The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-09
HOW THE VOTE WAS CAST
1T WAS QUITE LIGHT IN MOST
WARDS IN THE FORENOON.
Negroes Kept Away from the Polls
by the DemOcrats-"BiII"
FIynn's Scrap.

All day long the knowing ones made pre-
dictions as to the result of the election in
this city, but because of several strange and
new features of the situation it seemed i'm
possible for anyone to make a statement
that was based upon any good reasons. The
Republican county committee had it's usual
well-equipped bicycle couriers at work
bringing reports from the various precincts
at different times in the day These re-
ports told strange tales. The returns from
the Third and Sixth wards, where the col
ored vote is the heaviest, showed less than
half the entire vote polled at o'clock. and
the precinct committeeman invariably re-
ported that it was the colored vote that
was lacking Carriages were sent after
these absent ones, but in most cases they
could not be found at home or at their
places of employment This seemed to give
color to the story that had been talked for
several hours, that the Democrats were
paying the colored men to stay away ard
not vote. Several colored men said the
Democrats were offering $3.50 to keep men
from the polls 1t was quite evident that
something not Of the usual order was keep
ing them away, for many of them who
were known to be in town were not seen
all day.
On the other hand the South-side wards
did their full duty, it seemed to those
watching the course of events. Early in the
day the Republicans and those Democrats
known to favor the Republican ticket were
out ard cast their ballots, but the Demo-
Gratis seemed not to care. At O'Clock re-
ports of the South-side vote showed that
much larger per cent. of the Republican
vote had been cast than of the Democrats.
The reports also showed that the Demo-
Gratis were remaining a long time in the
voting booths, which indicated that they
were not satisfied with the ticket as their
party had made it up and were scratching
out a ticket to suit themselves. The Re-
publicans usually do the most scratching,
but this year it seemed that the order was
reversed on the South Side. While all were
confident that the Republicans were sue
cessful, when the polls closed, there was
much speculation as to the result on &C
count of the many new and novel condi-
tons that had arisen during the day.
The first experience in this State of using
the blue pencil for marking the ballots, in
stead of rubber stamp, as had been the
law before this year. developed the fact that
pencils will break and that reserve sup
ply should be provided for each precinct.
Several gross Of extra pencils were bought
early yesterday morning by the election
commissioners and distributed to the vot-
ing precincts. There were some other trou-
bles also encountered, but all were readily
overcome. None of the surplus supply of
ballots were called for but in several in
stances blank affidavits were sent for by
THE BIG FIRST.
The big First ward voted slowly. So
many Of the men of the ward, especially in
the Brightwood section of it, are laboring
men that the polling officials sat idly by
the better part of the day and worked hard
between and 6 o'clock to handle the vot-
ers who had just quit work. The precincts
in the extreme north of the ward are very
large and thinly settled, and this contributed
to the causes'of delaying the vote The Re-
publicans from the first in this ward were
satisfied with the prospect The vote came
in steadily and indications were that few
of the Republican voters would fail to ap-
pear. There was little challenging and no
bad feeling was shown. 1t was thought re-
markable that in such a spirited contest as
yesterdays the balloting should move so
smoothly
TWO REPUBLICAN STRONGHOLDS.
The Second and Third wards are the two
heaviest Republican wards in Indianapolis,
and in many of the precincts the majority
of the vote was out by noon, but there
were few prophets willing to predict that
it was straight Republican vote, for there
was a great deal of scratching, particularly
in that part of the Third ward which is
in the neighborhood of Mr.. Johnsons home,
but this was no great surprise, for in years
past Mr.. Johnson has been strong among
the Republicans in his own immediate
neighborhood. Towards the afternoon a
large portion of the delinquent Republican
vote began to show up in the Second ward.
The managers grew hopeful. The colored
precincts in the Third ward gave the Re-
publicans the most distress These precincts
are on the west side of the ward, and most
of the voters in them are colored men. Re-
publican workers boldly charged that Demo-
Gratis had bribed colored men to stay away
from the polls, having no faith that they
would vote the Democratic ticket even If
paid TO do so. Even rail birds" were
scarce. Candidate Koehne covered this ward
and was very active throughout the day.
Several times word was sent down to the
county committee that 1t was impossible to
find many of the negroes who usually voted
the Republican ticket, and the opinion was
general that these precincts would show
Republican losses.
VOTE OF THE FOURTH AT NOON.
About two-thirds of the votes in the
Fourth ward were polIed before noon, and
the entire vote was unusually heavy. In one
or two precincts of the district occupied
chiefly by colored men the vote was small.
In the twelfth precinct the vote was light,
and very little stir of any kind was mani
fest. In the eighth precinct there were
large number who remained away from the
polls until a late hour and quite a number
did not come in at all. At o'clock only
about one-half of the voters had appeared
Almost without exception the votes rushed
in at the other precincts. Both parties were
remained away. OF ali who stayed away
in the entire ward the predominance seemed
slightly Democratic. At all of the voting
places the men were quiet and no boisterous
conduct was visible at any point. There
seemed to be more than the usual earnest
ness, but there were no evidences of any i'll
feeling upon the part of any one There
were very few challenges and there was lit
tie trouble or discussion concerning the
right of any person to vote. While the poll
ticians of both parties worked eagerly to
get the votes of their respective parties out
they did not use any methods to throw out
the just votes of their opponents. The evil
dence pointed to a great deal of scratching
among both the white and the colored peo-
pie Especially in the precinct occupied by
the colored voters the officials expected
long tedious count.
THE FIFTH AND SIXTH.
The Fifth ward which is very large in
point of territory, turned out a fair-sized
vote on both sides of the river At some Of
the polls the voters began to gather at day
break. There was little challenging during