100 years ago in The Saratogian
Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1918. “For the first time in the history of Saratoga county and in the State in general women were taking an active part in the selection of candidates to go upon the various tickets” at today’s primaries, The Saratogian reports.
The women of New York State received the right to vote when the men approved a constitutional amendment by referendum last November. With a multitude of new voters added to the turnout, a reporter writes this afternoon that “It was expected that the heaviest primary vote in years would be recorded by the time the polls were closed tonight.”
Some women are doing more than voting. Kathryn H. Starbuck, a local leader of the women’s suffrage movement, runs unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state assembly. She’ll face Republican candidate Clarence C. Smith, who defeats incumbent Gilbert T. Seelye by less than 70 votes. Three Republican women ran for seats in the party’s county committee. All go down to defeat, but Anna Daly may seek a recount in her Mechanicville district, where she lost by only nine votes.
The big story from The Saratogian’s perspective is the ongoing battle for control of the Saratoga County GOP. The insurgent faction led by former sheriff Frederick W. Kavanaugh wins four out of the five countywide races, including Smith’s nomination for assembly, but the faction loyal to state senator George H. Whitney will control the county committee thanks to a system that assigns votes to each member based on general-election turnout in his district. Whitney himself isn’t running for reelection; his district was redrawn to make Schenectady County dominant.
At the state level, incumbent governor Charles S. Whitman beats back attorney general Merton E. Lewis’s challenge and wins the Republican nomination for a third two-year term. His Democratic challenger will be Alfred E. Smith, former president of the New York City board of aldermen.
‘L’ Company Eleven Days Under Fire
Saratoga County’s former National Guard troops, now Company L of the 105th U.S. Infantry regiment, recently received their baptism of fire in Flanders. Corporal James Lockwood of Mechanicville describes some of the action in a letter published today.
“I am not bragging one bit, but I went into it with nerves of steel, and the last thought I had was of getting kicked off,” Lockwood writes. He leads a “bombing squad” that listens for enemy patrols.
Company L got off relatively easy, Lockwood reports. One soldier was killed and two wounded during their eleven days in the frontline trenches.
“To tell the truth it is great work, for if you don’t get him, he gets you,” Lockwood notes.