The Grenada sentinel., 1903-11-07
Rock,RssEp MISSISSIPPI.
Light Vote Polled IN the State, Only
One Office sReinu Contested.

One: O1fice Being Contested.
Jackson. Miss, Nov. 3.-The elec-
tion in Mississippi today was prehaps
the !Quietest on record whore there was
contest on the ticket. The general
rule all over the State has been lack
OF interest, and it is highly probable
that nearly One-half Of the boxes were
not opened at all. From present in
dications the total vote cast will not
exceed 10000.
The lack of interest can only be at
tributed to the fact that the people of
the State have been through one of
the most strenuous! and exciting con-
tests in the history of the Democratic
party. This was the recent party pri-
mary election for State officers and
United States senator. Interest in the
primary centered in the governor and
ty nomination was equivalent to an
election, the people Of the State, were
thoroughly aroused and fors ten
months the battle was waged with un-
remittlng zeal on the part Of the va
rious contestants. This primary cleo.
tion exhausted the people and today
they refused to turn out and have any
more politics" in theirs. What little
interest was manifested was due to
the fact that there was an open race
for clerk of the Supreme Court, caused
by the death Of Capt. e. w. Brown,
the regular party nominee, shortly
after the primary which declared him
the choice of the Democracy for that
position. There were six candidates
In the race for clerk of the Supreme
Court, and the race was left open. The
State executive committee refused to
al <l@
too short. None of the six contestants
felt able to make a canvass of the
State, and the battle has been fought
in the mails. but their efforts in this
line have been met with = general
apathy on the part of the voters Of the
State and less than a. third of the
voters who participated in the recent
primaries took part in the present
election
This rule of general apathy has,
however, been marked with notable
exceptions in certain counties where
real warm fight was precipitated by
reason of the fact that Independent
candidates went before the people
against the regular party nominees.
In these counties very full vote has
ben polled. Those counties where in
dependents were on the ticket were Ad-
tested; Amite, where the sheriff was
contested; Tate, where the circuit
clerk was contested, and Lincoln,
where the county treasurer was con-
tested. Several other counties also
had contests for beat officers and Yalo-
busha furnished contest for one
member of the legislature. In all OF
these independent contests the Repub-
licans went to the polls and cast their
votes for the independents. This move
was doubtless due to advice from the
party chiefs and was done with a view
to encouraging splits in the Democrat
ic ranks. In such counties, therefore,
where the contests have been close the
independent candidates, it successful,
will owe their elections to the Repub-
lican vote.
There was no contest for any of the
State Offices except that of. clerk of the
Supreme Court, and in this case only
Democrats we're in the race. The re-
turns, while very meager, indicate
that the race for Supreme Court clerk
will be between Myers and Walton.
No election, however, can take place
with so many candidates in the field,
and without doubt the filling of this
Office will be thrown into the legisla-
ture, as under the law the successful
must poll a majority of both
the popular and electoral vote Of the
State, and this, under the circum-
stances is conceded to be an fmpossi-
bility. III --:-s.: s....7 ::..7':