The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1911-11-03
Incident of Election of 1876

SSSNNAo vi III -. A44uCA
of New York. He had carried his
" state, as well as Indiana and Con-
nectfcut. SO that it was apparent that
II his party had held the solid south.
he would be elected. An hour later.
and dispatches began to come into
the Times office from all parts Of the
country reporting that the election of
Tflden had been conceded by a ma
jority of the Republican newspapers
OF the country. and also at almost all
OF the Republican state headquarters.
With this flood of dispatches be-
fore them. the election of Tflden was
being generally conceded in the Times
Office. and 1t has always been my i'm
preston that the paper began to pre-
pare to b election of Til
dO. For the purpose Of sending a
final dispatch to the Republican state
committee of Connecticut, informing
1t Of the triumph of the Democracy.
! took the proof slips of the election
returns and from them made two
tables. One contained the list of
states which had beyond a question
given a majority vote to either Tilden
or Hayes. The other table contained
a list Of the doubtful states. -
AS l finished making the tables Mr
Reid passed through the room. I call
ed HIS attention to my tables and ask
ed him if he had heard from South
Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. He
replied that nothing definite had been
heard from those states.
But" l said. If those three states
have given a majority to Hayes. then
he will be elected by one vote, C
cording to these tables"
Mr.. Reid grabbed up my tables.
looked eagerly at them, and without
saying a word walked away with my
memoranda. saw that he was sud-
denly 1aboring under much excite
ment. It interested me for a moment.
then l prepared a dispatch to the Re-
publican state committee of Connect
cut. in which l stated that the re-
turns to the New York Times showed
that the election was in doubt and
that II the three southern states Of
South Carolina. Florida and Louisiana
had gone Republican, then Mr.. Hayes
was elected by n vote.
Some time after the telegram had
been written and sent, MI. Reid again
passed through the room. l saw that
he vas keyed up to an intense pitch
of excitement. Later. I learned the
reason. Between the time I had show
ed him my memoranda and his return
to the room. he had been to the Fifth
Avenue hotel with my tables and
showed them to William E.. Chandler,
then secretary of the Republican ma
tional committee. AS a result of the
conference that followed, Mr.. Reid
sent out the now historic telegram
urging the Republican committees in
the three states in question to claim
everything, and a little later the
Times was issued with the headline
that the Republicans had triumphed
and Hayes was elected by one vote.
That telegram and the action Of
| William E.. Chandler, as secretary Of
| the Republican national committee.
caused doubts Instantly to be raised
and the presidential contest to be be-
gun, q contest which was not deter
mined until the electoral commission
created by congress had decided that
| the Hayes electors had triumphed in
the states of Florida. South Carolina
and Louisiana. thereby electing Hayes
by n vote.
Copyright. 1911. by e. J.. Edwards. A
! Rights Reserved.)