Meanwhile a meeting of the New York delegation was called.  Most of the delegates were under the control of Senator Platt.  The Senator notified me that if I refused to accept the nomination for Vice-President I would be beaten for the nomination for Governor.  I answered that I would accept the challenge, that we would have a straight-out fight on the proposition, and that I would begin it at once by telling the assembled delegates of the threat, and giving fair warning that I intended to fight for the Governorship nomination, and, moreover, that I intended to get it.  This brought Senator Platt to terms.  The effort to instruct the New York delegation for me was abandoned, and Lieutenant-Governor Woodruff was presented for nomination in my place.

I supposed that this closed the incident, and that no further effort would be made to nominate me for the Vice-Presidency.  On the contrary, the effect was directly the reverse.  The upset of the New York machine increased the feeling of the delegates from other States that it was necessary to draft me for the nomination.  By next day Senator Hanna himself concluded that this was a necessity, and acquiesced in the movement.  As New York was already committed against me, and as I was not willing that there should be any chance of supposing that the New Yorkers had nominated me to get rid of me, the result was that I was nominated and seconded from outside States.  No other candidate was placed in the field.

By this time the Legislature had adjourned, and most of my work as Governor of New York was over.  One unexpected bit of business arose, however.  It was the year of the Presidential campaign.  Tammany, which had been lukewarm about Bryan in 1896, cordially supported him in 1900; and when Tammany heartily supports a candidate it is well for the opposing candidate to keep a sharp lookout for election frauds.  The city government was in the hands of Tammany; but I had power to remove the Mayor, the Sheriff, and the District Attorney for malfeasance or misfeasance in office.  Such power had not been exercised by any previous Governor, as far as I knew; but it existed, and if the misfeasance or malfeasance warranted it, and if the Governor possessed the requisite determination, the power could be, and ought to be, exercised.

By an Act of the Legislature, a State Bureau of Elections had been created in New York City, and a Superintendent of Elections appointed by the Governor.  The Chief of the State Bureau of Elections was John McCullagh, formerly in the Police Department when I was Police Commissioner.  The Chief of Police for the city was William F. Devery, one of the Tammany leaders, who represented in the Police Department all that I had warred against while Commissioner.  On November 4 Devery directed his subordinates in the Police Department to disregard the orders which McCullagh had given to his deputies, orders which were essential if we were to secure an honest election in the city.  I had just returned from a Western campaign trip, and was at Sagamore Hill.  I had no direct power over Devery; but the Mayor had; and I had power over the Mayor.  Accordingly, I at once wrote to the Mayor of New York, to the Sheriff of New York, and to the District Attorney of New York County the following letters: