A Midnight Move to Pack the Populist Rolls
Seattle’s First Ward Populist Club suspected Democrats were trying to flood its membership before the primary—and threw one deputy marshal out of the hall.
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 primaries of the Populist party will be held today for the election of 359 delegates to the Populist county convention, which will meet in this city, probably in Turner hall, on September 6.
The direct issue of the election is the question of fusion or no fusion with the Democratic party, and the prospects are that a full vote will be polled. In all the Populist clubs the sentiment against fusion is strong, and every effort of the Democrats to control delegations has been met and vigorously opposed.
Saturday night the First Ward Populist Club met in its headquarters on South Third and Washington streets, and was soon in the throes of an exciting session that continued until past midnight. A Populist named Larkin, who it is claimed is working for the Democrats, made a motion that the rolls of the club be left open until tonight. As the polls do not open until 7 o’clock this evening, and only members of the clubs are allowed to ballot, the First ward Populists naturally suspected that a scheme was hatched to rush in 100 or 150 voters at the last moment and so capture the ward for the Democrats. The motion was voted down, 100 to 4.
The First ward is entitled to thirty-nine delegates for the convention, and its influence in shaping the policy of the party is almost decisive. During the discussion of Larkin’s motion there was much excitement, and Penny O’Brien, one of the Democratic deputy United States marshals who figured in Saturday’s affray around the Republican polling place on South Third street, became abusive and was forcibly ejected from the hall.
The argument being used on the Populists throughout the city is that the time has come when the party ought to take advantage of circumstances, but, as one Populist said yesterday, the sentiment against fusion is pronounced, many of the clubs favoring dissolution of the party before an alliance that will deliver them into the control of the Democratic central committees.
“The First ward is entitled to thirty-nine delegates for the convention, and its influence in shaping the policy of the party is almost decisive.”
Party fusion, roll challenges, and last-minute rule changes are still the machinery of American elections; in 1894 Seattle Populists feared a rival party would pack a club roll and capture a ward. The episode is a reminder that intra-party fights over procedure can decide who controls the general election.
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