Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-25
GETTING AWAY FROM
CIVIL WAR ISSUES

| The civil War was In The back |
ground ut the opening Of the ls7oI
campaign, but there was nm aftermath
in the stringent legislation contem
| plated by the radicals of the Repuhli
can majority In Congress for the re-
construction of the rehellious Statea
| The program was Violently opposed
by the Democratic, ,party, and this is
sue was prominent In the Delaware
campaign, also there was an additional
element In the Negro vote. The FIT
teenth Amendment had been ratified
although the. Delaware Legislature OIL
| 1869 repudiated II almost nolidly and
with Indignation. but there was mol
way Of preventing the exercise Of thel
suffrage privilege by all Delawarel
| Negroes who we're qualified under the
/ laws Of the State. A few who were
\ qualified through paying county taxi
on property had voted at the muni-
cipal election In Wilmington the year
before, but 1870 marked their first
participation in a state contest
Another interesting feature of this
campaign was the Polly McNattt
movement In Kent county. IN reality
q Democratic revolt against the In
| flexible rule Of the saulsbufys In thal
affairs of the party IN lower Delta
ware. The name attached To theI
movement was derisivey applied by
I the regular Democrats tn the inde-
/ pendents. after a certain old woman Of
that name of hy-gone days whuseI
| husband, BILLY" McNatt, was a we'll
known trimmer at elections. Thel
story was that some politicians went
/ 20 the house, one day, to inquire OIL
Polly" the political status Of her hus-
band, and that her reply was: Well,
when he's with the Nhlgs hpe al
whis. when he's with the Dimmy
Gratis he's a Dimmyerat; and when
| he's by hisself he's the same emery
old blanbety-blank." etc.
Not Mere "KIekers."
But these kent county Independents
were not mere disgruntied "kickefst .
They believed they had occasion tul
resent the party rule of the Sauls- |
burys. The Delaware Gazette, al
strict party organ. while not favorfng
the revolt. said this Of the men whul
we're identified with II With a few
exceptions the institutors OF the
movement are gentlemen of char
aetrr and position in Kent county. #
who have long been recognized ~
fearless. consistent and jealous Dem
ucrata Their party allegiance has
never been suspected aud their pub
lie record il beyond all partisan re-
proach.~
The Kent independents nominated
complete legislative and county /
ticket which was Endorsed by the Re
puhlica MS, But party discipline tri- /
umphed. and the regular Democratic
ticket was successful by a majority /
of about 900.
The Democratic state Convention |
nominated James Ponder OF Milton.
Sussex county, for governor. and re-
nominated Congressman benjamin r.
Biggs. The Wilmington Daily Conn
mercial called Mr., Ponder the baron
Of Broadkiln,' as he was looked upon
as a wealthy man for those days. The
Republican State Convention nomi- |
mated Thomas II. Courscy Of Kent
county for governor. and Joshua Il.
Heald, a progressive business man of
Wilmington. who Is still fondly re-
membered by many for his qualities, /
for Representative in Congress. The
campaign was conducted quite Wig |
orously. but without any special ex-
element and no serious trouble until
election day.
Turbulent Election.
There was much turbulence in Will /
mington during the progress of the
voting due TO the numerous obiec- |
tons by Democrats to the votes of
Negroes and the insistence of Ropub-
lican workers upon having them cast.
Immediately after the closing of the
.aFl~ l.n oil fxFI u
place, Sixth and Walnut streets.
fight occurred between Negroes and
whites which soon assumed the pro-
portions of riot. The Commercial.
in its report of the affair, made nu-
merous naive excuses for the natural
aggravation" of Negroes who had been
opposed in their exercise of the voting
privilege. but admitted that many of
them We're boisterously drunk. Rich
ard Poynter, a well-known silver
platter and citizen who took no ac-
tive participation in politics,-he died
only recently from the effects of Jump
ing from a window at Minquadalel
Home-happened TO be going by at
the time and becoming involved in
the crowd, was attacked by a Negro
and so severely clubbed that for sey-
eral days his life was in danger Knivesl
and pistols were l sed freely, and six
on seven men We're wounded. but none
seriously. Sheriff Richardson. while
endeavoring To restore order, was
slashed by a razor, the blade cutting
his clothes but just missing his flesh.
Governor salisbury, being notified bvl
telegraph of the trouble, wired back
to Sheriff Richardson to summon ALI
assistance necessary to restoring order. 1
but the city police soon got the upper
hand, and the riot came to an end.
Ended In Democratic Victory.
There was disorder and fighting at /
several down-State voting places, and /
at the polls in Odessa. during fight /
between whites and Negroes, John p. I
Cochran, later the Democratic candi- /
date for Governor, was struck on the |
head with a club by Negro and Sc
yerely injured. The assailant escaped /
death at the hands of Mr.. Cochrans |
infuriated friends only by a hasty and
successful flight, However, there /
were no casualties during the day, I
and many good citizens regarded it as
cause for congratulation that the
trouble assumed no greater proper
tions.
The election. as was expected re-