Where is Hyer the prize fighter? He has been out with his gang.
Drinking? We do not know. At any rate he is late, has missed one of the
psychologies of the convention. After the noise is subsided, we hear
that Bates, Greeley's favorite, has forty-eight votes. "Call the roll!"
"Call the roll!" shout hundreds of delegates. Men are going mad with
anxiety. Arms are waved frantically, delegates rise from their seats and
bawl undistinguishable words. Curses and hisses fill the air. The second
ballot begins. Why does Pennsylvania deliberate, why does she retire so
often to consult her wishes? There is laughter over it. She changes her
vote now. Her favorite son, Cameron, gets two; forty-eight go to
Lincoln. What is the matter with Seward? We had heard there was plenty
of Seward money in Pennsylvania. Yarnell had told me so. Why doesn't the
machinery work? Ohio falls off seven votes for Chase; Bates loses
thirteen of his Missouri votes. Vermont throws her whole vote to
Lincoln, and the Stentor from the Illinois River bottoms raises a
thunder of applause. But Tom Hyer has now arrived and the Seward chorus
is working.
The vote is announced: Seward has 184-1/2; Lincoln 181; necessary to a
choice, 233. Seward is ruined. Tom Hyer is down. The band, the banners
are for nothing. All the Seward money is for nothing.
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