The Election Was Quiet. The Backstabbing Was Not.
Yakima County's vote was calm at the polls but ugly underneath, with charges of bought voters and official ballots loose in party workers' hands.
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.
Election day in Yakima County passed off quietly. A much lighter vote was polled than was anticipated, and this was due somewhat to knowledge received early in the day by the Democrats that the ticket was being vigorously knifed. The traitors are well known, and some of them were in the confidence of the party managers and in position to effect the most telling work. They will be remembered when another campaign rolls around, and will not be given an opportunity to get in their deadly thrusts.
When it rolled around to election day the big four had dwindled down to the big three. The cry was to elect Ellis, Simmons and Nevin, and to let the balance of the ticket, with the exception of Weed for the legislature, take care of itself. The saloons and the tin-horns were worked for all they were worth, and all of the rounders had money to throw at the birds. To say they were bought for so much per head would be difficult to prove, but The Herald has evidence that would lead to this belief.
There is a charge still more grave that is openly spoken of on the streets, and that is that ballots with the official stamp on them were in the hands of party workers outside of the polls. How this came about it is not for The Herald to say at this writing, but when the votes are canvassed on Monday next in the presence of Judge Graves and the county commissioners it is only justice that these reports should be investigated.
It is impossible to learn the different pluralities on the county ticket. The returns are all in, but under seal, and the official count cannot be made before Judge Graves comes down from Ellensburgh, which will be early next week. The entire Republican county ticket is elected, excepting Henry Creason for county commissioner and Dr. W. O. Coe for coroner. The People's Party accomplished one thing in the state, if nothing more. They defeated Henry J. Snively, who was the champion of many of the measures advocated by them, and elected McGraw, who has no sympathy for them or their interests.
“There is a charge still more grave that is openly spoken of on the streets, and that is that ballots with the official stamp on them were in the hands of party workers outside of the polls.”
The Herald's account of a 'knifed' ticket, saloon money and official ballots outside the polls is a reminder that fights over election integrity are as old as Washington politics. Then as now, the paper's own partisan voice is part of the story: it names 'traitors' and demands an investigation while the returns sit under seal. The charges were aired in the street and in print before any official canvass could settle them.
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