The Portland daily press., 1900-03-08
Result Of Election OyerShadOWcd in
Importance.
Mr.. Frye Got There All
Right.
But With Only Three More Votes
Than Opponent.

There are three questions which 10 viii
be dangerous to argue In ward nine 70
day. One OF these Ia "when does the 18th
century end" another Is the Boer wsr,
and the third will be how many votss
had John ]. Frye, the Republican canoi-
date for alderman who was yesterday
elected to represent that ward by very
small margin to spare.
All will admit that the margin was a
small one. but as several people have dis
covered 10 Is unwise to attempt to figure
out just how many votes Mr.. Frye had to
spare and still have enough to elsct.
MIR. Eyre recei we'd eos of the votes cast.
Mr.. Watkins had BOT and the Prohibition
candidate, Mr.. Davis had Eve. This WINS
the seconi election In ward nine. The
first one was tied mp by the unusually
large Prohibition vnte. The second one
came within an ace of being tied up for
the same cause. 1t was one OF the liveliest
days that ward nine has seen since
Portland was annexed to Morrill's corner.
II began about eight o'clock and every
nook and corner Of that big ward which
covers almost as much territory as did
the entire city of Old Portland was raked
and scraped to bring out Republicans
and Democrats, who have almost bsen
forgotten before yesterday. The whole
number of votes thrown was COZ with
eight defective ballots. just how these
ballots were made defective when there
was only one OF three names upon them
to mark 1t Is difficult to tell. Bat even
people in ward nlns haven't learned all
there Is to the Australian ballot law yet.
All day long the tireless workers
hustled for Mr.. Frye and equally diligent
workers hustled for Mr.. Watkins. There
were many Issues in the air, but though
they were worked FIRST this way and then
that and the arguments sometimes be-
came heated the voters Of ward nine did
not forget that they are the descendants
OF thcss men who onos voted In the city
of Deering before the paths were paved
through the wilderness or the fire engine
horses had forgotten how to drag a road
machine and they lived up to the ira
ditions Of thoss goud old days and were
m lid in their language and calm In their
demeanor. The day drew to q close but
the excitement did not. Ths horses were
still gcing and now this man was said
to be In the lead and theI the other man.
Promptly at Ave o'clock the polls were
closed and the counting tegan. The re-
suit was ms has been stated above. John
]. frye the Republican candidate had.
eos votes. Ernest l.. Watkins had 2s7.
The Prohibition candidate s. q. Davis
had five oloss friends who voted for him
II not for the principle of the thing for
we are loeth to believe that there are only
nvs Prohibitionisss left in ward nine
sincs Mondays election. There were also
eight detective 5allots. presumably cas- t
by trimmers.
This wal the way the vote fig u-ed up,
but then came the questions as to the ma
joIity. Ii was evident that he ad
majority but that was not satisfactory to
the argumsntatiTs people of ward nine.
How many votes did he have which he
could spare AID still nave q majority.
Some say that he had two to spare.
Others contend that he had one to spare.
1t Is worse than the end Of the century
problem, to which there IL but one solu-
tion, but still people write communica-
tions about 1t and get red in the face
when talking about 1t. This Is the way
some figure up MIR. Eyes votes to spare;
Whole number votes cast. COZ
Necessary for choice, 9O4
John J. Frye had. sO0
Ernest l.. Watkins had 26
Prohibition Candidate.
BY this way of reckoning Dir. Frye had
one vote to spare.
Now for the other side Of the question.
MIR. Watkins vots added to that OF the
Prohibition candidate amounts to 800. II
Mr.. Frye had received SO3 votes he would
have been elected ana therefore, having
received eos votes he had two more than
he needed. Think 1t over and tell your
friends about 10 but don't get mad.
At any rate ward nine has Rspubli-
can delegation with John ]. Frye at the