The Meeting Yesterday.
The meeting which was called to convene at the Court-house yesterday for the purpose of selecting delegates to the State convention which meets at Jackson on the 30th of August, was largely attended. Long ere the appointed hour for assembling had arrived the Court-house yard, hall and stairs leading to the Court-room were thronged by various men, who, despite the almost suffocating heat, were pushing, jamming and squeezing as if determined that no one should enter without having first been thoroughly tested as to his mental, moral and physical fitness, by undergoing every punishment devisable, which would cause a man to display any weakness he might possess on any of these qualifications.
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Another effort of half an hour was made to restore order, at the end of which time the name of General Chas. E. Furlong was placed in nomination, seconded, and without giving the chair an opportunity to put the question to the house, a general cry of Furlong! Furlong!! was raised and continued for some minutes during which time at least a dozen speakers were addressing the chair with most vehement gestures towards its occupant. Order having again been restored the names of Gen. J. C. Webber and Mr. C. W. Bush (col’d), were placed in nomination. This was the signal for another terrific outburst of eloquence on the part of the friends of the several nominees. Mr. G. W. Davenport (col’d) spouted in stentorian voice in which all the words of the English language were belched forth as from a speaking dictionary, and to which the general topic of his harrangue bore a striking resemblance. He was not in favor of either of the two first named gentlemen, occupying the responsible position of–
Ben. Allen in a very disorderly manner, interrupting the speaker, said: I rise to a question of order and sank back into his seat, with the air of an emperor.
Mr. Davenport continued by saying that Mr. Bush was the only man this (cries of Furlong, Webber, put him down etc.) which continued until the speaker retired from his position, which he did with threatening mein towards those who had interrupted him in his eloquence.
General Furlong then took the stand and informed the meeting that it was not his desire to preside over the meeting, and that for the sake of harmony he would withdraw in favor of Mr. C. W. Bush. (Cries of no you don’t Furlong, Webber, Bush, etc,) which continued some five minutes. As soon as order was again restored General Webber informed the meeting that as his friends had placed his name in nomination, and as there seemed to be two factions, each about equally divided, he would withdraw and hoped the meeting would retain order and proceed to business. The remarks of General Webber had rather a good effect, and for some minutes order was restored, during which General C. E. Furlong moved that a committee of fifteen be appointed by the Chair to select delegates to the Convention which meets at Jackson on the 30th of August. The motion was seconded and carried amid tumultuous confusion.
The Chair then proceeded to make the appointments which were as follows: G. W. Walton, J. C. Webber, Milton Coates, Peter Crosby, James Tucker, W. H. Furniss, Norman Hunt, J. W. Bourne, Anderson Jones, Ephia Powell, G. W. Davenport, C. E. Furlong, A. Mygatt, and two other gentlemen whose names we were unable to learn.
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the committee that had retired for the purpose of selecting delegates, came in and reported the following names as
DELEGATES.
C. E. Furlong,
J. C. Webber,
C. W. Bush,
G. W. Walton,
Wm. Assbury,
Peter Barrow,
H. K. Thomas,
J. W. Bourne,
W. W. Furniss,
Luke Lea,
ALTERNATES.
G. W. Davenport,
Wm. Rice,
G. Middleton,
Norman Hunt,
T M Broadwaters,
A. Jones,
Peter Crosby,
W. H. Mallory,
James Tucker,
H. Carter