While Waddell and his committeemen awaited a response from Wright and Melton, they began selecting their own mayor, police chief, and aldermen. An impromptu “election” was held. Eight white supremacists were selected as aldermen—seven of them from the Committee of Twenty-Five itself, including two men who had directed the rioters, Hugh MacRae and J. Allan Taylor of the Secret Nine. All that remained was for them to confront the current Fusion aldermen and force them to surrender their positions.
