in June 1903, when he organized an unsuccessful effort to recapture outlaw Kid Curry, who had escaped from a Knoxville jail. Austin ran for Tennessee's 2nd district congressional seat in 1904, but was defeated in the primary by Nathan W. Hale, who had the support of the Evans-Sanders block. In 1906, Austin was appointed United States consul at Glasgow, Scotland. He remained at this post until November 1907, when he resigned and returned to Tennessee to mount another congressional campaign. Congress In 1908, the quarrel between the Evans-Sanders and Brownlow-Austin factions intensified when powerful Knoxville businessman William J. Oliver, a friend of Brownlow and Austin, led a band of armed ruffians to the state party's convention in Nashville, where they beat up Sanders and chased away his supporters. Determined to defeat Hale, the Brownlow faction aligned itself with the Malcolm Patterson faction of the state's Democratic Party, which was facing a similar rift between supporters of Patterson and supporters of his gubernatorial opponent, Edward W. Carmack. The Brownlow Republicans offered to vote for Patterson for governor, and in return, Patterson Democrats would vote for Austin in the 2nd district congressional election. With this support, Austin edged Hale on election day, 15,337 votes to 14,528. Incensed, Hale and his supporters attempted unsuccessfully to prevent Austin from caucusing with House Republicans. John Chiles Houk, who generally supported the Evans-Sanders faction, convinced Patterson to abandon his support for Austin and Brownlow. This move proved untimely, however, as Patterson's popularity plummeted due to his actions in the aftermath of the Cooper-Carmack shootout. Though Hale had the support of Houk and the influential Knoxville Journal, Austin had the support of President William Howard Taft. Following a savage campaign in 1910, Austin again defeated Hale, this time by a margin of 15,761 votes to 11,755. In 1912, Republicans were again divided, with some remaining loyal to Taft, and others throwing their support behind Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party ticket. In the 2nd district congressional election, Austin remained loyal to Taft and ran on the Republican ticket. W. H. Buttram, who had the support of John Chiles Houk and Knoxville attorney Hugh B. Lindsay, ran on the Progressive ticket. J.C.J. Williams ran as a Democrat. Though Roosevelt outpolled Taft in the 2nd district, Austin was easily reelected, garnering 12,712 votes to 7,025 for Buttram, and 6,681 for Williams. Austin was easily reelected in 1914 and 1916.