Storey and Henry D. Kinkesd, and the scheme was agreed upon and ac counts were settled up to date. No less a personage than Mr. Delamtcr himself is authority for this statement. The Cam bria politicians were too shrewd to go openly to a hotel and register. They held their meeting in a private residence where they could be free from survcill lance. Delamater went to Blairsville from JOHNSTOWN, CAMBRIA COUNTY. PA., FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1890. Pittsburgh. His brother tolil a genii e man that " George bad gone to Blairsville to see some fellows about the Cambria d< legation." Later this was recognized as a mistake, and the same gentleman was told that Andrews' candidate for Governor had nJt gone to Blairsville on a political mission, but had gone there to "see a sick rela tive." | After the meeting the Cumbria leaders i hurried home to carry out their bargain. These men had everything in readiness to hand the county over to Andrews a week before this, but they took care to impress Andrews and Delamaler with a belief that they had a difficult task. They did no belittle the undertaking, you may de pend on it, and although the price was run way up it was paid promptly. ANDREWS' ACCOMPLICES IN CAMBRIA. In order that the Andrews Delamater plot may be fully understood it is neces sary to soy a few words about the con spirators. Delamater was, Faust, Margaret was the poor, betrayed Republican party of Cambria, and Chairman Andrews was the Mepliistopheles who was the sngges tor of the crime. Two of them are too well known in those characters to need any description at this time. It is with the inferior satellites of Mepliistopheles that I will deal at present —agents of that tempter who for the nonce discards his wonted scarlet and ap peal's in blue—the familiar color which is a trade mark of the Standard Oil Company. George Thomas Swank is the editor and proprietor of the Johnstown Tribune, one of the newspapers always at the com mand of Andrews. Mr. Swank has power in the southern districts of Cambria he cause of his owning a newspaper. He is an active, shrewd, scheming politician with much influence. He was postmaster of Johnstown for twelve years. During the progress of the Andrews-Delamater plot lie was ill at home with the grip, and could only advise and counsel those who managed the matter in his absence. Swank's first lieutenant is Henry Wil son Storey, an attorney, who has been promised the Johnstown postoffice in Quay's name by Andrews and Delamater. Storey came to Cambria from Blairsville. While agent of the Pennsylvania Rail road Company at Kast Concmaugh he drifted into politics and managed Swank's affairs in that district. He wus, after thai, Burgess of Johnstown. In 18f9 he was a candidate for District Attorney and was beaten worse than any man on the Republican ticket in the county. He is a clever political worker, smooth, plausible and faithful to his superiors. Henry D. Kinkcad was born in Ebens burg, worked for Thomas Griffith, the lumberman, and became a politician in the northern districts. He was beaten for County Treasure, six years ago, and then came to Johnstown and worked in the Gautier Steel Works office. He was a Deputy Sheriff under Griffith, was beaten for Register and Recorder last fall, anil then was made Deputy Collector of Revenue for this part of Collector Warmcastle's district. He is the most nervy and active politician in the Repub lican party of Cambria. Florentine Barker, Chairman of the County Committee, is a son of A. A. Bar" ker, once a Congressman, who is a wealthy lumber merchant. The Chair, man has three brothers. Two of them, Valentine and Constantinc, look after the general store at Ebensburg, which is owned by the brothers; the other, Augus tine, is one of the leading men at the Cambria bar. He is a man of much force, a clever lawyer, a man of gentlemanly and schorlarly habits, popular even with the enemies of his brother and rarely takes a band in politics except, some times, when there is an important move on foot. Then he loads the ammunition which the others tire olf. Florentine is simply a politician with the selfishness of a self-made boss. He was once a can didate for Congressional nomination, but was defeated, tic was made postnnstcr at Ebensburg shortly before these pri maries. Thomas Davis is a lumber merchant. To distinguish him from the others of the same name lie is called Thomas Davis (Jackson) because he used to live in Jackson township and boasts that he owns it politically. Davis is a ring poli tician and is not too popular. He is cred ited with bfc traying the party more than once. In 1874, when Steel Blair was Re publican candidate for Congress against John Riley, Davis was for Blair up to a short time before the election. Then, for reasons known to himself, and to the writer, he gave earnest support to Riley and to him was due the election of a Dem ocrat in a strong Republican district. He has often been a candidate and was elected but once or twice. Samuel Davis, brother of Thomas, is the worker for him in Jackson and other townships. He has been deputy some thing or-other about the Court House as long back as people can remember. David Davis, another brother, runs Lower Yoder township, near Johnstown, and Tim R. Davis, also one of the brothers, looks after tilings in East Cone maugh. Edward James, of Ebensburg, waspost mas'er there for two terms, was a candi date for Legislature, hut was beat fen. al though his colleague, John M. Rose, was elected. Mr. James is a druggist in Eb ensburg ; is a pleasant, popular merchant, and his store is the lounging place of Republican politicians and the birth place of many small political schcmeß. Henry Slick, of Johnstown, a sewing machine agent and member of the County Committee, ulso did some of tiic work in the Johnstown wards. These were the'men in charge of the Androws-Delainater plot. In addititon to the men named who handled the Andrews-Delamater cash and promises, tiiere were some others wor hy of mention. On the 29th of January, in answer to the clamor of the people of the county and the indignant protests of the party iu the State at large, Swank's paper, the Trib une, published a two-column defense of the Delamater set up. It was the joint utterance ot the manipulators after con. ferencc and can be regafded as their offi cial reply. In alluding to the churge that Federal ollicliolders had run the conven tion, the Tribune said : " The Quay and Delamater men in stead of leaving "no stone unturned scarcely turned a stone to secure the re sult. It was not uccessary, the drift was all 'one way. The postofflces were not used ; we believe there were not three postmasters in the county in the conven tion and one of tbem was Peter Campbell, of Carrolltown, who introduced the Hast ings resolution." * * * THE OFFICEHOLDERS AND SEEKERS. This declaration was in keeping with the methods used, bold and false, fool ishly and easily shown to be absurd. Here is a partial list of those who have either hopes or the realization of them George T. Swank, candidate for Con gress. Henry VV. Storey, applicant for Post office at Johustown. Henry D. Kinkead, Deputy Collector Internal Revenue. Ed. James, candidate for Legislature. Among the delegates who were present at the convention were : Florentine Barker. Postmaster at Eb ensburg. D. B. Wilson, Postmaster in Ashville township. F. A. Thompson, Postmaster at Lilly. W. W. McAteer. Postmaster at Loretto. J. 11. Veil, who got Scalp Level Post office for his inother-in-law. Dr. J. C. Luke, Postmaster at South Fork. W. W. Empttcld, Postmaster at Belsano. John Wendroth, Postmaster in Croyle township. T. IL Davis, in business witli his son, Postmaster at East Coiicmaugh. J. A. Troxell, Postmaster at Portage. C. 11. Perry, Postmaster at Chest Springs. J. W. Hall, in Census Department at Washington. \V. P. Reese, Deputy Revenue Col cctor. Docs tins look as though '• the Post offices were not used ? " Does it 100 aas though there was no "stone-turning* and log rolling, too? Chairman Darker was busy with his correspondence the week before the con vention and wrote to men he could trus l in the northern and central dristicts, cither telling thera to come themselves as delegates or directing thera to send other persons whom he nnmcd. His watch word was •' silence and a sure thing." Tom Davis and his brother Samuel per sonally looked after their particular dis tricts. Harry Ivinkead ami 11. W. Storey at tended to t'-e Johnstown wards and the southern districts in a general way. On the day of the primaries, January 35th, there was not a word in the news or editorial column of Cambria county newspapers calling attention to the elec tion. The advertisement was in the Tribune it is true, but there was not the usual discussion of the merits of the can didates, no praise for Delamater and de mand that the party voters should turn out and insure the election of delegates favoring htm. The advertisement was purposely hidden and the primaries were held weeks before the regular time, al though even the Barkerites can give no reason for such action. No indeed ! Nothing was said or done to attract public attend >n. Such whole sale steals are not a success when heralded with brass brands. Chairman Barker knew that Ebensburg and the northern districts were safe, so he came to Johnstown early on the day of the primaries and remained until Monday. On Saturday he was active in a number of the wards, seeing that by no mischance the Republican voters got wind of the primaries and turned out to upset the plans of the ring. He par ticularly looked after the Second, Third, and Sixth wards of Johnstown. Swank being coufincd to his house could not superintend things, and this was why Barker came down into a field of opera tions usually managed by his ally. OFF TO BIIBXSBURO. On Sunday and Monday morning there was much to be done by Andrews' hench men. A large number of districts had not only held a pretense of an election, but there were no men on hand to go to the convention as delegates from these districts. This had to be remedied ami there was a busy time of it making out erendentials, sending messages to tell men they were to be delegates and drum ming up the laggards. Some men who had not even heard of the primaries or the proposed '* Conven tion " were given their credentials and railroad tickets Monday morning at the K-irne time that they were told of tin; Ebensburg meeting and that they were to attend it. This was the very cream of Andrews' county methods, locally ap plied. " Make it a full convention," he had told his leaders, "send men from as many districts as possible." " Do the tiling so it looks all right," had been tlie command of Delamater two days before at Bh irsville. A full convention it should be and a full one it was. Swank's Tribune in the editorial defense already quoted from, de clared : " The convention was remark able for several reasons : First, because of the unusual fuiiuess of representation, especially when it is remembered that there was no work to be done except electing delegates to the State Conven tion ami declaring Hit choice of the party in the county for Governor." That was a bad editorial i Met.'.inks the editor doth protest too much ! its asser tions are crude falsifications and its argu ments are absurdities. It cruchles the Andrews ringsters in the light of the now known facts. It holds them up to public scorn and derision, and was as unwise, imprudent, and unnecessary as many of the violations of law committed before and diirmg that memorable and disgtace ful gathering at Ebenslmrg. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company's depot at Johnstown was a lively place on the morniug of January 27th. The twenty seven delegates from the Johnstown wards and at least thirteen from the ad jacent districts were there with their friends. Caiididati-for-Postmaster Storey was busy as chaperonu. He bad ti.xed several delegates with the papers necessary to get them into the convention, and with "one of the staff of the Tribune he bought the railroad tickets for Ins political sheep. Forty tickets at $1.75 each he gave out to the delegates, going among them with his handful of pasteboard strips with a laugh, a joke or a word of caution and advice. Mr. Storey is a lawyer. Did he not know that this act alone was a violation of the election laws of the State ? Did he not know in spending the money furnished by Andrews to him and to Andrews by the Standard Oil Company, for the trans portation of delegates pledged by him to vote for Delamater, he was as guilty of bribery as though he had given each man a thousand dollar bill 'i The train left Johnstown with the dele gates on board at 10:13, and reached Ebens burg shortly after noon. There were busy times in Ebensburg on that same morning. The same tactics which were used in filling southern dis tricts. not represented, were used in the north. In one case a man who had gone to Ebeusburg to attend to some business in connection with his store and who knew nothing about the convention was pressed into service as a delegate and given credentials made out in Ebensburg by the Andrews-Barker people. In this way there was a " full convention," there being 108 votes present out of a possible 118. UOW DKI.AMATKIt WAS E.NDOKSKD. The convention was called to order in Armory Hall, across the street from the handsome building in which tbey try the criminals in Cambria county. The loca tion did not deter the Andrews conspira tors. They looked out of the windows and saw the figure of Justice on the dome ot the Court House and promptly pro ceeded to carry out their nefarious and illegal bargain. Chairman Barker; by virtue of his office, called the convention to order and briefly announced that two State delegates were to be elected. F. \V. Coxe, of Johnstown, a clerk in the Cambria Iron Company, and Samuel D. Patterson, ot Barr township, were ap pointed secretaries. The roll of the dele gates was then called, and Irvin Hut ledge, an alderman of Johnstown and confidential agent of Swank, promptly moved to make the temporary organiza tion permanent. This was agreed to, and by this means Florentine Barker presided over the con vention. This in itself was clearly illegal Bar ker was not elected as a delegate to the convention, he was not substituted by any so-called delegate and had no shadow of right to be chairman of that conven tion or to take part in its deliberations after its permanent organization. His action was entirely in keeping with the whole performance. Before anybody else had a chance to say anything, Thomas Davis (Jacksou) sprang up, aud with much flourish, he proceeded to read the following high ilown resolutions : Resolved', That it Is the sentiment ot the Re publicans ot Cambria county that the western pari, ot the Stale Is entitled to Iho nominee to Governor; and further, that they ravor the nomination ol that able and brilliant stares man. lion. George W. Delamater, or Crawford county, who Is an able exponent ot Republican principles and would make a sate and enielent Chief Executor. Resolved, liy the Republican party of Cambria county, la Convention assembled, that the del egates this day elected to the Republican stato convention be and are hereby Instructed to support and use alt honorable means to secure the nomination of Hon. George W. Delamater forGovornor. Resolved, That Geo. T. Swank and F. H. Bar ker be chosen delegates to represent Cambria county In the Republican state Convention. There were protests at this, but the body of the delegates were not kickers. Peter Campbell, postmaster of Carroll town, moved to insert the name of Hust ings for that of Delamater. W. F. Cook, of Stonycrcek township, one of the most prominent Hepublicaus in the county, declared the Davis resolu tion was unfair, and that if men were fit to bo delegates they were fit to go with out instructions. The Chair gave nobody a chance to talk, but rushed through a vote on Camp bell's motion. It was passed by ninety nine to five. The five were W. F. Cook and his colleague, W. D. Miller, A. H. Walters, of Johnstown, and Peter Camp bell, the latter having two votes. The Davis resolutions were then pushed through, there being nine-nine for Dela mater, four votes for Hastings, one for Montooth and several not voting. A •' FULL CONVENTION." Swank's Tribune, in its editorial refer red to, says: "At a very full convention of Republican delegates of Canib'ia county, held at Ebensburg, on Monday (108 out of a possible 118 being present) 99 voted in favor of Senator G. W. Dela mater, of Meadville, Crawford county, for the Republican nomination for Governor this fall; four for Gen. I). 11. Hastings, of Bellefonte, Centre county; oneforMaj. E. A. Moontooth, of Allegheny county, while six did not express their preference for any one of the six candidates in the field." If this statement is true, where did Delamaier's 99 votes come from ? The Tribune's figures, quoted above, show a total of 110. There were only 108 votes iu the convention. Did Chairman Baraer vote twice us well as preside, or where do the two extra come from ? This is just tlie kind of figuring Andrews' agents in dulge iu. The convention mas in session according to one delegate fifteen minutes, according to another del egate sixteen minutes. After tlie adjournment the delegates were sent to the different hotels and their dinners were paid for by Barker et at. When many of tlie delegates realized what had been done they began to pro test. They declared they had bceu de ceived. More than twenty of them said they had been told, that although Swank and Barker were De'amater men there would be uo Delamater instructions. Several of these men said they would not take any Delamater money to pay for their dinners and paid for their own. The statement of W. F. Cook, one of the most intelligent conservative Republi can politicians in the county, is that if Davis had not had his resolutions written, and if Barker had not used gag law and rushed them through, there would at least have been no instructions. If the opposition to Delamater had had time to rally, there would have been a stiff vote against him even in this packed conven tion. Many delegates were discouraged by the smooth way Delamater votes were piled up and were stampeded to him. In this "full convention " oue example of the Andrews method is strikingly shown, In townships where it wus neither convenient nor advisable to have two delegates, there was hut a single rep resentative in the convention and this man had, of course, two votes. This occurred in twelve districts and the result was that almost one-quarter of the 104 votes cast in the convention were from twelve men and all but one of them voted for the Delamater set up. This is not idle talk. The names and statements of many such delegates are in the possession of the writer, together with much sworn evidence, some of which will be published to morrow. P. L. W. The Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph con tinues its exposure of how Cambria couuty was stolen for Delamater, us follows : "iVb braver or truer morela were ever uttered than, those recently spoken by the Senator (Delamater) in Philadelphia, and if his advice is heeded. Pennsylvania will fur nish a model for fair and honorable political methods that will he point ed to as the perfection of our Re publican form of Government. The Senator's remedy is simple; he asks for a more yeneral participation in political affairs on the part of the people and for a vigorous policy in guaranteeing fair an