The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1949-02-17
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin

weeks column, as well as To-Day s.
l am indebted to the kindness Oh
Mrs. Virginia Schaub, of South Null
berry st. Hagerstown, who loaned
me her copy of "The Morning
Herald" printed May IA, 1908. A
few of today's items are also from
copies of "The Valley Register"
printed in Middletown before the
beginning of this century and Ion
ed to me by George Petry, of Maui
Evansville.
From Mrs. Schaub's Morning
Herald we have this story about one
of the early automobiles:
Overtaken By Testing Auto
&c. Brandenburg's Wagon BrOk-
en- And His Load of Merchandise
Damaged
Bridgeport, May 12,-While E. {.
Brandenburg, of Wolfsville, was on
his way from Hagerstown with
spring wagon load of merchandise,
he was overtaken by testing auto
mobile. His horse frightened and
ran away, upsetting the wagon, tear
ing the harness and breaking the
wagon, throwing a box of pictures
out on the ground breaking the glass.
The box contained about $40 worth
of goods. The horse was cut from
being caught in some wire. Mr.
Bradenburg was thrown out on his
head and his leg bruised.
In the same paper there is an
other column on politics, headed:
Maryland Will Go Republican
The Independent Democrats Much
Prefer MIR. Taft To William Jen-
nings Bryan
Leading Republicans regard the
outlook for Republican success in
Maryland this fall most encourag-
ing. They base this optimistic feel
ing on the decided opposition of the
business community to Bryan and
anything he represents.
The column then discusses trick
ballots" and other unfair practices
that were prevelant at that time.
One section reads;
Republicans On The Alert
This year the Republicans will be
in a measure handicapped by the
abolition of the sample ballot in
the Wilson law counties and the
usual imposition of trick ballots. e.
and while they expect to be defraud-
ed of a number of votes, they say
they will poll enough to insure a
comfortable majority.
Then follows description of how
many ballots were indiscriminately
thrown out; the tone of this article
tells us that the Morning Herald of
1908, as it is today, must have been
Republican. 1t reads in part, as
follows:
In Southern Maryland and in
Eastern Shore counties, where Re
publican majorities are obtained, the
Democrat judges threw out ballots
by the wholesale no matter how
nearly perfect many of them were.
Of course, the Republicans could veto
the count of Democratic tickets for
the same reason, but they lost in
the long run, for as a rule, three Re
publican ballots went by the board
to every one cast by Democrat. .
However, relief from this I'M
justice was seen in the following
paragraph of the same article, where
it is shown that statutory change
would offset the disadvantage of not
having sample ballots for those who
could not read:
The CrOss-Mark Helps
Whatever losses they may sustain
because of the abolition of the sample
ballots will be made up by the change
in the law which permits the intent
of the voter to govern so far as the
cross mark is concerned. There
will be no more throwing out of bal
lots because the lines of the cross
extend beyond the square. 1t mat
tiers not how the mark may be form
ed, the judges will be obligated to
count it provided it is properly plac-
ed.
It seems from the remainder of
the paragraph that this was the first
time that only one mark was neces-
sary to vote the ballot if the voter
wished to vote straight ticket.
A few other types of items picked
from this early Herald are:
Mr.. and Mrs. John L. Nicodeemus
Wprp DRIVING IN p0toy,nao CfYoof apJ