USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 123
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 123
USA > Nebraska > Hall County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 123
USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 123
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Other important criminal cases, in which cou- victions were secured, were: The State vs. Howard T. Marshall, forgery; The State vs. O. A. Bacon, seduction; The State vs. Yoeman, incest.
The last great tradegy which occurred in the county was that of the shooting of W. W. Lewis on March 15, 1890, and the lynching of his mur- derer, A. E. Staton, the same day by a party of masked men, a full account of which is given in subsequent pages.
The legal ability and high character and stand- ing of the attorneys of this county have given the Aurora bar a reputation and standing throughout the State, especially before the supreme court, of which the citizens are justly proud.
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CHAPTER XXX.
POLITICAL HISTORY-FIAST VOTERS-EARLIEST ELECTION-FORMATION OF PARTIES-CONVENTIONS-ESTABLISII- MENT OF PARTY INTERESTS-THE LINES DRAWN-CANDIDATES-INTERESTING CONTESTS-HISTORY OF POLITICAL MOVEMENTS-ELECTION OF 1889-STATISTICS-ELECTION RETURNS- ROSTER OF PUBLIC SERVANTS.
My soul aches To know, when two authorities are up, * * * How soon confusion May enter .- Shakespeare.
RIOR to the fall of 1872 only the east half of the county had been settled, and parties were an un- known element in the se- lection of candidates to fill the various offices. At the election of that year all that part of the county west of Range 6 consti- tuted one election precinct; the elec- tion was held at the house of D. A. Scovill. There were only six legal voters in the precinct at the time. They were D. A. Scovill, George Jackett, W. P. White, A. V. B. Peck, David Wright and David Boag. As it required five of them to constitute the election board, it left one man who received no pay for his day's time. This man was W. P. White, and the "board " put in their time during the day electioneering the one man who consti- tuted the constituency. During the year 1873 the towns of Aurora and Orville began to gird up their loins for the contest, which each knew to be inevitable, and which meant the death of one or the other. For the first time in the history of the
county two conventions were held in that year, one at Orville and one at Aurora. At the election which followed the Anrora ticket proved victorious, the following adherents of that place being elected: William R. Mitchell, clerk; J. H. Faris, treasurer; J. M. Smith, sheriff; J. T. Price, superintendent, and B. F. Isaman, commissioner. During the succeeding two years the "county seat fight " had developed into open and bitter warfare, with Hamilton in the fray fresh and vigorous, Aurora thrice defeated, but cool and determined, and Orville "badly disfigured, but still in the ring." With this condition of affairs a convention was called to meet at Aurora in the fall of 1875 to nominate a county ticket. Aurora Precinct caneus was called to meet at the school house (now the Catholic Church) at 6 o'clock the evening before the convention. Promptly on the minnte the cau- cus was called to order, with L. W. Hastings and R. W. Graybill as chairman and secretary. With- out any undne loss of time a delegation was selected and the cancus proceeded to vote on same. In the meantime the voters of Hamilton started in a body from the store of T. A. Mckay, in Hamil- ton, and wended their way toward the school-house. Arrived there, T. A. Mckay opened the door and
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was greeted by the following words in the voice of the chairman, L. W. Hastings: "Have you all voted ? If so I declare the ballot closed." The Hamilton delegation, claiming that undue haste had been used in order to disfranchise them, then withdrew and nominated a second set of delegates.
The convention was organized the next day, with D. A. Scovill, chairman. A bitter fight at once ensued between the rival delegations from Aurora Precinct. The convention after hearing the case presented by both sides, seated the Aurora delegation. In this convention, R. W. Graybill was a candidate for superintendent, and J. M. Fodge, for sheriff, but as both these gentlemen were members of the Aurora faction, it was de- cided that they would have to be sidetracked, and the candidates for those positions be selected from the south side of the county in order to hold as many votes in that section as possible, to counter- act the defection caused by the "double header" delegation from Aurora. With this view D. A. Scovill was nominated for sheriff, and Gen. D. Bates for superintendent. Mr. Graybill, fully appreciating the situation, accepted the inevitable with good grace. Mr. Fodge, however, was not so complacent, and before the election announced himself as an independent candidate. A conven- tion called at Orville the same year nominated candidates for clerk and county judge. The Aurora ticket was elected by large majorities.
In 1877 the " county seat war," was a thing of the past, but its influence remained, and was the great factor in moulding parties, and determin- ing the politics of the county. This fall a straight Republican county ticket was put in the field. The Democrats and dissatisfied Republicans united with the members of the "Greenback " party, which had a very respectable following in the county, to defeat the Republican ticket.
The campaign was a "red hot one," both sides using their utmost efforts to win. After a long and exciting contest, when the smoke of bat- tle had cleared away, it was found that the " sugar plums" had been gathered in by the "greenback- ers," they having elected their candidates for the offices of clerk, treasurer and surveyor, while the
Republicans had secured the offices of sheriff, probate judge, superintendent and coroner. In 1878 three legislative tickets were put in the field, and the Republicans achieved a comparatively easy victory, electing D. A. Scovill to the Senate (the first member that Hamilton County had con- tribnted to that body) and R. W. Graybill to the House. The next contest was in 1879, and was waged with the same energy and spirit as char- acterized the election of two years before.
The Republicans put up an excellent ticket, knowing it would require good men and united ef- fort to overcome the personal popularity of T. A. McKay, the candidate for treasurer on the Green- back ticket. For this reason W. H. Streeter was induced to accept the nomination for treasurer. He was not only well-known throughout the county as a first rate business man, but his personal pop- ularity was second to none in the county. The closeness of the contest will be seen in the fact that Mckay received 599 votes, and Streeter 594, the former being elected by a majority of five votes. All the balance of the Republican ticket was elected. In 1880, being "presidential year," the Republicans were well consolidated and elected John Helms (Republican) to the Legislature over A. Renber (Democrat). The campaign was a lively one, but much better feeling prevailed than for- merly.
Again the advent of election of county officers in 1881 brought on a hard struggle, and again the Democrats and "Greenbackers" united. They were now under the leadership of W. F. Peck, a shrewd politician and a skillful organizer. The Republicans were badly beaten, failing to secure anything except superintendent. Heretofore the political contests had been confined almost en- tirely to the election of county officers, but in 1882 the Democrat and Greenback parties united on a Legislative ticket, putting F. M. Barnes (D.) and L. C. Floyd (G.) on the track. The Republicans nominated Joshua Cox and A. J. Spanogle. Both the Republican and Greenback candidates for lieu- tenant-governor were Hamilton County men, A. W. Agee on the Republican, and P. B. Reynolds on the Greenback ticket. As the Legislature of
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HAMILTON COUNTY.
1883 would elect a United States Senator, both par- ties put forth their utmost efforts to elect their candidates. The contest was very close, the vote standing Agee (R.) 766, Reynolds (G.) 724, Cox (R.) 846, Barnes (D.) 750, Spanogle (R.) 853, Floyd (G.) 731. The Greenback party having died a natural death, in 1883 Mr. Peck organized his forces under the battle flag of "anti-monop- oly," and under that banner led them on to victory.
The Republicans suffered the most complete rout they had ever experienced in the county. The only office they succeeded in securing was that of coroner. In 1884 the Republicans had an easy victory in electing their Legislative ticket, F. C. Putnam to the Senate, and Joshua Cox and George Liebhart to the House. In 1885 the Republicans entered the arena determined to regain their foot- hold in the court house, and put up an excellent ticket. Again the Democrats and " Anti-Monopo- lists" united, with J. M. Laurie for clerk and W. F. Peck for treasurer. A very sharp campaign ensued, the leading candidates on both tickets can- vassing the county thoroughly and interviewing almost every man in the county. The election was extremely close, as the following figures will tes- tify: For clerk, J. M. Laurie (D.), 1,109; W. M. Thomas (R.), 1,090. For treasurer, H. Cole (R ), 1,033; W. F. Peck (A.), 997; W. Glover (D.), 182. For sheriff, F. E. Valentine, 1,194; W. Z. Pollard, 1,011. For the balance of the offices the Republicans had larger majorities. This election was the Waterloo of " fusion " in this county. In August, 1885, E. W. Hurlbut had established The Sun, a Democratic newspaper, in Aurora, and had succeeded in gradually withdrawing the Democrats from the fusion party, and consolidat- ing it under the straight banner of Democracy. This at the same time had the effect of dissolving the "fusion " party, and those Republicans, who had withdrawn from the ranks, on account of local differences, gradually floated back to their old party, so that when the time came for nominating a Legislative ticket in 1886, straight Democratic and Republican tickets were nominated. Both parties entered the campaign eager for the contest. The result of the election was: Member of Congress,
Second District, James Laird (R.), 1,149; W. A. McKeighan (D.), 711. Members of Legislature, A. W. Agee (R.), 1,043; A. Wilsey (R.), 1,090; Sam- uel Robbins (D.), 769; D. S. Woodard (D.), 849.
Again, in 1887, the two old parties faced each other, this time on election of county officers. This was the first time in the history of the county when the two parties struggled hand to hand for the possession of the court house "pap," divested of all extraneous influences. It is true the Pro- hibitionists had a ticket in the field, but its influ- ence was too slight to affect the result. The entire Republican ticket was elected by majorities ranging from 275 to 750. The same conditions prevailed in 1888, upon the election of the legislative ticket. In this campaign the Democrats made a great effort to secure the election of Reuben Cox, one of their candidates. For this purpose a severe fight was made against D. A. Scovill, one of the Republicau candidates. The following was the vote: For member of Congress, Second District, James Laird (R.), 1,621; W. G. Hastings (D.), 1,048; George Scott (P.), 164. For members of the Legislature, D. A. Scovill (R.), 1,633; J. J. Farley (R.), 1,770; Reuben Cox (D.), 1,072; S. B. Youst (D.), 964; L. A. McKay (P.), 121; M. Castle (P.), 122. The political campaign of 1889 was one of the most notable in the history of the parties in the county. The Republican convention was called to meet at the court-house in Aurora on Saturday, October 5. The primary election in Aurora Precinct, for elec- tion of thirteen delegates, was held October 4. Two sets of delegates were being balloted for, the Moore delegates, who favored James Moore for nominee for sheriff, and the Shenberger delegates, who favored the nomination of W. W. Shenberger. After the primary polls were closed and the votes counted the canvassing board, consisting of Will- iam P. Hellings, D. A. Scovill and L. W. Hastings, announced that the "Moore " ticket was elected.
The convention the next day was called to order by E. J. Hainer, chairman of the Republican county central committee; William P. Hellings, secretary of the central committee, acting as sec- retary of the convention.
The "Moore" delegates presented their cre-
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dentials, as follows, and demanded seats in the con- vention :
AURORA, NEB., Oct. 5th, 1889.
At a primary election of the Republican voters of Aurora Precinct, the 4th day of October, 1889, the follow- ing were the delegates elected to the convention to be held October 5th, 1889:
For delegates to the county convention-Thomas Smith, Sr., George Daniels, H. F. Williamson, A. C. Craw- ford, W. A. Ellsworth, Roger Hurlbut, Rolla Powell, Ole Anderson. William Roonan, George Liebhart, J. I'. Chap- man, E. Anderson, P. F. Moore.
L. W. HASTINGS, Secty. Republican Prect. Committee.
The "Shenberger " delegates also presented credentials, as follows:
To the Chairman and Members of the County Republican Convention:
I hereby certify that the following named persons were duly elected delegates to the county Republican convention, to be held at Aurora, Nebr., on the 5th day of October, 1889, and are entitled to seats therein, viz .:
For delegates to the county convention-B. F. Ander- son, E. Huling, B. F. Richards, A. W. Downey, J. E. McBride, C. L. Valentine, C. C. Coon, H. B. Witte, L. W. Hastings, A. G. Hoegren, D. L. Toof, W. P. Hellings, I. N. Jonea.
Witness my hand this 5th day of October, 1889. WILLIAM P. HELLINGS,
Attest: L. W. HASTINGS. President.
Secty. of Aurora Precinct Committee.
There being a contest between these two delega- tions, the committee on credentials, composed of Ed Nugent, L. F. Fye and W. J. Carver, pro- ceeded to investigate the matter. After securing. such evidence as was attainable, the committee came to the following conclusion: That the " Moore" tickets and the "Shenberger" tickets were printed with the same kind of type, but that the "Moore" tickets were printed solid; that is, with very little spacing between the names, while the Shenberger tickets were heavily leaded; that is, with wide spaces between the names; that dur- ing the afternoon, fearing they would run out of tickets, additional Shenberger tickets were printed, but that the leads had been removed from the form and the names shoved together, so that these tickets were printed solid, and had the same ap- pearance as the "Moore" tickets; that the can- vassing board, instead of reading the tickets, had sorted them with reference to the spacing between
the names, counting all the "leaded " tickets for Shenberger and all the "solid " tickets for Moore, and that in this way they had counted tickets for Moore which should have been counted for Shen- berger. The following affidavit of William P. Hellings was filed with the committee on cre- dentials:
STATE OF NEBRASKA. HAMILTON COUNTY. 88.
William P. Hellings, being first duly sworn, says that he was one of the judges who conducted the Republican primary election in the precinct of Aurora on the 4th day of October, 1889, and was president of said board; that after the polls were closed the ticketa were counted out, and it was found that there were 274 tickets that were not scratched, 140 of which were counted for what is known as the "Moore tickets."
Affiant says that said tickets were taken up by the judges, each judge connting, and what were thought to be " Moore tickets " laid in bunches of ten on one part of the table, and what were known as "Shenberger tickets" laid in bunches of ten on another part of the table, except six (6) ticketa on which some name or names had been scratched; that in connting said tickets affiant did not no- tice the names on each ticket, but believing that all the Shenberger tickets were longer than the Moore tickets, and not knowing that two sizes of the Shenberger tickets had heen printed, he placed all of the short tickets with what is known as the Moore tickets; that since the vote was counted and the ballots placed in the hallot-box and locked up, affiant has learned that there were two sizes of tickets printed with the names of the Shenberger dele- gates thereon, and that he has reason to believe that in counting said tickets he counted tickets for the Moore delegation that ought to have been counted for the Shen- berger delegation.
Affiant further states, that after the votea were all counted, they were strung on a string and placed in the ballot-box, and the ballot-box was locked up by D. A. Seovill, one of the judges, and that as he supposed said Scovill kept the key to said box; that said box was left in his office, and the doors and windows to his office were locked by him very soon after the completion of the count; that no other person has the key to his office to his knowl- edge, and that no person could get into his office without breaking in; that he has kept said ballot-box in said office and has kept his door locked ever since that time, except when he would be in his office himself, so that no person eould tamper with said ballot-box.
Affiant says that he learned that said key had been left in his office, since twelve o'clock of this day; that said Scovill then told him that he had left the key in a drawer in affiant's office, and that affiant immediately went to his office and found the key in a small pasteboard box, con-
10
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taining paper fasteners which were in a drawer in bis office.
Affiant says said ballot box has not been out of his office and has never been opened since said tickets were placed therein and the box locked.
W. P. HELLINGS.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5th day of October, 1889.
[SEAL. ]
W. L. STARK, County Judge.
The affidavit of D. A. Scovill also was filed, as to the locking up and safe keeping of the bal- lots after being counted. The committee there- upon concluded to open the ballot box and recount the ballots, npon doing which six of the short "Shenberger" tickets were found on the string among the "Moore" tickets. The committee then made their report recommending the seating of the Shenberger delegates. Capt. Cassell raised the point of order that the report could not be adopted inasmuch as the committee had no right to go be- hind the returns. The chairman ruled the point of order not well taken. Cassell then moved that the delegates known as the " Moore delegates," be substituted for the delegates reported by the com- mittee and known as the "Shenberger delegates." The motion was lost; ayes 24, nays 48. The re- port of the committee was then adopted. The delegation, as seated, was solid for the nomination of W. S. Harlan for county treasurer, while the " Moore delegates " were almost as unanimous for Levi Cox. The balloting for a candidate for this office revealed the fact that the convention was pretty nearly equally divided between those two men. The following statement shows the result of the ballots: First ballot, Harlan 32, Cox 34, Reed 12, Isaman 7; second ballot, Harlan 40, Cox 34, Reed 11; third ballot, Harlan 36, Cox 39, Reed 10; fourth ballot, Harlan 43, Cox 36, Reed 4.
The adherents of Cox and Moore were greatly incensed over the action of the convention, and freely charged fraud on the part of the friends of Harlan and Shenberger, claiming that Moore tick- ets had been abstracted from the ballot box and Shenberger tickets substituted after the count had been made. The deep mutterings of the coming storm were plainly heard. Referring to the trans- action the Aurora Republican of October 11, 1889,
said: "The Republican primary held in this city at the court-house last Friday was one of the most earnest contests with the little white ballot that was ever held at a primary election in this place; in fact, it arose almost to the importance of a gen- eral election. There were over 280 votes cast out of a possible of a little over 300 votes, there being 311 Republican votes cast at the general election last fall.
Everything passed off very smoothly, however, and only for an error that was made in the count of the ballots after the vote had been polled, not a murmur would ever have been heard; and to cor- rect any erroneous impression that might go abroad in regard to it we make the following statement of fact, which we are willing to be qualified on :
"Before the polls opened, at 12 o'clock Friday noon, tickets had been printed at this office-one set for Moore, headed by Thomas Smith, and another set for Shenberger, headed by B. F. Anderson.
"The Moore ticket had the same heading as the Shen- berger ticket, but the Moore ticket was about three-quar- ters of an inch shorter than the Shenberger, and the com- position on the Moore ticket was what a printer calls solid work; that is, no leads or spaces between lines, while the composition on the Shenberger ticket waa leaded matter, or spaced between liues.
"In printing the tickets in this way there is to a printer quite a contrast in the looka of the two tickets, and a printer could separate the two tickets from each other by their looks, without stopping to read each ticket. There were 300 tickets of this kind printed for each candidate, and it was supposed that the 600 tickets would be a great plenty for the 300 voters, but at about 5 o'clock in the evening it waa noticed that the tickets had nearly all dis- appeared from the polls. It is an old trick to destroy the ballots of the opposition party, and has frequently resulted disastrously to the party who could not promptly supply the defect, as voters are sometimes late and only arrive at the polls a few minutes before they close to find there is not a ballot left. As soon as it was noticed both par- ties ordered more tickets, and in the hurry to get them off, the forms having been unleaded for other work, the tickets were printed, both the Moore and Shenberger tick- ets, from solid forms, and upon paper, the size of the orig. inal Moore tickets, which was three-quarters of an inch shorter than the Shenberger tickets, and having been printed from a solid form had the appearance of that ticket.
"Now for the sequel: Mr. Hellings, who was one of the canvassing board, is a practical printer. He knew nothing about the change of the size and looks of the ticket, did not handle the tickets at the polls, but had seen the two tickets when the polls were opened at noon,
G
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and, as a printer naturally would, had noticed the great contrast between them, and when the polls were closed at night Mr. Hellings, assisted by the other two mem- bers of the board, Mr. Scovill and this editor, commenced to count the ballots and make the tally sheets; it was very natural for Mr. Hellings, who is a practical printer, and not knowing that there had heen tickets printed, from a solid form, on the same size paper the Moore tickets had been printed on, to count some Shenberger tickets with the Moore ticket; and it was in this way that the Moore delegation seemed to have a small majority when the ballots were counted; and it was not till the next day that he discovered his mistake. when he went to cer- tify the Moore credentials up to the convention, and got hold of one of these small tickets, supposing all the time it was a Moore ticket, but found it was one of the Shenber- ger tickets, and then his mistake was revealed to him for the first time.'
The Sun, Democratic newspaper, was not slow to profit by the mistake made by the Republicans, and in order to add to the spirit of rebellion, came out with the following editorial, in its issue of Oc- tober 11, 1889:
THE RETURNING BOARD.
Last Friday the Republican primaries were held, and two delegatious, one for Moore, and the other for Shenberger, contested the field. W. P. Hellings, L. W. Hastings and D. A. Scovill, a board solid for Shenberger, was secured. With this advantage against Moore in cases of challenge, his delegation were duly elected by five majority, and the credentials issued. The other side kicked, claiming that Democrats swore in their votes for Moore, but were met with the fact that an offset was made by "prohibs " voting for Shenberger. It soon became apparent that that kind of kicking would do no good, and the matter dropped. When the delegations came in it was quite apparent that Levi Cox had a sinch on the treasurership, and Moore almost a certainty for the nom- ination of sheriff. Then, as if by a miracle, at about the hour the convention was to convene, Hellings stumbled upon an unused ticket which lay upon the floor, with the Shenberger delegation printed thereon. It looked un- natural to him. Its size and appearance was different from those of yesterday. He sized it up with one of those of the day before. It was shorter and narrower. Then he remembered that he had sized up the tickets, and counted the larger oues for Shenberger and the little ones for Moore. There must be a mistake. He was for a new count immediately. He was certain the new count would elect the Shenberger delegation. The box con- taining the votes, and the key, had been in his possession over night. The box had not been sealed, according to law, nor the key placed with one of the board and the box with another, as the law directs. Notwithstanding
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