The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1903-10-16
MRS. DESMOND GETS NAG.
Prize Animal is Given to New
Mistress.
FINAL MAJORITY is JUST 1,ts1.
Every Ballot Cast Since First Day
Was Recounted by Mr.. Eble, and
the Prize is Awarded-Miss Lucy
Shaffer Made Strong Showing.

the Prize is Awarded-Miss Lucy
Shaffer Made a Strong Showing.
Mrs. Elsie Desmond of Norfolk
will drive Mag, her horse and will
ride in the handsome rubber tired
runabout given away by The News to
the most popular lady in north Ne
braska. The contest closed at 12
o'clock noon yesterday and Mrs.
Desmond wins the prize by major
ity of l,lSl-seventy-two more than at
first announced. Miss Lucy Shaffer
was very close second.
Mag was driven to the home of her
new mistress, corner Nebraska av.
enue and Tenth street, today and is
now no longer an ownerless animal.
A Busy Day.
Yesterday was strenuous day
for The News. 1t was the busiest
balloting you ever saw and it lasted
until the last minute All morning
long and all the afternoon the two
telephones in the building were kept
constantly ringing by persons inter
ested on one side or the other in the
outcome of the contest. Shortly af-
ter the ballot box had been closed at
noon the bell began to ring almost
incesantly and queries began to come
as to who got the horse and buggy.
During the morning for two hours
previous to noon the business Office
was thronged with people paying
their old subscriptions and new ones,
and casting their coupons. Mrs. Des-
mond and Miss Shaffer were both
present to watch the close. At two
minutes before 12 o'clock, Miss Shat
fer deposited over 10000 votes. The
ballots for Mrs. Desmond had been
coming in in small lots and large ones
all morning. Miss Shaffer had most
of hers to cast herself and these went
in at the final instant
When the hands of the clock came
together the contest was declared
closed. The ballots were given over
to the care of the three judges,
Hazen, Eble and Fain to be counted.
Contestants Lunch Together.
|
Miss Shaffer accepted an invitation
from Mrs. Desmond for lunch and to-
gether they went to down town
cafe for the noon hour Miss Shaffer
returned to watch the count during
the afternoon.
At l o'clock the judges began to
work in earnest. They canvassed the
ballots thoroughly and then went
over them again. In a few cases bad
ballots were found and these were
thrown out Every coupon to be
good had to correspond with credits
bear the signature of some author.
lied person from the Office. In this
way there was an absolute check
upon all of the voting.
The result showed that Mrs. Des.
mond had won the contest by 1,109
votes. This result was obtained by
adding the coupons cast Thursday to
those which were published in the
paper for the six months preceding.
The Thursdays vote stood for Miss
Shaffer 40,S0O, and for Mrs. Desmond
37,479. The count preceding had reg
istered for Mrs. Desmond 1881 and
for Miss Shaffer 27,551.
Before the contest closed the three
judges had agreed to accept the count
of The News as shown previous to
Thursday. These coupons had been
counted every day since the start
had been carefully sealed separately
and had been registered on the out
side of the several packages. They
chose however, to let the result
stand.
Mr.. Shaffer Not Satisfied.
When the result was announced by
the judges and when it was seen thai
the margin was so very slight that
even four daily subscriptions for q
year would have shifted the owner
ship of Mag, Mr.. Shaffer stated that
he would like to know where all Of
the votes came from to give Mrs
Desmond a majority. He had heard
rumors that the contest was unfair
With this remark The News deter
mined that every single ballot which
had been cast since the beginning