The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1908-08-26

through the whirling political rapids
!of the new states successfully; and
Edmunds' prediction came true. AL
len had been United States distri 3.
attorney for Washington, had repre-
sented the state in the lower house
was admitted to the union in 1899,
was returned as one of her first two
senators, drawing the short term of
two years.
He came up for reelection in the
winter of 1929. George Turner
of Spokane, an able lawyer, then a
Republican, was a candidate against
him, and the Northern Pacific lobby
fought Allen bitterly. There were
more than enough Republican legis-
lators pledged to Allen, who was the
popular choice, to nominate him in
caucus, but caucus was prevented.
Ankeny had gone to Olympia, the
state capital, to do some quiet work
in the railroad interests, and while
there was drawn into the senatorial
fight. He was induced to put up the
money to defeat Allen, the candidate
from his own town, in order that he
might grasp the prize himself as
soon as the state could rub it's eyes
and accustom itself to the spectacle
of his candidacy. The cost to him
was nominal, something like $4,000
it was about the first money used
in senatorial politics in Washington
but the cost to the state, morally
and politically, has been sufficient
The state was without representation
in part for two years. Allen, who
had come within three votes of cleo
ton, was appointed by the governor
after the legislature adjourned, there
being no election, but the senate of
course, refused to seat Allen.
Ankeny's senatorial aspirations
were looked upon as joke in Walla
Walla and in Washington generally
when he announced himself as can
didate in 1895. George Turner of
Spokane was again candidate. Con-
gresham John l.. Wilson also an
nounced himself as candidate. John
B. Allen had moved from Walla
practice of law, and was not an active
aspirant
Ankeny's first political manager
was ]. H. Coblenz, warden of the
penitentiary at Walla Walla. The
prisoners manufactured jute bags for
sale to the farmers, and Coblenz was
discovered to be short in his accounts
to the extent of $4,000. He claimed
to have used the money to advance
Ankeny's political interests, with the
understanding that he was to be re-
imbursed by Ankeny. While the Of
ficer who had come to arrest him was
waiting for Coblenz in his office at
the penitentiary, Coblenz went down
B. c. Van Houten of Spokane then
became Ankenys leading manager.
He went about organizing the state
on cash basis, final payment con-
tingent on the delivery of the votes
in the legislature of 1895.
The Failure of Ankeny's First
VOte-Buyer.
Frank Mussiter, an itinerant and
overbrilliant newspaper man, was
Van Houten's lieutenant in this
work. Mussiter learned in an adroit
way from Ankeny how much Ankeny
was checking out to Van Houten;
then he did some figuring. He
checked up the amounts Van Houten
was paying the legislative members,
and found they were being short
changed. He went to Van Houten
and demanded $4,000 hush money
Van Houten went to his trunk in his
hotel at the capital and got the
money. Mussiter, pledging to Van
f1Outeu MS WOTu TO take rig JndC
night. catch an overland train at
Tenino, leave the state and never
come back. vanished. and has not
been seen in Washington since. Van
Houten's story was that Mussiter left
the room, where he had gone with
the money to pay the legislators. by
dropping several feet to the ground
from rear window, taking with him
much larger sum than Musster
claimed to have got. 1t got to be
common knowledge that the price of
Ankeny votes in the lower house was
$1,000 and in the upper house $500.
Patrick Henry Winston, one of
John L. Wilson's supporters, drew
Wilson aside one day. Winston took
out piece of paper and began to
figure. Fifty-seven votes were re-
quired to elect Ankeny had forty
nj gb Wilson ho1 rina tsAn1-apu