St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-09-09
ST. JOHNSBURY ELECTION.
Before the BattIe.-Review of the Field
and Candidates.

The biennial election in Vermont
was held on Tuesday. The result in
this town and county will be found
elsewhere in detail, as we'll as the re-
suit in the state at large. The cleo
ton was preceded by an exceedingly
bitter campaign and decent men of all
parties will be glad that it is at an end.
AS nearly all the republican senate
rial candidates had already been pledg
ed to Senator Edmunds, the attitude
of the candidates for representative on
the senatorial question became of spec
ial interest. But it was a marked pc
culiarity in this contest that on the
evening preceding the election no one
knew or could ascertain the attitude of
hardly any one of the half dozen re-
publicans named in this town. Col.
Truman C.. Fletcher was the most
prominent among the candidates. Early
in the season he began an aggressive
campaign for the nomination as an
"independent" candidate and was freely
quoted on the one side as a strong
Edmunds man and on the other as
equally strong anti Edmunds, the inn
preston largely prevailing that his
sympathies were in opposition to Sen
atOr Edmunds. L. A. Walker, whose
name was mentioned early in the can
vass, withdrew his name last week and
then the republicans who opposed Col.
Fletcher were all at sea. l.. d. Hazen's
name was at first mentioned in this
connection but finally it was under
stood that Frank Walkers name
would be presented.
Capt. p. ID. BlOdgett's name was
frequently mentioned during the weeks
preceding the election as an anti-Ed-
munds candidate, but as he was known
as a pronounced friend of Col. Fetch
er's candidacy, little attention was Civ
en- to it and no printed ballots were
presented during the election. Tues
day morning DR.. G.. b. Billiard, deter
mining to vote intelligently, brought
out a republican -Edmunds can
didate for town representative" in the
person of Charles A. Sylvester, who,
the DR.. declared, knew what his posi-
ton was and wasn't ashamed to de-
clare it.
The democrats met in caucus Satur-
day evening and after a number of
ballots put in nomination B. G. Howe,
proprietor of the Avenue house. Re-
ports were presented from various
parts of the county which gave evil
dence of divisions in the republican
ranks, out of which the democrats ex-
tracted considerable comfort.
The prOhihitiOnists got together
Monday evening and decided not to
put up a man but to cast their ballots
for l.. ID. HaZen as a temperance man,
without reference to party questions.
The chief interest in county officers
centered in the senatorial and states
who was up for Office this year neither
senatorial candidates Bates nor Bun
ker would announce their position on
the Edmunds question, though the
former was supposed to be tinctured
with the -Edmunds feeling and the
latter to be friendly to the senator.
The three-cornered fight for states
attorney, while not considered close,
was also decidedly interesting. Alex.
Dunnett, the nominee of the republi
can convention, was not satisfactory to
considerable numbers in his own party.
Elisha May, a mugwump and the can
didate of the democrats, seemed likely
to poll the entire democratic strength
and also to draw somewhat from the
republicans, while w. P. Stafford, the
prOhibitionist candidate, who had
spoken during the campaign on the
third party issue in several towns in
the county, seemed likely to draw also
from the regular republican candidate.
Split Tickets.
While no regular split tickets were
printed complete, there were a good
many combinations made up by the
use of "stickers." On the republican
ticket William E. Peck's name was
substituted for C.. A. Bunker for sena-
tor and John ID. Miller was substituted
for j. G. HOvey for assistant judge.
Stickers for w. p. Stafford and Elisha
May were freely distributed to be sub
stituted for Mr.. Dunnett. There were
three or four justice tickets. The first
one had A. j. Wizards name, another
scratched Mr.. Wizards name for AL
bert Worcester, while the prohibition
lists substituted F. V. Powers for Da-
vid Trull and w. S. BOynton for Ed.
L. Hovey. The pencil brigade were
ont in moderate force and some scratch
ing of the quiet kind was INDUCED in.
Election Day.
Tuesday was charming day. The
only clouds apparent were in the no.
rizOn of the candidate, who feared pos
sible defeat. The polls were opened
at 9 o'clock with few voters
present, but the numbers gradually in
creased and large vote was cast be-
fore noon. Summed up, these repre-
were in the field on the first
ballot: Col. Il. c. Fletcher, republi-
can, non -cOmmittal on Edmunds
Francis Walker, republican, position
on Edmunds not declared l.. d. .Ha-
zen, republican, reckoned for Ed
munds c. A. Sylvester, republican,
a..+; EdIanndS Z q Horra Hama