Evening journal., 1916-11-10
3 NIGHTS ELECTION
VIGIL now HISTORY

Three election nights one after an
other, and Presidential election nights at
that, was thing that may never be OK
perenced again by the youngest voter
in this country. and ii will be an occn-
sion to talk about for years hence
Forty eight hours behind time with the
returns and fortv-eieht hours of waiting
made a nerve racking, nerye-cracking ex-
perience that the average citizen does
not care TO 20 through agani soon If a
blizzard had swooped down upon the
country and put telegraph and telephone
lines out of commission the uncertainty
as TO the results could not have been
more pronounced than they were We'd
nesday and yesterday
AS a result Of the contest American
voters have learned one thing. which
is that the election of a President can
be settled somewhere else than in the
East and the Middle West. and that
New York, Illinois and Indiana are
no longer able to swing the pendulum
one way or the other.
Tuesday night was exciting enough.
but every man was expecting to get
excited and worked up election night
and had stored away energy enough
to carry him through But when the
returns as shown by THE EVENING
JOURNALS phone, bulletin board
and megaphone service began to favor
Wilson and the Democratic ticket and
the election gave every sign of being
a close one the crowds began to search
for its second wind, and those who
went TO bed at all got up Wednesday
morning prepared 10 learn any old
thing
And they learned it. Early morning
reports yesterday showed that the
presidential result was In doubt;
States that had been safely counted
for the President had slipped their
moorings and landed in the Hughes
column. while New Hampshire in
old rock-ribbed New England. had
apparently Topped to the President
North Dakota, too which had gone to
bed apparently safe for Hughes, had
reversed itself and was with Wilson
as the morning hours heightened
Then began a repetition OF the
scenes of the night before Men stay
ed away from their work: boys forPot
to go to school; women met in the
stores and eagerly asked one another
what they thought the outcome would
be. The whole city was on the anX-
ious seat and could talk of little else.
Merchants waited on their customers
with one eye and one ear for them and
the other eye on the bulletin board
of THE EVENING JOURNAL and the
other ear strained to catch the an
nouncements made by the megaphone
man.
The crowds around the bulletin
board hung there all day long, and as
the news was given out, showed joy
or sorrow depending On their sym
pathies. II was a shifting crowd. al
though many of the men seemed to
have found a spot in front of THE
EVENING JOURNAL Building and
stuck fast The night brought a
tenseness TO the situation that was
reflected in the drawn faces of the
waiting thronghs or broke on in
scenes of noisy enthusiasm and
parades.
Then came another day as nerve
racking and wearing as the preceding
day when a final announcement as to
the result was looked for every min
ute. The worst feature of the situa-
ton was that the returns that came
in showed the contest to be so close
that neither side could feel assured
that his party was going to be vic.
torious until late evening, whens the
telegraph wires flashed the news that
in all probability Wilson had won.
But the announcement was received
with a silence and lack of demonstra-
tion on the part Of Wilmingtonians
that was due only to the fact that the
winning faction had spent most Of its
energy the night before and was Will
ing to accept the result quietly.