Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-11
AT THE POLLING PLACES.
Plenty of Shouting, Excitement and
Hard WOrk-VOters Stood in n
Pouring Rain for Hours.

The Republicans of Kansas City deserved
better weather than they got yesterday for
their primaries, but never in the history of
the party did they show such determine
ton to overcome any temporary obstacles
which had been placed in their way. Wet
weather is proverbially Democratic weather
and it is fortunate for Kansas City Re
publicans that yesterday was not election
day. bad day always brings out the
Democrats in full force, but the desperate
earnestness of the Republicans of this city
was never better illustrated than yesterday.
All day long in a drizzling, and at times.
soaking rain. they stood in lines at each of
the twenty-eight voting precincts and. with
a determination amounting to doggedness.
a persistency worthy of their cause, they
stayed until they cast their votes
They seemed to realize the i'm, i'm,
man was determined to do his share toward
placing before the people of Greater Kan
sas city the ticket which, in his opinion,
would be the cleaEest and the strongest.
The drizZle which began about an hour
before the time for the opening of the polls
soon settled into ste steady n ram: winch men con- con-
ceased in time for the o'clock vote: The
weather man must have been in league
rich harvest and many hundreds of voters
were taken to the polls who would other
wise not have voted. The stay-at-homeS
were of course much more numerous
than they would have been had the weather
been good, but scores of business men
braved the thoroughly disagreeable weather
however. and a great many persons at each
polling place who were pressed for time
were unable to vote at all.
The primaries were not without incident,
but they were without friction and. barring
some enthusiastic talking at most of the ,,
polling places there were no incidents at all
disturbance.
The fact that all the five charter officers
and members of the lower house We're NOM
mated by direct vote al the primaries added
more interest to the election than was the
case at the Democratic primaries of Mon
day, where only few scattering officers
were nominated by direct vote. The con-
test for mayor had settled down between
Mayor Jones and John J. Green. The former
seemed to have the best of the argument
in the matter of hacks and workers. though
there was no lack of either in the interest
of Mr.. Green. Few Bishop hacks We're seen
about the polls.
The contest was carried on in a much
more friendly spirit than had been expected
in view of the feeling that had been engen-
dered during the ante-primary, canvass.
There were occasional wordy clashes be-
tween the enthusiastic supporters of each
of the rival candidates, but the rain seemed
to have dampened the powder which many
had feared would be on hand ready to de-
yeIop into an unpleasant explosion.
The vote after o'clock was a heavy one,
and when the polls closed there were many
persons in several of the districts who We're
unable to vote. The intense interest taken
in the election was manifested by the fact
that at most OF the polling places voters
stood in long lines throughout the day. and
there was hardly district where this was
not the case. In some of the more sparsely
settled wards, the voters We're able to cast
their ballots without tedious waits. For
some reason the voting proceeded very
slowly in some of the heaviest districts,
and this retarded the voting considerab bly,.
But the voters were both determined and
patient. and there was little grumhlng.
Only those who were utterly unable to
spare the time for a prolonged wait left
without casting their ballots.
The cry raised in interested quarters that
the Democrats would try to vote in large
| numbers at the primaries proved entirely
| without foundation. There were very few
| challenges for this reason, and surpris-
| ingly small number for any other. Most
| of the challenges were Of persons who had