Everett's First Election Is a Four-Ticket Free-for-All
Barely incorporated, the town fields citizens', nonpartisan, firemen's and bolter tickets—all with Thomas Dwyer at the top.
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.
EVERETT, March 9.—[Special.]—Since the petition for the incorporation of Everett was granted, the town is in the throes of its first municipal campaign. The election is to be held on March 29, but under the Australian ballot law it is construed that the nominations must be filed twenty days prior to that time, hence the political fun has been fast and furious for three or four days past. The business men took the lead by naming a citizens' ticket as follows: Mayor, Thomas Dwyer; treasurer, James Hanily; assessor, D. C. Johnson; health officer, Dr. J. S. McIlhany; councilmen, S. S. Neff, Sam H. Nichols, J. P. Murphy, W. G. Swalwell, M. Swartout, W. F. Brown, H. Hirtz.
In the meantime primaries had been held to elect delegates to a non-partisan convention composed of fifteen delegates from each of the three precincts, the delegation from each precinct to be composed of five Democrats, five Republicans and five Populists. The barge works were allowed to come in with four and the Prohibitionists with two. This mixture could hardly be expected to get through without friction, and the result was that some of the Populists and some of the Republicans bolted. The ticket nominated is as follows: Mayor, Thomas Dwyer; treasurer, M. Tibbits; assessor, J. A. Barkley; health officer, O. V. Harris; councilmen, Jay Ewing, J. A. Leonard, W. G. Swalwell, W. M. Davis, S. E. Thayer, Ed Friday, M. Napier.
On the next day the firemen sailed in with a ticket headed by Dwyer for mayor, James Hanily for treasurer, Mr. Reed for assessor; health officer, O. V. Harris; councilmen, S. S. Neff, Dexter Robinson, E. McFarland, W. G. Swalwell, M. Swartout, J. A. Leonard and M. Hirtz. Today still another ticket made its appearance, composed as follows: Mayor, Thomas Dwyer; treasurer, M. O. Tibbits; assessor, M. Reed; health officer, O. V. Harris; councilmen, Robinson, McFarland, Swalwell, Leonard, Thayer and G. W. Napier.
“Since the petition for the incorporation of Everett was granted, the town is in the throes of its first municipal campaign.”
Everett's first municipal campaign had the chaotic energy of a new city inventing its politics on the fly. The competing slates—business, firemen, Populists, Prohibitionists—echo the coalition-building and ballot-line fights that still define local elections.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.