100 years ago in The Record
Wednesday, Oct. 31, 1917
“Hallowe’en 1917 differed but little from previous years,” The Record reports, “unless the entrance of the United States into the war resulted in girls favoring semi-military costumes or young men masquerading as Red Cross nurses.
“If this is ignored the outstanding feature of the frolics was that hoodlums or others who usually take advantage of the occasion to do considerable damage to personal property were few and far between.”
Our reporter doesn’t speculate as to whether less vandalism correlates with many young men leaving town to serve in the military during the war with Germany.
Our paper covers a range of private and public gatherings, with only a passing mention of its own benefit for the Record Tobacco Fund.
The night belongs mainly to trick-or-treaters “who under ordinary circumstances would not be allowed out after 8 o’clock in the evening.
“The absence of the proverbial old witch and her broom and, indeed, a great part of the old-time weirdness was significant. The make-ups were largely of a humorous and grotesque nature with attempts at ugliness few and far between.
Instead of impersonating monsters, many choose to dress up as pop-culture stars of the time. “Charlie Chaplin aspirants were numerous,” our reporter notes, “There was scarcely a delegation of merrymakers without its ‘Charlie,’ and the greater part of them brought forth laughs from the more staid citizens who stood along the streets as spectators.”
Some people opt for more original costumes. “One girl hit upon an idea that was apparently unique. She had decided to be a hurdy-gurdy man’s monkey.
“The scientific theory that man was once an ape might have been aided in her mimicking of the wise little animal. She was accompanied by the usual pleasant-faced hurdy-gurdy man, who diligently turned the handle of something that didn’t make any noise. The girl wore a cap like the monkeys wear and passed it about when her master ceased playing.”
Campaign 1917
The biggest monster in The Record’s collective imagination is Republican mayoral candidate George T. Morris, who addresses a campaign rally tonight at the Fourteenth Ward Republican Club.
Seeking to unseat threeterm Democratic incumbent Cornelius F. Burns, Morris accuses members of Burns’s board of contract and supply of “auditing their own accounts” and making shady deals with contractors without the required competitive-bidding process.
In one specific charge, Morris accuses the board of giving George Simmons of Albia a $10,000 teaming contract as a reward for switching his party loyalties from Republican to Democratic. The candidate vows to end such practices if elected and promises to “Give Everyone a Square Deal.”