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Audubon County |
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CHAPTER VII.POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS.From History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915)
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A majority of the first settlers were of Southern extraction. And so, at the first presidental election, in 1856, James Buchanan received fifty-six votes, while John C. Fremont received but twenty-nine votes. In 1860 Stephen A. Douglas received eighty- four votes, and Abraham Lincoln, but thirteen. In 1864 George B. McClellan received sixty-one votes, and Lincoln, but twenty-three. It is a fact that there have been few exceptions since the organization of the county when members of both parties did not hold some of the county offices. The first acquaintance the writer had with political affairs in the county was in 1865, when the Democrats made a clean sweep and elected all of the county officers. In celebration of that event, the officerselect gave a supper at the Perry hotel. It was a merry affair, with a dance attached. Some of those who attended the supper were: John S. Jenkins, Benjamin F. Jenkins, Isaac H. Jenkins, Nathaniel Hamlin, Thomas S. Lewis, A. B. Houston, Daniel Crane, John Crane, Albert I. Brainard, P. I. Whitted, Richard Gault, Urbane Herrick and Hendrick R. Smith. The names of others are forgotten. They had not only a noble table spread, but also an abundance of "liquid inspiration." When the company were about to sit down to the "temporal blessings," "Uncle" John Jenkins, county judge-elect, was called on for a speech. Now "Uncle Johnny" was not noted for lengthy orations, and so he gave this sentiment: "I am Judge Jenkins, from Kentucky, and the father of this supper, sirs, by G--! Now, gentlemen, take hold," and the supper proceeded. Elections were held in the county annually until 1906. About half of the officers, whose terms were for two years, were elected in one year, and the remainder in the following year, and so on in succession. Not until about 1878-9 was a delegate convention held in the county. It was the custom for any voter who desired, to attend and take part in the conventions of his party. The meetings were sometimes sparsely attended. The first convention ever attended by the writer was at Exira in the fall of the year 1866, wholly a novel experience, and without the slightest idea of being a candidate for office. It was convened in the old school house, with very few in attendance, among whom were the chairman, J. L. Frost, Deacon Lyman Bush and Andrew M. Hardy. It was a very informal meeting. Several were suggested and discussed as candidates. Mr. Hardy asked me if I would accept the nomination for recorder. I said that I had no knowledge of the duties of the office. Without much discussion, it was put to vote and I was formally nominated. Darius Barlow, who was not present, was nominated in the same manner for clerk, and the meeting adjourned with an informal understanding that the ticket was to be filled out later. Barlow declined to accept the nomination, and John A. Hallock was afterwards substituted by common consent. Washington Bartlett was put on the ticket for supervisor in the same way. The vote on recorder that year stood seventy-eight to sixty-nine, in my favor, which was considered overwhelming! Mr. Bartlett was also elected, but Hallock was defeated. The ballots that year for Exira and Oakfield township were written by hand with pens by John A. Hallock, George A. Dissmore and H. F. Andrews. In 1867 the Republican ticket, so far as recalled, was: Charles Van Gorder, for treasurer; David L. Anderson, for sheriff; J. L. Frost, for surveyor. The Democratic ticket was: Amherst Heath, for county judge; A. B. Houston, for treasurer; John Huntley, for sheriff; P. I. Whitted, for surveyor. The entire Democatic ticket was elected. The vote on the state ticket stood ninety-two to eighty, in favor of the Democrats. The principal fight on the county ticket was over the office of treasurer. Mr. Houston was a wily, crafty, tricky politician. He had the rare faculty of concealing his designs. No man in this county ever better understood the method. He was experienced; had been in partnership with Mr. Hamlin for several years; had held the offices of county judge and deputy clerk of court, and was then holding the office of treasurer. He was backed by the Hamlin influence, was the leading merchant in the county, and had many influential friends by reason of business relations. Van Gorder was justly popular as a young man, and especially on account of his soldier record; but he had no previous political experience, and had made no special canvass for the office. While the party majority was against him, ninety-two to eighty, he was defeated by twenty-six votes, a signal defeat at the time. It was accomplished by a trick. Word was quietly passed around on election day by the Democrats that he was not competent for the office, and was only a brickmaker, etc., and that if elected, John A. Hallock, an unpopular man, was to be appointed his deputy to conduct the business of the office. Not a word of it was true. The Republicans did not discover the fraud until too late to remedy the attack. They were caught napping without a chance of defense, and the scheme succeeded as intended. In the spring of 1868 the Republican convention was called by the chairman, J. L. Frost, to meet at the Green school house. A few members attended under the call, transacted the business, amongst which H. F. Andrews was appointed chairman of the central committee, and adjourned. In due time, the new chairman called the county convention for nomination of county officers, etc., to meet at the Green school house, which was followed by a similar notice given by Judge Hallock, of Oakfield, purporting to be county chairman, for the same purpose, to be held at the same time and place. The double notice was a surprise to many, but brought out an unusual attendance. It developed that there was a schism in the party, previously unknown to the new comers to the county. Mr. Frost was on hand to represent his faction, claiming that it had the only regular authority to act, while Doctor Ballard and his brother, "Uncle Fred," insisted that Judge Hallock was the only authorized chairman. Some of the Democrats were present to witness the jangle. It was admitted that the previous convention in the spring was regularly called by Mr. Frost; and it fairly appeared that Mr. Frost and his associates had attended the meeting, transacted the business and adjourned. On the other hand, "Uncle Fred" Ballard stated that he appeared at the meeting place--presumably after the Frost meeting had adjourned--and observing the call posted there, and that the hour of meeting had arrived, hitched his horse, went into the school house, called the meeting to order, and proceeded to transact business. Doctor Ballard and himself were appointed delegates to the state convention, and Judge Hallock was appointed chairman of the county central committee. He said that he was the only one present and that he presided, and averred that the meeting was perfectly harmonious, and that the business was conducted by unanimous consent. And it appeared that Doctor Ballard and "Uncle Fred" had attended as delegates to the state convention under authority of that "meeting." Mr. Frost pointed out the absurdity of "Uncle Fred's" performance; that is was a farce, and that, consequently, Judge Hallock had no authority to act, in which he was sustained by most of those present. Some others joined with the Ballards, right or wrong. The situation was serious and protended danger to the party organization. Doctor Ballard harangued the meeting and waxed eloquent. He said that he had been fighting Democrats all his life. "I fought that old man (Frost) when he was a Democrat, and he was the meanest one I ever knew." Ballard and Frost both came from Iowa City, where the Doctor had been proprietor of the Iowa City Republican, the leading paper at one time in Iowa, and was in position to have known Frost's political pedigree. That shot settled it. Mr. Frost left the meeting in anger, and was never afterwards seen in a convention in Audubon county. The meeting amicably recognized Judge Hallock as county chairman, and proceeded to nominate a county ticket, viz.: John M. Griggs, for county judge; John W. Scott, for clerk of court; H. F. Andrews, for recorder; Boynton G. Dodge, for superintendent, and Jacob Andrews, for supervisor. On the Democratic ticket were: Albert I. Brainard, for county judge; John Crane, for clerk of courts, and William F. Stotts, for recorder. There was no newspaper in the county for publishing news at that time. It was spread by word of mouth. Meeting Mr. Frost soon afterward, he inquired the result of the convention, and when informed about the ticket selected, he angrily remarked: "Well, you have made a ticket, but you will have a good time electing it." And he was right. Scott was elected by four majority; Dodge and Jacob Andrews were elected; Griggs was defeated by two votes and H. F. Andrews, by six votes. The popular opinion was that Van Gorder did not have a fair show in 1867 and it was determined to give him another race. The Republican ticket for 1869 had Charles Van Gorder, for treasurer; Samuel R. Thomas, for sheriff; Boynton G. Dodge, for superintendent, and Charles H. Andrews, for surveyor. The Democratic ticket had A. B. Houston, for treasurer; Colbert Strahl, for sheriff; David B. Beirs, for superintendent, and P. I. Whitted, for surveyor. This time Mr. Houston was unfortunate. Some time prior to 1869, one Darias Barlow obtained a judgment against one Bradley Beers, who owned a farm near old Hamlin; but, to defeat Barlow, he put the title to his land in the name of Asahel Wakeman, who lived in New York state, from whence Barlow and Beers had emigrated to Audubon county. Beers sold his farm and the proceeds were deposited with Houston pending the delivery of the deed. Wakeman came on to Exira to make the deed. Barlow procured an execution and Houston was attached as garnishee of Beers and delivered the purchase-money for the farm to the officer, and in that way Barlow collected his debt from Beers. Mr. Houston made the grand mistake of pretending to be the friend of both Beers and Barlow; but ended by making Beers his bitter enemy. Beers was a prominent, leading worker in the Democratic party and from the time Van Gorder and Houston were nominated for the race for treasurer, he made it his business to visit all the Democrats in the county and ate with them. He succeeded emphatically in putting out the poison which defeated Mr. Houston. The party vote that year stood one hundred and eighteen to one hundred and fourteen, in favor of the Democrats. Van Gorder was elected by eleven majority. It was considered, under all the circumstances, a famous victory. Van Gorder served four years. At the time he took the office the records were in a deplorable condition, but he worked diligently and straightened them out. He was the father of the financial system of Audubon county. The elections for county officers in 1870, 1871 and 1872 were not particularly remarkable, except that the court-house and county-seat fights waxed warm, and at the election in 1873 the question of moving the county seat to Hamlin was submitted and defeated. In 1873 the whole people of the county were bristling over the county-seat contest, and the north part of the county was gradually receiving new settlers and gaining strength. An account of this period will be found in the chapter on County-Seat Contests. Party lines were entirely lost sight of this year. The Exira party met in mass convention of all parties at the school house and, having first established the basis of selecting the candidates from both parties, alternately, or nearly as convenient, agreed on the following ticket: H. S. Wattles, Republican, for auditor; W. F. Stotts, Democrat, for treasurer; John B. Connrardy, Democrat, for sheriff; Harmon G. Smith, Republican, for superintendent, and P. I. Whitted, Democrat, for surveyor. The opposition put up the following nominees: Samuel A. Graham, Democrat, for auditor; H. Ransford, Republican, for treasurer; Samuel P. Zike, for sheriff; John A. Hallock, Republican, for superintendent, and Dan P. McGill, Republican, for surveyor. It was a fierce campaign and bitter, not so much for or against the candidates, as it was for and against Exira. The people of the south part of the county were far the more numerous, but were foolishly divided into factions, by old grouches among themselves. The Exira ticket was elected in toto [?sic total], by majorities from seventeen to one hundred and four. For years afterwards local party lines were shattered and lost. It established a precident [sic precedent] in Audubon county, the result of which has not disappeared at the present time. It opened a gulf between Exira and the remainder of the county, which shifted to Audubon against Exira in the county-seat fight of 1879, and which has never closed. An examination of the election returns from 1873 to the present time will reveal the fact that candidates from Exira on the county ticket have too frequently gone down in defeat, engendered by the old strife, and vice versa. The scope of this work does not afford space for continuance of the subject. From this period--1873--the county newspapers and the county records afford fuller information, and to which the reader is referred. What is here produced covers the period before the advent of newspapers, 1871, and before the county records were so fully kept and preserved. A complete roster of officials will be found elsewhere in the work. |
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, November, 2018, from History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915), by H. F. Andrews, page 138-143.
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