The Price of Populist Fervor
A political debate over the gubernatorial race ends with a local Populist organizer losing his own money in a ill-advised bet.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
J. P. Ennis, who is popularly supposed to be in the People's party movement for the money there is in it, is evidently not disposed to throw away much of the coin he collects from his followers. On Wednesday night, in the heat of argument, he made a bluff that he would wager $50 against $100 with J. G. Meagher that Young, the Populist candidate, would be elected for governor of the state of Washington. He also offered to bet $5 that Meagher would not accept this wager. Meagher immediately accepted both propositions and put up $50 on the first wager, thereby winning Ennis' $50. Meagher then offered to bet Ennis that he would not put up his $5 on the original wager on Thursday. Ennis was excited and put up $5 on this proposition. After a night's rest his head became cooler and he decided not to throw good money after bad; so he let the second $5 go by default, and probably considers he has made $50 by the deal.
“After a night's rest his head became cooler and he decided not to throw good money after bad.”
Political betting was once a common, if rowdy, way to express conviction in American elections, though modern campaign finance laws have effectively moved these stakes from individual pockets to Super PACs. The public skepticism toward populist political organizers remains a persistent feature of Washington state politics.
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