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The Election of 1909 was colorful event 100 years ago, there was an election which swept all incumbents from office. A powerful Adair County leader was denied even the backing of his home county because zealot temperance leaders labeled him soft of whisky power in Kentucky. Some took defeats in stride, but not Fred McLean, who fired off a scathing salvo taking himself out of future races, vowing he'd labor for 50 cents a day rather than beg the public for an office again. Republican losers in the primary ran in the fall as Independent Republicans weakening the Republican slate "Mountains tower proudestBy "Jim" This (non) election day in Adair County is considerably quieter than was election day, 1909. With a Republican primary in the spring and 14 countywide races that fall, you couldn't cut down a three- inch sapling without at least two candidates showing up to make stump speeches. The Republicans fielded candidates in all 14 contests, while the Democrats vied for four positions, as did the Independent Republicans Three of the latter-named group - W.J. Bottom for Assessor, J.K.P. Conover for Jailer, and Fred McLean for Circuit Court Clerk - were also-rans in the Republican primary held in late April in which a number of incumbents, including School Superintendent Georgia Shelton and County Attorney G.P. Smythe, were unseated. The fourth Independent candidate in the general election was Isaac M. "Pilgrim" Grimsley, who ran for County Surveyor. The always-outspoken Fred McLean, who lost the primary race to W.T. Price by a heartbreaking nine votes and then got drubbed in the general election as an Independent Republican, penned a stinging letter to the News in December 1909 in which he squarely laid blame for the embarrassing exodus of Republican incumbents: "Monday January 3, 1910, will be moving day with the officers in the Temple of Justice in old Adair - [and] not a single one of the present officers will remain in charge. It will be a clean sweep - and who is responsible? The answer is the Republicans and their little primary. And it will be 15 years before the party will even partially recover from the effects..."Newspaper went to press one day late after election The general election of 1909 was held on Tuesday, November 2nd, and the proudly partisan Adair County News went to press a day late in order to report the results. When the paper hit the streets on Wednesday, it rather jubilantly announced that three of the four Democrats on the ballot had won their races: Walker Bryant for County Court Clerk (he defeated four-term incumbent T.R. Stults); Gordon Montgomery for County Attorney (he defeated no less a personage than M. Rey Yarberry by a 90 vote margin!); and Joseph Elza (Elzy) Bertram of Monticello for the 16th District State Senate seat. Republican State Senate race was a barnburner The State Senate race was a barnburner and the outcome quite the shocker, since the Republicans in that Senatorial district held the majority by some 2,000 votes. In a landslide victory worthy of Lyndon B. Johnson, Clinton County native Elzy Bertram defeated incumbent Lawrence (L.C.) Nell of Adair County by a razor thin 13 votes in the five county district. Nell lost the election in his native Adair County, where Bertram carried by over 150 votes. Nell's failure to support pro-temperance movement brought wrath of dy leaders As with any political contest, many forces and factions came into play, but certainly, Nell's defeat in Adair County could be attributed in large part to his refusal in the previous legislative session to support the rising pro-temperance sentiment and thus incurring the wrath of the local temperance movement. A lengthy "open letter" signed by nine local ministers appeared on the front page of the previous week's (October 27th) edition of the News and stated in part: "Our former Senator, now standing for re-election on the Republican ticket, persistently recorded his vote against the county unit bill at each of its several readings during the sitting of the last Legislature. This was the chief temperance measure before that body and will, probably, re-appear for passage before the approaching session. Hence, to return Senator Nell to office would mean to strengthen to power of the whisky organization in the State... No man who would thwart the further despotism of the whisky power in Kentucky could seriously vote for Mr. Nell's return to Frankfort. His only opponent in the race promises unqualifiedly to support the county unit bill or any other wise measure looking toward state-wide prohibition."And too, the October 27th issue carried a lengthy article headlined "The Duty of the Hour," which in reality constituted noting more than a print copy of the greater part of a recent sermon from the pulpit of the Columbia Presbyterian Church, garnished with a generous portion of editorial opinion. Among many other things, the minister, Rev. J.R. Crawford, was quoted as saying "No man ought to be put forward or voted for...who even has the remote suspicion of having the support or backing of the liquor power... Every God-fearing, truth-loving, righteous citizen of the state should be at the polls and check-mate this dastardly purpose of the whisky power..."Independents took jailer's office from Republicans The Independent Party also won a race with J.K.P. Conover reclaiming the office from Republican incumbent A.W. Tarter. The headline tells the story: "Uncle Polk Conover Trots in for Jailer with Eighty-three Votes to Spare." Mr. Conover, a lad of some 65 summers, was a veteran of the Civil War (Federal) and had served a previous term as Jailer, having been elected in 1901 on the Republican ticket. Circuit Court Clerk Race had three entrants Only one race, that of Circuit Court Clerk, boasted candidates from all three parties, and when the polls closed, Republican William Titus Price led the pack with a 48 vote majority over Democrat Tim B. Cravens, "a popular young man [who] takes his defeat in a philosophical manner." The third candidate, Columbian (and Deputy Circuit Court Clerk) Fred McLean, a shoemaker and painter by trade, trailed the pack with a dismal 62 votes, less that two percent of the 3,354 ballots cast in that race. Mr. McLean didn't take his loss quite as philosophically as did Mr. Cravens. In a letter written to the News about two months after the election, he fired a scathing salvo across the political bow of Adair County. A few lines from his missive imparts the message: "Office! Bah! It is disgusting tome to hear the word mentioned... No man who has any regard for right and justice or who has a conscience, can enter into politics these days if he expects to win, because trickery must be resorted to, bribery and other things committed, which no honest and conscientious man would stoop low enough to do... I would prefer working hard for 50c a day rather than beg the public for an office, and this I will do, before I will ever again be guilty of such an act..."E.G. Hardwick (R) won County Surveyor's race. In the other two contested races, E.G. Hardwick (R) handily dispatched Rev. I.M. Grimsley for the County Surveyor's position and J.M. Wolford (R) did the same to W.J. Bottom in the Assessor's race.In the uncontested races, Republicans carried the day for School Superintendent (Miss Pearl Hindman); Coroner (Dr. C.M. Russell); Sheriff (A.D Patteson, who replaced his brother W.B. Patteson); State Representative (W.C. Keen); Commonwealth Attorney (A.A. Huddleston); County Judge (N.H. Moss); and Circuit Court Judge J.C. Carter (of Scottville, who replaced retiring Judge H.C. Baker of Columbia on the bench.) "... and Politics - the damnedest / In Kentucky."Indeed! This story was posted on 2009-11-03 08:06:15
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