On the face of it, the outlook for the passage of the Change of Venue
bill in the Senate was not good. The machine, however, planned to pass
the bill on March 19.

The machine leaders went at the job systematically. When the Senators
took their seats that Friday morning, they found that at Senator Bates'
request, Assembly Bill 6 (the Change of Venue bill) had been put on the
Special Urgency File. The Special Urgency File was to be considered at 8
o'clock Friday evening. Senator Bates stated in an interview that he had
placed Assembly Bill No. 6 on the Special Urgency File "at the request
of a fellow Senator." Who the fellow Senator was, Bates refused to say.
Bates insisted, however, that he knew nothing about Assembly Bill No, 6,
and could give no reason why it should be made a matter of "special
urgency." Senator Bates has since the Legislature adjourned been given a
position of trust in the United States Mint.

With the Change of Venue bill on the Special Urgency File, the next step
was to get it considered at the moment most favorable for machine
purposes. Along about 11 o'clock in the forenoon - the reader should
keep in mind that in the ordinary course of the Senate's work the
Special Urgency File would not have been considered until 8 o'clock that
evening - Senator Wolfe moved that the Special Urgency File be taken up
out of order. But before the Change of Venue bill could be reached,
Senator Wright, who favored the passage of the measure, was found to be
absent from the Senate chamber. On Senator McCartney's motion, the
Change of Venue bill was temporarily passed on file. With the constant
coming and going of Senators, there was no time while the file was under
consideration, that the eighteen Senators counted on to vote in a solid
block for the bill, were all present. The Senate concluded consideration
of the Special Urgency File, and still the Change of Venue bill had not