Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/763



THE CITY OF PORTLAND 561

Governor Gibbs was the choice of forty-five republicans, and this was borne out when he was nominated at the caucus. Mitchell was also a candidate, and he was charged with having engineered the bolt which followed the nomination of Governor Gibbs at this caucus. Not only that, but from that day to this, certain republicans have followed this lead, and have never felt bound to follow out the mandates of a caucus. Mitchell's plan of overriding the wishes of that republi- can caucus was unique. Mitchell, who was charged with having manipulated the primaries of Multnomah County, had elected the men he had nominated. It is a matter of record that Multnomah delegates voted straight through the caucus for Mitchell. In joint conventions four men — all Mitchell's supporters — bolted. Two of these were from Multnomah.

It was suspected that Mitchell was behind a revolt, and a trap was laid to catch him. A deal was made with two democrats with the understanding that if Governor Gibbs received enough votes to elect him, their votes were not to count. Again the vote was taken. W. W. Upton, a prominent Multnomah County lawyer in those days, was the last to vote. He voted blank, and it was found that Governor Gibbs was short one vote. The story of that day had it that Senator Mitchell gathered around him seventeen faithful adherents. It was agreed that all but five would remain silent, and that five were to stand outside and that if there was a defection among the five, one of the silent twelve was to step into the breach. It was this which caused the political pot to boil over, and with this incident began the factional fights in the republican ranks which have never been healed. The result of the "bolting" was the election of Senator Corbett.

The campaign of 1872 saw Senator Mitchell and Senator Corbett the prin- cipal figures of one of the most bitter political fights in the history of the state. The factions were lined up for deadly combat. At that time, and for that mat- ter, for many years previous, Ben Holladay was Oregon's railroad king. Hol- laday was behind Mitchell. Mitchell was the issue of this battle. The Holladay crowd charged Corbett with having opposed certain railroad measures. Cor- bett's friends disputed this with might and main, and declared that Mitchell was tied hard and fast to Holladay. Then the Corbett followers, as a campaign slogan, quoted an utterance made by Mitchell which was, "Whatever is Ben Holladay's politics, is my politics, and whatever Ben Holladay wants, I want."

MITCHELL DEFEATS CORBETT.

In spite of this Mitchell was elected to the senate and Senator Corbett was defeated. This was the beginning of his long senatorial career. His term ex- pired in 1878. Here the political map of Oregon was changed, and the democrats went into power. Mitchell was a candidate, but the toga went to James H. Slater, a democrat. In 1880 there was no session and the battle was stilled until 1882. Once more the candidacy of Senator Mitchell was an issue in Oregon politics. The struggle between the Mitchell faction and the Corbett followers was bitter, but the contest which followed in 1882 caused that memorable event to pale into insignificance. Many republicans opposed to the candidacy of Sen- ator Mitchell were elected, but Mitchell had the majority of republicans. The solid eighteen was born, nine of them came from Marion County. Neither side would give or take, and the battle waged throughout the entire session of the legislature. It took forty-six to elect, and Mitchell started out with forty votes, and held them with hardly a single loss.

The result was that Mitchell went down to defeat, and J. N. Dolph was elected. When it came time for the next senatorial election, the time of the meet- ing of the legislature had been changed. January was set for the time of hold- ing the election in the odd year, so the 1885 election took place in January in- stead of September. Senator Mitchell was not a candidate, but he held a po- litical hand that was formidable. He rallied his forces for Sol. Hirsch. Here