100 years ago in the Saratogian
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 1918. New York State held its gubernatorial election on November 5. More than one month later, Republican incumbent Charles S. Whitman finally concedes the election to his Democratic challenger, Alfred E. Smith.
Smith has led by a small margin all along, but Whitman has demanded an inspection of ballots in some districts, and recounts in others. In his concession statement tonight, the governor argues that the inspections should still be carried out.
The Republican state committee “informs me that there is every reason to believe that while such inspection or recount may not substantially alter the result so far as election is concerned, it will show grave errors, if not serious frauds, which the public and the party are entitled to know.”
Despite GOP concerns, Whitman acknowledges that Smith “will receive the certificate of election to which he is clearly entitled on the returns of the election inspectors,” and assures Smith that “I have nothing but the best wishes for the Governor of New York.”
Whitman’s interventions in local politics made him a divisive figure in Saratoga County. He took the side of state senator George H. Whitney in his feud with GOP elder statesman Edgar T. Brackett, who became a sharp critic of the governor. Whitman and Whitney will leave office at the same time, since the senator’s district was redrawn to favor Schenectady County.
Police Return Lost Boy to Mother
“He was only a little fellow about two years old, dressed in a white coat and cap and clinging to the rope of a sizeable handsleigh, but he stood at the corner of Broadway and Church street watching the passing people and vehicles as though he had not a care in the world,” The Saratogian reports.
The child stands in the same spot by himself long enough to worry employees of the nearby Adirondack Trust company. After they call the police, Patrolman George W. Billings takes the boy to headquarters.
“The little fellow had no fear of the big kindly officer and gladly accompanied him to the police station,” the report continues, “Inside, where it was warmer, the youngster became more talkative and asked for ‘mama.’”
It takes a while to figure out who ‘mama’ is, because it takes nearly an hour to figure out who the boy is. Finally, the boy identifies himself as Earl Deuel. On another officer’s hunch, Billings calls the Lane Storage Warehouse, where employee John Deuel identifies Earl as his son.
“It was a happy mother that went to the police station to claim her boy,” who apparently had wandered from his Woodlawn Avenue home while playing.