The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-07
RESULT OF THE VOTE
Election Returns From Several Cite;
of the State.
HELENA ENDORSES STEELE
Missoula Goes Republican,; Great
Falls. Demoorat-PopulIst; Hell
ena, Mixed-Contests We're
Generally Very Quiet.
Special Dispatch to the Standard.

Great Falls. April 6.-Election day
opened with a clouded sky and close
sultry weather which promised rain
At an early hour the candidates were
out and rustling. seeing that the wires
laid during the week had not been
tampered with. Weakened voters
were seen and their joints stiffened up
that Is II talking has any virtue. Dur
ing the week the air has been full of
schemes and counter schemes. yet up
on the whole ii has been a very clean
campaign for aldermanic honors.
About the only dirty work done has
been in the Second ward by some of the
A. p. A. candidates who have INDUCED
to their hearts content in mud singing
and reprehensible practices. All of the
candidates have put in hard work.
Every voter has been seen during the
week and each ward thoroughly can
vassed. The registration which closed
at 10 O'Clock Saturday night showed
total of 1907, which is 3S1 less than last
year, but as only four aldermen were
to be voted for this year the registra-
tion is considered very good for an OFF,
year in politics. The A. p. AS went
into the fight strongly organized and
determined to capture the four wards.
Nothing which they could do to insure
the success of their ticket had been
left undone. All sorts Of conditions and
influence had been made to win the
election. One man in the Second ward
was promised a job for himself and
friends provided he would vote the A.
p. A. ticket Upon being asked by a
man to whom he was telling his good
luck, If he would swear to II, he sud-
denly remembered the corrupt prac-
tices act and denied that he ever said
any such thing.
Sunday night the story was current
that the A. p. AS had hired every bus,
carriage and livery team they could
get in the city. Investigations at the
different stables developed the fact
that such was the case. although they
had been ostensibly hired for invalids
and cripples. Such a foolhardy viola
tion of the corrupt practices act was
most dangerous experiment as IL would
have insured the arrest of the entire A.
p. A. and republican committee and
candidates. Wiser counsel prevailed
and the liverymen did not reap the
promised harvest.
To-day was Great Falls first trial of
the new ballot law and the result is
upon the whole very satisfactory. Dur
ing the morning ii was as quiet and
orderly around the polling booths as at
a funeral and only in a very few in
stances did any voter profess Ignorance
of the new method of voting. The po-
each booth had a sinecure. The saloons
were closed at a. m. and remained so
until p. m, when the voting stopped.
AS a general thing the law in this re-
spect was observed, but II is said that
there were a few back doors open. The
bond question seemed to cut very little
ice in comparison with the contest for
aldermanic honors, although at times
Ii would become the subject of rather
discussion
ticularly in the Fourth ward, where It
seemed to be much more of an issue
than in the others. Up to noon a very
light vote had been cast, but from that
time on affairs frightened up and the
fight began in earnest.
The polls were closed promptly at
o'clock and the result was announced
two hours later amid the widest en-
thusiasm on the part of the democrats
and populists. The vote in the different
wards was as follows:
First ward
r. j. Fitzgerald, dem-pop.. ITO
j. w. Roberts, rep................ 80. IS
Fitzgerald's majority 81
Second ward
]. G. G. Thompson. dem-pop. .......... .103
c. e. Thayer, rep. ................ SIS
Thompson's MAJORITY. ........ IS
Third ward
Frank Marion. dem-pop. .10s
K. v. Rubottom.... ..................1 .104
-
Marion's majority..... ............... s
Fourth ward
]. j. Mcdonnell, dem-pop.. 1868
G. L. Grove, rep. 200
McDonnelrs majority ty................. 63
The result surprised the most SAN
guine hopes of the democrats and popu-
lists. and they are tonight the hap
piest people in Montana. The streets
are filled with them and ringing cheers
for the successful candidates can be
heard from one side OF the city to the
other. The A. p. A. element is cores
pondingly depressed. They Understood
that they were making the struggle of
their life and this defeat. absolute and
complete is a Waterloo from which
which they cannot recover. There is al
so a faction of the republicans who are
not so very sorry that A. p. Aism has
had a crushing rebuke.
The bond vote was in favor. by a
large majority. of issuing the $4,000
bonds and taking UP the floating indebt-
edness of the city.