The Spring Election

New York, 1895

In the town of Jamaica the Republican ticket swept along to victory as a whole. There was no Democratic ticket in the field. The ticket that was nominated in caucus, and ratified in convention, was rejected by the Town Clerk for informality. At the last moment some Democrats made up a ticket of the nominees of the caucus-convention, and by naming it the Citizens' Democratic ticket, and obtaining one hundred signatures to the petition, got it on file with the Town Clerk and had it printed. Not many of the men who were delegates to the Democratic convention supported the patched up ticket, but turned their strength against it. They had done this before and doing it again occasions no surprise. Judge Lester was unable to make a canvass, and no one made a canvass for him. He can stand defeat better than the town can afford to lose his services, and time will prove it. No officer who does his duty squarely and manfully can fail to make enemies, and Judge Lester made a good many, and they were active while his friends slept. The hardest fight against Mr. Lester was made in his own election district, but he was able to carry it by a majority of 18 in spite of everything. It is one result of which he may feel justly proud. Nothing is plainer than that the Republican machine sold out their candidate for Excise Commissioner, Mr. Waldron, to secure the liquor vote for their candidate for Justice. Every saloon in the town was stocked with paster ballots for B. Frank Wood and William Broedel.

The town of Oyster Bay turned back into the Democratic column, solely because the Republican and Independent voters of the town have sickened at Boss Youngs' overbearing management of affairs. They don't believe in a Boss.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 5, 1895, p. 4.