The Political Machine War in Colfax
Deep-seated factionalism and partisan meddling collide in a high-stakes race for the city's top leadership.
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.
The municipal campaign in Colfax is waxing warm as state politics are injected into the fight. The contest is a peculiar one: both candidates for mayor are Republicans, and both candidates for marshal are Democrats. Because the mayor appoints the marshal, the fight is over control of these offices. Two factions of the Democratic party and two factions of the Republican party are mixing into the fight. Walter J. Davenport, a candidate for mayor, is backed by the Weinberg faction of the Democrats and the Ankeny faction of the Republicans. A rival group of Republicans, known as the 'Boxers' or anti-Ankeny faction, are supporting H. Van Schoick. The 'Boxers' claim Davenport’s nomination is part of a plan by the Ankeny managers to build a political machine, and they have begun a war against him. Registration is the largest ever known for a city election, and a very close contest is expected.
“The 'Boxers,' as the anti-Ankeny Republicans are called, claim Davenport to be the Ankeny candidate and that his nomination is part of a general plan of the Ankeny managers to secure control of the municipal government, in order to build up a political machine.”
Factional disputes and the influence of powerful political machines often dominate local civic life, much like the partisan, primary-heavy climate of contemporary local elections. This story highlights how even municipal roles, like city marshal, served as essential cogs in a larger network of patronage and power.
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