Natrona County WY Archives History - Books .....Some Hot County Politics 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 5, 2005, 7:02 pm Book Title: History Of Natrona County, Wyoming SOME HOT COUNTY POLITICS For twenty years after Natrona county had been organized, from 1890 to 1910, there was always a bitter contest between the republicans and democrats during election time. During the heat of battle, political lines were closely drawn and the forces on either side left nothing undone to gain favor for their candidates. Every precinct in the county was visited by the candidates on each side and every voter in every precinct received a friendly call. The campaign always wound up in a blaze of glory with a big torchlight procession on the streets of Casper and speaking and singing in the town hall. After the speaking there was always a dance at which the candidates and workers on both sides participated. As an example of how they did things in those days, herewith is a brief description of the demonstration at the close of the campaign in 1896: Saturday night before election, after the arrival of the train a parade formed at the wool warehouse. It was headed by Grand Marshal W. H. Duhling, followed by the Douglas Military band. Then came a procession of beautiful floats, ladies in carriages and men carrying transparencies, banners, torches and discharging fireworks. Among the many attractive floats was that of "The Good Ship Protection, Captain McKinley," being a large ship under full sail, designed by H. A. Lilly. Another by Kenneth McDonald was "The Campaign of'96," showing McKinley in the large end and Bryan crawling out of the little end. Another float showed two ladies operating spinning wheels, using Wyoming wool; another float by F. W. Okie showed his shearers at work. One, the McKinley shearer, was well-dressed; the other, a Bryan shearer, poorly clad. Wm Clark's coach and four was covered with appropriate mottoes, and on the top stood a protected sheepman and a free wool sheepman, each suitably dressed. The "Goddess of Liberty" float was the handsomest feature of the parade. The Goddess was appropriately attired with a shield and scales, and surrounded by fifty little girls in white. An imposing feature of the parade was fifty-two decorated carriages, each containing from three to six ladies. After them came the flambeau club, 100 strong. They were armed with Roman candles, and a stream of fire constantly shot heavenward. Here and there red tableau fire burned, making the parade look the more imposing. The last of the procession was "Butler's Brigade" of 100 boys carrying torches and blowing tin horns. Dwight Seely and Jack Titler made the anvils roar, while Jeff Crawford fired seven-inch cannon crackers continually. Among the amusing features was Jay Wilcox and his bear, John Ambruster and his dog, and Charles Hewes representing a hayseed. Then there were Uncle Sams, kings and queens, gold men and silver men, and an endless variety of characters. There were not less than 500 people in the parade, and over 200 horses were used to haul the floats and wagons. Over 500 twenty-ball Roman candles, 100 pounds of tableau fire and 500 seven-inch cannon crackers were burned during the parade. Only a small part of the procession could gain admission to the hall, so great was the crowd. Those who did were entertained by the McKinley quartette with "Wyoming Will Be in Line," Chairman Bradley introduced Judge Carey and the judge made a most convincing argument. The quartette then sang a song on local candidates. When the meeting was over the dancers enjoyed themselves until nearly morning. The democratic candidates and their workers were by no means idle, and among other things, they issued circulars and distributed them throughout the several precincts of the county. In these circulars the republican candidates and many of the republican workers of the county were arraigned in a rather caustic manner, which caused them considerable embarrassment, but the criticism was the means of the republicans putting forth a more determined effort for success, and there were very few successful democratic candidates at the polls that election. At the time the republicans made their nominations of candidates for the several county offices there was not always unanimity among the brethren. There were two factions, generally, and the county convention in the fall of 1898 went down in history as the most bitter and hardest-fought political battle ever held in any county in the state between two factions of the same political faith. In those days the Australian ballot system was not in vogue for the nomination of candidates, but primary elections were held in each precinct where delegates were elected. These delegates later attended a regular nominating convention. In numbers the factions were about equally divided and, therefore, generalship was necessarily the winning factor. In each precinct throughout the county two sets of delegates came up for election, and every available vote was gotten to the polls. After this contest was over, each faction put forth its supreme effort in an attempt to get a majority of the delegates lined up in its favor. In Casper nine delegates were to be elected, and every team and buggy available was gotten out to carry the voters to the polls. Five o'clock was the time set for the closing of the polls and two minutes after five a buggy drove up in front of the polling place with four voters, but they were not allowed to cast a ballot on account of being two minutes late. Had they been allowed to cast their ballots, the whole republican ticket would have been changed. One hundred eleven voters had exercised their franchise in the Casper precinct and five delegates favoring one faction were elected, while four for the opposite side received a majority. So close was the contest that fifty-nine votes were cast for the delegate receiving the highest number, and fifty-one votes were given to the candidate receiving the lowest number. At the nominating convention every precinct in the county had its full quota of delegates present. As soon as the convention was called to order every point was contested for supremacy, even to the election of a chairman and secretary and the appointment of committees. After the organization of the convention was accomplished, the work of nominating candidates for the several county offices was begun. The candidate for sheriff was the first to be nominated. D. E. Fitger, O. M. Rice and W. E. Tubbs were the three candidates. On the first ballot each candidate received about an equal number of votes. On the second, third, fourth, and up to the thirty-seventh ballot there was a deadlock. Neither faction would give in to the other. There were twenty-six delegates present and each of the three candidates had received from five to thirteen votes. On the thirty-seventh ballot, Oscar Hiestand received twelve votes and with the next ballot the deadlock was broken and Mr. Hiestand was favored with the nomination by twenty-two votes. Pandemonium then broke loose and both factions claimed a victory. But another conflict came up in the nomination of a candidate for county clerk. Pledges had been made by all the delegates and when the first ballot was counted M. P. Wheeler was credited with thirteen votes and J. A. Sheffner had the same number. It looked like another deadlock, and a recess of ten minutes was taken. One of the delegates confidentially declared he had pledged himself to vote for one of the candidates on the first ballot only, and he was unwilling to carry the fight any further. After this declaration was made every effort was put forth to keep the opposition from learning of this delegate's intention, and under no circumstances was he allowed to mingle or communicate with the other side. When the convention was re-convened, the second ballot was immediately ordered and the count gave Mr. Wheeler fourteen and Mr. Sheffner twelve, and this ended the contest. The balance of the ticket was nominated without a contest and thus ended the bitter struggle for supremacy. Both Mr. Hiestand and Mr. Wheeler were elected at the general election. Some of the men on each side who took the most prominent part in the fight, in a few years became the closest friends and many times afterwards took the greatest of pleasure in extending to each other a helping hand either in politics or in personal affairs. Additional Comments: History of NATRONA COUNTY WYOMING 1888-1922 True Portrayal of the Yesterdays of a New County and a Typical Frontier Town of the Middle West. Fortunes and Misfortunes, Tragedies and Comedies, Struggles and Triumphs of the Pioneers and Illustrations BY ALFRED JAMES MOKLER Publisher of the Natrona County Tribune from June 1, 1897, to October 15, 1914 R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO (1923) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/natrona/history/1923/historyo/somehotc9gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wyfiles/ File size: 9.5 Kb