Frederick Kramer Beats Herbert H. Rottaken in the 1873 Election
To Become Mayor During a Time of Financial Distress and Political
Strife,
Then to Abandon the Republican Party
Part 1: The 1873 Election
Introduction
Two days before the November 6, 1873 election in Little
Rock, the Daily Arkansas Gazette reported that a “well-informed
gentleman” was taking bets that Herbert H. Rottaken, the mayoral candidate of
the newly created Citizens’ Party, would beat Frederick Kramer, the republican nominee,
by a two-to-one margin. The next day, the Morning
Republican responded with its opinion that the Gazette’s well-informed gentleman taking bets on a Rottaken
landslide “will never die of an excess of brains.”[1]
The results of the election showed that, indeed, the gentleman
was not afflicted with an abnormally large brain, but rather had let his druthers
skew his information. Kramer won the election by a wide margin. In fact, the
entire republican ticket was swept into office.[2]
Kramer and local republicans celebrated their decisive
victories, but their joy might have been muted had they known what the next few
months had in store for them. First, they had to cope with a deteriorating
financial situation. Barely six weeks before the election, the city had been
slammed by the front edge of the 1873 Depression, and this economic storm had
caused a sharp decline in city revenues that would continue with each passing
month of the Kramer administration. Due to the shrinking revenues, the city would
be unable to pay salaries for months at a time or to fix even the worst of its
deplorable street, bridge, and drainage problems.
To make matters worse, as the city scrambled to deal with
falling revenues, it would face unexpected costs when it became the center of a
military conflict that would change the direction of its history. Five months
after Kramer was sworn in as mayor, the city was engulfed in an armed conflict,
known as the Brooks-Baxter War, over who should be governor. The war’s front
line was in the middle of Little Rock’s downtown, and the city was filled with
armed men from throughout the state. The city was challenged to keep order and
protect property during this difficult time.
 |
Frederick Kramer, Picture published in the
Arkansas Echo |
Although Kramer did not know it when he took office, he would
be – thanks largely to result of the armed conflict -- the city’s last
Reconstruction mayor. When the conflict was over, the victors – democrats and
conservatives – dismantled the constitutional and legal provisions that had
enabled republicans to dominate state and local politics. The changes came
largely through a new state constitution approved by voters on October 13, 1874.
At that election, voters also ejected most republicans from state government,
electing a democratic-conservative (D-C) governor and a state legislature
dominated by D-C Party members. With the new constitution and D-C’s holding
major state offices, the state was “redeemed” from Republican Party rule.
However, Little Rock democrats and conservatives had to wait until local
elections were held in April 1875 before they could replace republicans in
office.
As the 1875 city election approached, each party met to select
its candidates for city offices. At the D-C Party convention, Mayor Kramer – with
behind-the-scenes maneuvering – was one of four nominees to be the party’s
candidate for mayor. He came in distant second; delegates instead chose Capt. John
G. Fletcher.[3] A few days later, Kramer was picked by the Republican
Party to again be its candidate for mayor.
After considering his options for a few days, Kramer declared
that he was not a candidate for mayor and that he supported his friend Capt. Fletcher
for the position.[4] His name still appeared on
the ballot as the republican nominee, but, having urged people to vote for Fletcher,
he got only 7.5 percent of the vote.
On the night of the election, a group of democratic and
conservative celebrants, accompanied by a band, paraded through city streets to
fete the heroes and victors of the election. One of their stops was at the house
of Little Rock’s last Reconstruction mayor, located on the corner of Second St.
and Rector Ave., where the merry group serenaded Kramer and thanked him for his
“straightforward and manly course in the present campaign.”[5] Kramer courteously returned the thanks of his
fellow democrats.
The following tells more of the story of Kramer’s election
as Little Rock’s last Reconstruction mayor, his turbulent seventeen months in
office, and his abandonment of the Republican Party in April 1875 as the
post-Reconstruction era began in Arkansas and Little Rock.
PART 1 THE
1873 LITTLE ROCK MAYORAL ELECTION
The 1873 mayoral contest in Little Rock featured two
candidates, both of them German immigrants. One candidate, Frederick Kramer,
was nominated by the Republican Party. The other candidate, Herbert H. Rottaken,
was the nominee of the Citizens’ Party, which had been created by democrats and
conservatives, but was presented as a “non-partisan” party in order to attract
the votes of disaffected republicans. As the election approached, members of
the Democratic-Conservative (D-C) Party were optimistic, for the first time
since the start of Congressional Reconstruction, they would win because many of
the electoral advantages enjoyed by the Republican Party in previous years had
been eliminated by the actions of republican Governor Elisha Baxter in
cooperation with his democratic and conservative allies..
Kramer and Rottaken:
The Years before the Election
On June 15, 1872, Frederick Kramer and his two daughters, 14-year-old
Louise and 12-year-old Mattie, along with a few other Arkansans, crossed a
gangplank at the New York Harbor to board the Weser, an 880-passenger steamship
of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Shipping Co. The five-year-old ship was departing
that day for the German port of Bremen, and Kramer was taking his daughters on
it to visit relatives in and near Halle, a university town in Saxony.[6] This trip
was his daughters’ first to Europe, and it was Kramer’s first since the
formation of the unified country of Germany in 1871.
 |
| Postcard Picture of the Steamship "Weser" |
For Kramer, the journey marked the beginning of the new
phase of his life that he was starting at age 42. Earlier in 1872, he had sold
his share of the Kramer, Miller, and Co. grocery store that in its eight-plus
years of operation had made him a wealthy man [7].
Also, he had requested a long leave of absence from the Little Rock school board
of which he was the chairman, and he had announced he would not run for
re-election as ward 1 alderman.
One reason Kramer was changing in his life was his desire to
withdraw, at least temporarily, from the ever bubbling and often rancid
cauldron of reconstruction politics. It was time for a break. Kramer had first
run for office in February 1869 when he was the republican-supported candidate
for the Little Rock school board. Later that year, in November 1869, the
Republican Party had nominated him for ward 1 alderman. Kramer had accepted republican
support in these two elections, and again in his November 1870 bid for
re-election as alderman, even though he was – he repeatedly told everyone – not
a republican. He explained that “he was but one man, and was powerless to do
any good; that by keeping in with the ring he could do a little for the
people.”[8]
 |
June 4, 1865 Advertisement for
Kramer and Miller Family Grocery Store |
His three years as an alderman had been rough ones. A few
days after he had first been elected ward 1 alderman in November 1869, he was
shaken when Little Rock’s mayor and fellow Saxon, Mayor A.K. Hartman, had
demanded the city council remove him from office. After that demand was
ignored, Kramer was dismayed when Mayor Hartman, still trying to unseat him, had
tried unsuccessfully to rig the 1870 election against him. More recently, in
November 1871 when Kramer was a candidate for president of the city council, he
was deeply offended when the Arkansas
Gazette cuffed him, accusing him of lying, betraying old friends, and
perhaps covering up corruption. The newspaper had even urged customers to
boycott his grocery store.[9] With that attack,
Kramer had his fill of abuse. He started preparing for his long trip to Germany
and the new life that would follow.
Five-months abroad did wonders for Kramer. When he returned
to Little Rock in early November, he was healthy, refreshed, and eager to
re-enter local politics to assist his adopted hometown in its continued
recovery from the effects of the Civil War. About six weeks after his return,
in late December, he ran for re-election to the Little Rock School Board, and
narrowly won in a crowded field. Then he settled into his new work developing
real estate and investing, and he renewed his civic activities, including
holding daily office hours for school district business.[10]
A couple of months after Kramer and his daughters had departed
for Germany, another man who had been born a German, Herbert H. Rottaken, was
appointed by Arkansas’s governor to the position of Pulaski County registrar.[11] That patronage position was a key one in the
county because the registrar decided who could register to vote and who would
be kept off voter rolls. In the past, the sometimes unscrupulous exercise of such
power had disenfranchised many democrats and conservatives, helping republicans
win elections.[12]
When Rottaken started working as registrar in the middle of
August, he kept his job as deputy sheriff.
He had been hired as a deputy by Sheriff W. S. Oliver, a republican,
earlier in 1872. Before he joined the Sheriff’s department, Rottaken had been a
businessman. He had moved from St. Louis to Little Rock in 1868 to open a
wholesale liquor store, H. H. Rottaken & Co. The store had started with
great promise, and during his first months in the city, Rottaken had been an
active citizen. For example, shortly after he opened his doors for business in Autumn
1868, he had convinced state fair officials to include a pigeon shooting
contest as a fair event, then he had won the competition. After only a year in
the city, he had been elected foreman of the Defiance Hook and Ladder Company,
No. 1. In the following year, he had been elected first assistant engineer, one
of the top city-wide volunteer fire department positions.[13]
 |
H. H. Rottaken & Co.'s First
Advertisement, Oct. 7, 1868,
In the Gazette |
Rottaken’s store had been located on East Markham St, a door
down from the offices of the Arkansas
Gazette, and that newspaper brought his name to the attention of potential
customers by publishing his frequent advertisements and several lively tales of
Rottaken’s prowess as a sportsman. It proclaimed him to be a Nimrod of the
highest order, describing him as a man with inordinate hunting and fishing
skills who ran an impressive pack of dogs and who kept a young bear chained in
the back of his liquor store where he – Rottaken, not the bear – was generous
in pouring drinks.[14] In one story, the Gazette enthused about him:
Our neighbor Rottaken is an
acquisition. He is an acquisition to us who live near him. He is an acquisition
to the block and street in which he lives. He is an acquisition to the state.
He is an acquisition in himself, in
the first place. In the second place, he is an acquisition in his wines and
brandies, which he dispenses with a free
hand. He is an acquisition, in the third place, in his boat and oars, whereby
he was enabled to return to the distressed mother, the day after his death, the
bright little boy that was drowned at the foot of Scott street, a few days ago.[15]
Busy trying to make his new business a success, Rottaken was
not involved in politics during his first years in Little Rock. However, by
accident he had endeared himself to the regular republicans when he, in
November 1870, used his position as foreman of the Defiance Hook and Ladder
Company to help thwart the scheme to “usurp” the city election. The plan had
been formulated by the leaders of the republican’s reform faction, the brindle-tails,
and Mayor Hartman had signed on to help “usurp” ward 1 in hopes of defeating
Kramer, who was running for re-election as alderman. On election day, the
brindle-tails would take over Little Rock’s wards and precincts by installing their
own election judges to replace the regularly appointed ones. The substitute
judges would ensure a “fair” election was held.[16]
Early on election day, the usurpation was going as planned
in Ward 1. About 25 brindle-tails led by Mayor Hartman had occupied the polling
place, which was a large room in the Truck House where the Defiance Hook and
Ladder Company kept its equipment. At about 7:00 a.m., the regular election
judges came to open the polling place, but the brindle-tails occupying it denied
them entry. About that time, Rottaken had passed by and, wondering why a crowd
had assembled in front of the building, he stopped to see what was going on. When
he tried to enter the building, he was told to go away. At that point, Rottaken
demanded to be let in:
…[I told the man that] I was
foreman of the [Defiance Hood and Ladder] company and the proper custodian of
the room and responsible for everything in the house, and that no one had any
right to enter without my permission. I opened the door and found other parties
inside, some asleep – some were colored men. I admitted the judges regularly
appointed by the board of review, as I had previously given them permission to
occupy the room for election purposes, and ordered all others to vacate the
room.[17]
This spontaneous action likely provided the credential
Rottaken needed to get a republican patronage appointment, and it came in handy
in 1872 when he needed a job. His liquor store had closed in late December 1870,
the victim of fierce competition. After working for other merchants in 1871, he
was ready for a change. It came with his appointments as sheriff deputy and
registrar.
Unfortunately, Rottaken’s work as voter registrar did not go
well. Because Rottaken, like Kramer, was a man of rectitude, he refused to do
many things republican leaders told him to do[13].
In testimony to a Congressional committee that in 1874 investigated the
political situation in Arkansas, he described what he had been expected to
do:
I was told to register in Campbell
and Eastman townships all who came; that I might find in each 200 or 300 voters
from Little Rock. I refused to do it….
It was desired that I should
register parties in one precinct whom I had registered in another. I refused to
register such parties, and was told by W. S. Oliver, the sheriff, that unless I
did so, I would be kicked out. I resigned then…I resigned because I was a
deputy sheriff under Oliver, receiving a good salary and the support of myself
and family depended upon the salary.[18]
Before the end of 1872, he left his position as registrar.
Also in late 1872 or early 1873, he quit (or was fired from) his job as deputy
sheriff. Likely during 1873 prior to the election, he eked out a living as a
sales clerk for some business in town.
Prelude to the 1873
City Election
Little Rock began 1873 with a divided, under-financed
government. The city’s mayor, Robert F. Catterson, had been elected in November
1871 with the support of the bindle-tail faction of the republican party and
was serving the second year of his undistinguished two-year term. In the city’s
legislative branch, the minstrels had a one-vote majority that had elected Daniel
P. Upham, the leader of Little Rock’s minstrel faction, to be the city council
president. As the brindle-tails and
minstrels jockeyed for primacy in the city government, their lack of unity
insured that the city operated in its usual moribund manner.
During the first months of 1873, republican leaders of both
factions watched with growing alarm as the political foundations of their
party’s power were being dismantled by republican Governor Elisha Baxter in
cooperation with D-C’s. First, Gov. Baxter supported a state constitutional
amendment to eliminate restrictions on voting by former confederate soldiers.
The amendment, approved by voters in March, 1874, enabled more D-C’s to
register to vote. Then the governor started appointing D-C’s
to patronage positions that minstrels thought were their due. Beyond that
outrage, Baxter announced he would appoint voter registrars in consultation not
only with republicans, but also with D-C’s.[19]
Minstrel leaders could hardly believe what Baxter was doing.
They had nominated Baxter, had supported his campaign, and, most likely, had
stolen the election for him.[20] As he embraced D-C’s
ever more closely, minstrel incredulity turned to anger, and by April the
state’s leading minstrel office holder, Supreme Court Chief Justice John
McClure, decided that Baxter had to be removed from office for the good of the
party. McClure, nicknamed Poker Jack, was also part owner of the Daily Republican, and he wrote in his
newspaper, “There is no blood in a turnip, nor is there any republicanism in
Elisha Baxter.”[21] And he made clear his
position: “We are making war on Elisha Baxter, and before we get through both
he and his aged mistress (the Gazette)
and his other concubines will find that we are in earnest.”[22]
McClure threw his support to brindle-tail leader Joseph
Brooks, who had started challenging Baxter’s 1872 election “victory” the day it
was announced.[23] Brooks had tried to convince
the state legislature, the U.S. Congress, and state courts to overturn the
election, but his efforts had so far been rejected. Thus, he was glad to have
the help of the Chief Justice -- an old enemy who likely had helped steal the
election from him -- to strengthen his crusade to replace Baxter as Arkansas’
governor. The new McClure-Brooks alliance brought rumors of a planned coup
d’état and heightened tension in the state’s capital. In response, Gov. Baxter
had stationed militia soldiers loyal to the D-C Party to protect his Statehouse
office.[24]
The McClure-Baxter standoff was not the only source of
tension in Little Rock in 1873. An economic panic spread in the city on Monday,
September 22, the day Arkansas newspapers dubbed “blue Monday.” On that day, banks quit accepting “city money” in exchange
for U.S. dollars. Until then, city money – bonds and certificates of
indebtedness printed on bank note paper – had been treated as valid currency that
substituted, without discount, for scarce U.S. greenback dollars.[25]
After Little Rock banks announced they would no longer
accept city currency for exchange into U.S. dollars, several large merchants
stopped accepting city money for purchases. Within a week, no merchant would
take city currency at its face value, and only a few would accept it at a
discount. This collapse of city currency impeded commerce, and it was
especially hard on wage workers, including city employees, whose salaries were
paid in this scrip, which they used to purchase necessities.[26]
In response to the crisis, following the recommendations of
the chamber of commerce, the city council passed ordinances requiring the destruction
of city currency as soon as the city collected it and prohibiting the issuance
new city money.[27] It even ordered the destruction
of the plates in New York City used to print city Letters of Indebtedness.
Two weeks after blue Monday, a new reality was in place.
City money was back in circulation, but it could be exchanged for greenbacks
only at a discount of twenty-five to fifty percent.[28]
In the coming weeks, the value of city currency would continue to decline,
settling at about forty percent. Although the worst of the city’s financial
crisis had passed, its underlying causes were still at work in the state and
nation and would financially cripple the city for years to come.
Nominations for the
1873 Mayor’s Race
October 1873 was a lousy month in Little Rock. It started
with the city’s financial crisis at its peak, featured a brief quarantine to
keep a yellow fever outbreak in Memphis from reaching the city, and ended with
the city’s newest and best school – widely known as the Kramer School – burning
down.[29] Fortunately, during the middle of the
month city residents were able to briefly set aside the bad news to participate
in the State Fair, dragging their horses, chickens, cows, pigs, pies, bread
loaves, drawings, needlework, quilts, apples, pears, and other animals, foods,
handicrafts and fruits to be judged while men raced their horses and competed
in shooting contests, women tested their riding abilities, and local teams
competed in baseball games. When the flush of the fair had faded, the political
parties began seriously preparing for the upcoming election.
As election day approached, the editors of the Gazette – the D-C Party mouthpiece –
were almost giddy about the prospects of their preferred candidates for city
office. They were sure, thanks to the actions of Gov. Baxter with his new D-C
friends, victory was in sight. Not only had he helped demolish the
constitutional voting restrictions, he also had appointed registrars in every
county who were not controlled by the Republican Party. These registrars would
appoint election judges, who presumably also would not be republican agents.
While keeping up a brave front, city republicans had
understood for many months that Gov. Baxter had bolstered their opponents, and
they moved to unite the brindle-tail and minstrel factions to fight together
against the common foe. Their first step was to eliminate the separate city
executive committees that the two factions had set up in Little Rock: on April
6, the two merged to form a single city executive committee with Upham as it
head.[30]
This new executive committee set October 25th as
the date and O’Hara Hall on Main Street as the place for the Republican Party city
convention. Early in the convention proceedings, first-ward delegate George
Taylor moved that Frederick Kramer be nominated by acclamation to be the
republican candidate for mayor. He was. After that, the convention nominated
candidates for other citywide offices, selecting a carefully negotiated
combination of former minstrels and brindle-tails and of black and white
nominees.[31] Unlike in the previous three
years, in November 1873 the Republican Party presented a single nominee for
each city office.
Another political party, which called itself the Citizens’
Party, had sprung up in 1873. It was formed under the guidance of D-C Party
leaders who understood they needed the support of some disaffected republicans
to win city elections. The new party was described in the Gazette as an “anti-ring” movement opposed to “Upham and his
strikers.” In this movement, according to the Gazette, “politics have been entirely ignored” and candidates were
being selected based on “fitness and capacity.” The movement was open to all
who opposed the ring including “colored as well as white.” All of the
candidates were required only to support “retrenchment and reform in city
finances.”[32]
The party’s ward meetings were held in early October, and
its convention convened on October 27 at the meeting hall in the Fletcher-Hotze
mercantile house. Early in the proceedings, four men were nominated to be the
party’s candidate for mayor: C. J.
Krebs, Sam L. Griffith, Dr. William Thompson, and Herbert H. Rottaken.[33]
Three of the four nominees had much in common. Krebs,
Griffith, and Thompson were over forty years old: Krebs was 62, Griffith was 56, and Thompson
was 43. All three had settled in Arkansas before the civil war, and two of the
three had lived in Little Rock before 1860: Krebs, a German immigrant, had opened
a grocery store in Little Rock in the middle 1840s and Thompson had arrived in
the city to practice medicine in the 1850s. The third man, Griffin, had been a
merchant in Fort Smith and Van Buren before the war, and had settled in Little
Rock soon after the war to open a large dry goods store. Two of these potential
candidates had held public office: Krebs had been elected an alderman in
January 1867, and Griffin had been a state legislator before the war and had
been elected as a unionist to attend the secession convention.[34] All three of these candidates had supported the
South in the Civil War, and one – Thompson – had served in the confederate
army.
The fourth candidate, Rottakan, had little in common with
the other three men, At 34, he was the youngest of the four candidates and had
lived in Arkansas and Little Rock for the shortest time. He had the least
impressive business record. He had not held an elective office. And most
striking, he had not supported the Southern cause and, in fact, had served with
distinction as a Union army officer.
Also, unlike the other three candidates, Rottaken had not
been active in the D-C Party. In fact, as noted earlier, he had been friendly
with republicans, and the republican sheriff had hired him as a deputy and the
state’s republican governor had appointed him Pulaski County’s registrar. However,
Rottaken’s actions as registrar had estranged him from the Republican Party and
made him a credible opponent of the “ring.”
Perhaps to prove that the Citizens’ Party was not just the
D-C Party with another name, convention delegates voted on the third ballot to nominate
Rottaken for mayor. In doing so, the delegates made a bold choice they hoped
would attract enough voters away from the republican candidate to win the
election. The choice was not welcome by some conservatives who saw in the
former Union officer little to like. After the election, an “old-line
conservative” wrote in a letter to the Gazette
that democratic-conservatives should nominate their best candidates, not hide
behind other parties they create to “disorganize and discourage the
opposition.” He stated that the party should have candidates who are “truly
representative men of the party and principles they pretend to represent”
instead of putting up “a mongrel ticket on a sham platform.”[35]
The Campaigns, their
Narratives, and Beyond
With candidates nominated on October 25 (Republican Party)
and October 26 (Citizens’ Party), the parties had only a few days to campaign
before the November 4th election. Newspapers hinted that the
candidates were busy during this time, but reported in detail only the
republicans’ last campaign event, an election eve torchlight parade up Markham
Street from Commerce Street to the Statehouse. The organs of the two parties
saw different parades. The Gazette
witnessed a “complete fizzle”:
About half past 7 o’clock last
night a colored band, followed by one hundred Chinese lanterns and
transparencies borne by about twenty-five colored voters, fifty boot blacks and
other small boys and twenty-five fast colored women, passed up Markham street
to the state-house. This was intended as a grand republican demonstration, but
was the most complete fizzle we have witnessed since the war.[36]
In contrast, the Morning
Republican viewed a glorious event:
…the independent republicans of
Little Rock turned out en masse last night to celebrate the victory which
to-day will light upon their standards…[Assembled at the corner of Second and
Commerce Streets] the band struck up a lively tune and the column commenced its
line of march amid the deafening cheers of the assembled thousands. Something less than two thousand
transparencies had taken position in the moving column and as the mass of human
beings swayed and surged to the sound of martial music, [they] presented a
scene at once unique and beautiful.[37]
Whichever description of the march was accurate and whatever
other campaigning took place, neither affected the issues addressed by the
candidates or their comparative qualifications. In regard to issues, the two
candidates likely differed little in their views on the major issues facing
Little Rock. The most important was the empty city treasury. (Probably neither
mentioned that, as discussed later, the city’s mayor had little direct influence
on city taxation and expenditures). Another important issue was an increase in
crime, much of it linked to confidence men preying on gullible visitors and
residents.
The candidates did differ in qualifications, with Kramer
having a clear edge. He had been a successful businessman and solid citizen of
the city for over fifteen years. He had served three years on the city council,
one as its president. Further, he had been a school board director for nearly
five years, four of them as its president. In contrast, Rottaken, almost ten
years younger than Kramer, had lived in Little Rock less than six years.
Although known as a sportsman and volunteer fireman, he had a spotty employment
record because of his failed liquor store and his short tenure as the county’s
voter registrar and as a deputy sheriff. Nevertheless, even though Rottaken’s
résumé was comparatively thin, he had proven as a Union Army artillery officer --
and would show in the future --that he was an intelligent, energetic and fearless
man of substance. In this contest, he was not a candidate to be taken lightly.
Overshadowing the issues and the candidate qualifications
were the campaign narratives pushed by the Gazette
and the Morning Republican, the
propaganda organs for the two parties. Their narratives were shaped to
influence voters to favor their preferred candidates.
The
Gazette’s Case Against Kramer
The Gazette was
unrelenting in its attacks on the republican “ring,” D.P. Upham, and Kramer.
The attacks formed a narrative that can be summarized as follows:
The “ring” and its city leader, D.
P. Upham, are evil. They continue to do terrible things that harm the city.
Because of them, the city has a high tax rate with little to show for it. The
ring candidate, Kramer, is not a reformer even though he pretends he is. He
cannot be trusted. Rottaken can be trusted.
According to this narrative, the election was a largely a
referendum on the diabolical ring and on Upham, its boss. Voters would decide whether “the ring is to continue in control
of our city and county.”[38] With Kramer as
mayor, the ring would be in charge.
The Gazette found
Upham to be a good target to demonize because many voters knew him as the
controversial brigadier general who commanded the Arkansas militia in the northeastern
part of the state during the 1868-69 “Militia Wars.” He and his militia, in the
course of successfully carrying out their mission, had been accused of numerous
misdeeds and crimes.[39] More recently, in March
1873, Upham had voted – with three other minstrel aldermen -- to refuse a seat
on the city council to the candidate who had won a special election in ward 1
to fill a vacant seat. Their decision had stirred outrage expressed at large mass
meetings featuring angry speeches calling Upham a tyrant, suggesting he had the
city in his pocket, even warning that arms might be taken up to reverse the
decision.[40]
The Gazette made
Upham the embodiment of the Republican Party, writing about “Upham and his
subservient tools,” “Upham’s gang,” and “Upham’s ring.” It referred to the republican convention as
“Upham’s City Convention” and described it in terms that reflected badly on him
and blacks that supported him:
At 12 O’clock yesterday the colored
delegates, with a few stray whites, began to assemble in O’Hara’s Hall in
obedience to the command of Gen. Upham, chairman of the city consolidated
republican central committee. About a quarter past 12 o’clock, Gen. Upham came
marching into the hall, with his high hat, kid gloves, and nonchalant air. City
Clerk Barnes soon followed. A high tile adorned his classic brow also, and also
lavender kids covered his tiny hands. Those two city officials were quite a
contrast to the horny handed colored men present, and who always do the voting
to keep such men in power.[41]
To hit its message home, the Gazette disingenuously blamed Upham for the city’s financial
problems, “Let laboring men remember that Upham and his ring are responsible
for the deprecations of city money.”[42]
In addition to its nasty words about the Upham and the ring,
the Gazette devoted a considerable
effort to disparaging Kramer, but in less harsh language. As mentioned, the
paper had attacked him in November 1871, accusing him of lying and dishonorable
behavior when Kramer ran for president of the city council.[43] It continued those attacks even before Kramer
became the republican candidate for mayor. In August, 1873, the paper lambasted
Kramer, former alderman Dan Ottenheimer, and Alderman H. T. Gibb, complaining
they “failed to bring about – we believe they never even attempted to – those
reforms in city affairs to which the people who elected them had a right to
expect.”
Continuing, the Gazette
noted that Kramer and the others were often praised as being successful
businessmen and large property owners. The paper argued that voters should not
“look alone” among large property owners to “truly and faithfully administer
the affairs of the city.” It continued, “It is certainly no discredit to be
poorer than either of these three – and we do not see what the amount of their
worldly gear has to do with their acts while in public position….They are not
the kind of men to reform the city government. They have been tried and found
wanting.[44]
Right after Kramer was nominated, the Gazette commented,
Mr. Kramer, the candidate for
mayor, has held various local offices, but never did he exhibit any desire for
true reform, but rather pushing forward of self at the expense of his
position….The ticket is not a strong one and will not poll republican strength
by several hundred.[45]
The Gazette saved
its harshest attack on Kramer for page one on the Saturday before the election.
It noted that Rottaken had commanded a battery of light artillery in the
federal army and was highly regarded as an officer. In contrast, the Gazette pointed out, Kramer had not
fought for either side, and while he “claims to have sympathized with the
confederates, [he] never showed his faith by his works.” The article concluded:
A true solider, no matter what side
he espoused in the late war, can never be a bad man. We would much rather
support a man who openly and manfully opposed us then than one who claimed
to be our friend, but embraced every opportunity to stab us in the back.
What Rottaken says can be relied upon. Not so with Kramer. He promised to do
certain things when a member of the city council, but “went back” on his word.
When Rottaken tells you anything you can believe him.[46]
The conclusion of the Gazette’s
narrative in support of its candidates was that the Citizens’ Party had
nominated a “non-political ticket -- one embodying representatives of all
creeds and colors,” and that its candidate for mayor, “a German and prominent
resident of this city for the past six years,” was “an honest man in the true
sense of the word.”[47] The Gazette
warned, “Should the republican ticket be elected we will have no hope of
relief.[48]
The
Morning Republican Case Against the Gazette
In support of the republican candidate for mayor, the Morning Republican put forth its own
narrative:
Republicans have an excellent set
of candidates. Its candidate for mayor, Kramer, is beyond reproach and is being
unfairly attacked by the Gazette.
The citizens’ party is really the democratic party in disguise, and behind it
is the “Bourbon ring”, evil power seekers abetted by the Gazette. The election of republicans will continue the progress
that has been made.
In building the republican narrative, the Morning Republican responded quickly,
emphatically, and sometime intemperately to Gazette attacks on Kramer and the “ring.” For example, after the Gazette attack on Kramer in August, the paper countered:
Mr. Kramer is one of the wealthiest
men of the city, and has as much property to tax as most men, and a great deal
more than is owned by the entire Gazette
outfit…. For many years he has been one of the largest merchants in the city,
in his line, and has done as much as any man we know to build up our town and
bring trade to it. At no time have we heard it charged that Mr. Kramer was a
violent partisan. When the war closed, he accepted in good faith the settlement
of the issues that had been placed in the scales, and did all in his power to
bury the dead past and heal the wounds and allay the feeling engendered by the
late war. This, in the eyes of the Gazette, was one of the unpardonable sins –
hence its attack on Kramer. [49]
The Republican
continued to respond with similar words to Gazette
attacks on Kramer throughout the campaign. After the Gazette editorial on November 1st accusing Kramer of
being a back stabber, the Republican
made its strongest case for him and included a subtle disparagement of his
opponent:
Mr. Kramer comes in for a share of
their venom because he will not bow his knee to their behests. Mr. Kramer is
one of our oldest and most successful business men…who…by strict commercial
integrity and hard work, accumulated a handsome competency in city property. If
he has been so successful in managing his own affairs, it it not likely that he
will be equally successful in managing the affairs of the extent of the mayor’s
jurisdiction? Is is not better to trust such a man that one who has shown
himself incapable of doing his own business successfully?[50]
The last sentence reminded readers that Rottaken’s wholesale
liquor business had failed.
In response to the Gazette’s
constant invocation of the “ring” and Upham as evils, the Republican argued that no ring existed other than the “Bourbon
ring,” which it defined as the old confederate aristocracy, served by the Gazette, who wanted to return their
evil ideas to power. In an editorial, the paper described the Gazette as an “old worn-out prostitute”
serving the Bourbon ring.[51] Later, the paper
described its enemy as follows:
…[T]he Bourbon ring is located in
and about the Gazette building. That is the meanest, most proscriptive and
malignant “ring” which we wot of in these parts….The sort of democracy
represented by that paper is worse than an epidemic and more fatal than the
yellow fever.”[52]
The Morning Republican’s
final point in its narrative was that Little Rock had made much progress in the
previous four years under republican rule and that electing the party’s
candidates – men of “honesty and integrity” – would put it city in good hands
for the future.[53]
Beyond the Narratives: The Partisan Makeup
of the Voters
In putting forth its narrative to influence voters, the Gazette had a harder task than the Republican: It needed to change the
minds of many voters who had previously voted for republican candidates. Without
substantial changes to past voting patterns, especially among
African-Americans, the republicans had an edge in the election.
This edge is apparent in voter registration information
published in the Gazette (see table
1). According this information, in 1873 about 52.4 percent of Little Rock
voters were registered as republicans and another 10.5 percent were “doubtful,”
apparently meaning they claimed neither party. Only 37.1 percent were
registered as democrats.
Table 1
The 1873 Registration
of Voters
by Political
Affiliation
Voting Places Democrat Republican Doubtful Total
No. Pct. No. Pct. No. Pct. No. Pct.
First Ward 290
(50.0) 206 (35.6) 84
(14.4) 580 (100)
Second Ward 201
(43.5) 236 (51.1) 25
(5.4) 462 (100)
Third Ward* 262
(27.2) 666 (68.9) 38
(3.9) 966 (100)
Fourth Ward 170
(36.4) 181 (37.8) 116 (24.8 467 (100)
State House 41 (33.0) 74 (59.7) 9
(7.3) 124 (100)
Total 964
(37.1) 1,363 (52.4) 272 (10.5) 2,599
(100)
* A great majority of voters in the Third Ward was
African Americans.
How it stands, Daily Arkansas Gazette, July 1, 1874 p2
The information in table 1 shows that about half of all registered
republicans (666 of 1,393 voters) lived in the third ward, the part of Little
Rock in which most residents were African American. Thus, keeping the support
of ward 3 voters was critical for Kramer’s electoral success. Presumably, much
of his campaign effort was devoted to that task. His understanding of the importance
of black voters was obvious in an interview the Gazette conducted with him on election day:
Reporter – I understand you are of
the opinion you will be elected mayor.
Candidate – I think so, though
Rottaken will get at least half of the German vote. I think I’ll get most of
the negros [sic].
…
Reporter – Oh! Then you think you
will be elected?
Answer—If the colored voters stick
with me
Reporter – Suppose they don’t?
Answer – Then I’m beat.[54]
The voter registration information in table 1 raises the
question of why the Gazette and the
citizens’ party candidate, Rottaken, were so confident of winning. In his
interview with the Gazette on election
day, Rottaken expressed his certainty that he would win by a two-to-one margin:
Reporter—I understand you are of
the opinion of all candidates, that is, that you will be elected.
Answer—Yes. I not only think I will
be elected, but that I will beat my opponent two to one.
Reporter – Do you think you will
get any of the German vote?
Answer – At least half.
Reporter -- Then you feel no doubt
about your election?
Answer – None whatever.
Reporter --- But suppose you are
counted out?
Answer – Then I shall not only do
all I can to claim the position which belongs to me, but shall endeavor to have
every one committing frauds indicted by the grand jury.[55]
Likely Rottaken was so confident because he joined the Gazette in its belief that republicans
had won in Little Rock previously because (1) they had cheated, (2) they had
near unanimous support of black voters, and (3) many democratic and
conservative voters had been unable or unwilling to vote. At this election, he
and Gazette editors expected that
the governor’s appointment of a fair voter registrar (who would appoint fair
election judges) would end voting fraud. Also, the creation of the
“non-political” citizens’ party – a thin veil to cover past transgressions of
democrats against African Americans -- would separate many black voters from
the Republican Party. In addition, they likely believed that the amendment eliminating
voting restrictions would bring more democrats and conservatives to the polls,
inflating Rottaken’s vote totals.
Their confidence and reasoning were misguided. The vote
results (table 2) show that black voters in the third ward stayed with the
Republican Party and Kramer (he received 80 percent of the vote in that ward).
Also white republicans must have given him a large majority, and perhaps he
even attracted the votes of some democrats. Kramer won an overwhelming victory,
almost the two-to-one majority Rottaken had predicted for himself.
Table 2
1873 Mayor Election
Vote Results
Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4 Total
No. Pct. No. Pct No. Pct. No. Pct. No. Pct.
Kramer 436
(58.8) 164 (74.2) 544 (79.9) 283 (54.3) 1,427
(65.9)
Rottaken 305
(41.2) 57 (25.8) 137`(20.1) 238
(45.7) 737 (34.1)
Total 741
(100) 221 (100) 681
(100) 521 (100) 2,164
(100)
Source: Election
Return. Daily Arkansas Gazette,
November 5, 1874, p. 4.
The Gazette attributed
Kramer’s victory to fraud. Such assertions were nothing new for the Gazette; it had claimed after every
local election since the start of Congressional Reconstruction that it was
fraudulent. This time, according the Gazette,
“The frauds were bolder and more reckless than any heretofore committed, for it
was a death struggle with the ring.”[56] It
elaborated the next day on its complaint:
… the de facto attorney general
rendered a decision that anyone could vote, whether registered or not, upon
taking an oath that he was a qualified elector…. Railroad hands to the number
of two or three hundred recently discharged at Fulton, and who were neither
registered voters nor citizens of this state even, were permitted to vote, not
only once, but as often as they could get around to the different polls.
Negroes were brought from the country and voted in the same manner.”[57]
The Gazette said
the fraud occurred because “The city judges paid no attention to any
registration, either old or new. But permitted everybody to vote and in many
instances without question.”
The veracity of Gazette
charges cannot be fairly judged with available evidence. However, one
remarkable thing about the election was the high voter turnout, especially in
Ward 1, where Kramer lived, and in Ward 3, where most African-Americans lived.
In this election, the vote total (2,164) was nearly double the vote total at
the previous mayoral election in 1871 (1.084) and greatly exceeded the total in
the November 1869 mayoral election (972). In fact, Kramer alone got more votes
in the 1873 election than the total votes cast at each of the previous three
elections.
If this vote surge were a one-time event, the high number of
votes would provide some support for the contention that illegal voting had
padded the total number of vote. However, the vote total in 1873 differed
little from the vote totals in 1875 (2,063), 1877 (2,316), and 1879 (2,401). The
best explanations for the increase in voting in 1873 and afterwards are the end
of disenfranchisement, less restrictive registration, and a growing interest in
elections as men recovered from the trauma of the Civil War.[58]
The official record shows that following the 1873 election
no one was arrested for voter fraud and the grand jury mentioned by Rottaken in
his interview brought no indictments. The Morning
Republican dismissed the Gazette’s
fraud allegations, claiming that voting at the election had been “very
peaceable and amicably conducted in each ward, and harmony reigned supreme.[59] The paper observed, “A more quiet election, and we
believe a fairer one, was never witnessed.”[60]
Endnotes
[1] “Local Jottings.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, November 2, 1873, p. 4 and “Local
Paragraphs.” Morning Republican,
November 3, 1873, p. 4. Throughout the paper, Gazette is used as the shortened name of the Daily Arkansas Gazette.
[2] Kramer received 65.9 percent of the
vote. “Election Results.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, November 5,
1874, p. 4. During this time, the party that soon reverted to the name
“Democratic Party,” was officially the “Democratic-Conservative Party” in
deference to some members, mainly former Whigs, who refused to label themselves
as democrats.
[3] Fletcher received the votes of 19
delegates while Kramer got 8 votes. “On to Victory.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, March 23, 1873, p. 4.
Kramer attended the Ward 1 convention of the
D-C Party on March 18th and was elected it chairman (“The Ward
Meetings.” Daily Arkansas Gazette,
March 13, 1875, p. 4). Several of
attendees were dissatisfied with the ward 1 meeting and Kramer’s role in it.
The “bolters” held their own Ward 1 convention on the following day, electing a
different set of people to be delegates to the city convention (“The First
Ward.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, March
20, 1875, p. 5). The events at the ward 1
convention, and Kramer’s role in them, particularly upset M. L. Kumpe, who had
been elected Ward 1 alderman in November 1874 and was not nominated at the
convention for re-election. A few days after the convention, he announced in
the Gazette that he would be a
candidate for ward 1 alderman and complained about the conduct of the
convention, which, Kumpe said, was attended by many men who did not live in the
ward. Kumpe described Kramer’s actions at the convention as “anti-democratic,
utterly repugnant to republican principles and the spirit of the government
bequeathed to us by our fathers…” (“Announcement.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, March 27, 1873, p. 4). The main complaint was that Kramer had
engineered the selection of ward 1 delegates to the city convention who would
vote to make him the party’s candidate for mayor..
[4] Fletcher had been officer in Capitol
Guards as the Civil War neared. Kramer had joined the guards as a volunteer
after he left the service of the U.S. army in Nov. 1859. When the Civil War
started, the Capital Guards were incorporated into the Confederate Army. Before
that happened, Kramer left the Guards. Fletcher stayed and later became the
second commanding officer of the unit, which suffered heavy losses in several
major battles. Fletcher was badly wounded at the Battle of Murfreesboro. Calvin
L. Collier. 1961. First-In – Last Out:
The Capitol Guards. Pioneer Press.
[5] “Yesterday’s Election. The Radicals Routed
Horse, Foot, and Dragons.” Daily
Arkansas Gazette, April 7, 1874, p. 4 and “Out on a Hurrah.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, April 8, 1875,
p. 4. Kramer told the celebrating group,
“I could never run against Capt. John G. Fletcher. He is my old, tried, and
true friend.” In turn, Fletcher said he “presented [to Kramer] his hand for a
thousand years, to the second”
[6] “Boggy Johnson at Home.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, June 21, 1872,
p. 1. Also traveling were Lena Miller, daughter of Charles Miller, Kramer’s
brother-in-law and former business partne,r and August Struve, an older little
Rock merchant.
For more information on Kramer and his life,
see the following entry in the Arkansas
Encyclopedia of History and Culture:
[7] The announcement of the dissolution of the
partnership of Kramer, Charles Miller, and Charles Penzel was dated May 6, 1872
and was published several times in the month that followed. The announcement
stated that Kramer was retiring, but Miller and Penzel would continue operating
the business. See “Announcement.” Daily
Arkansas Gazette, May 16, 1872, p. 4.
[8] “Alderman Fred Kramer.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, November 15,
1871, p. 4.
The story of the Gazette’s attacks on Kramer are in Dan Durning (2017). “Little
Rock’s City Council Votes 701 Times to Elect its President in 1871.” Pulaski County Historical Review,
65(4), Winter, pp. 110 – 124. (A less edited version is available here: http://www.eclecticatbest.com/2017/02/the-crazy-day-in-1871-when-little-rocks.html
) Also see “Alderman Fred Kramer.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, November 15,
1871, p. 1; The Municipal Muddle. Daily
Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 16, 1871, p.1; and Municipal Affairs. Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov 17, 1871,
p. 1.
[10] A newspaper reporter who saw Kramer soon
after he returned on November 9th told his readers, “He has gained twenty-five
pounds and is looking extremely well. “Splintered Factions.” Morning Republican, November 12, 1872,
p. 4. In the school board election held on December 21st, ten
candidates ran for three seats, two regular positions and one vacancy. Kramer
received the second most votes after D. P. Upham, who at the time was president
of the Little Rock City Council. The notification concerning Kramer’s office
hours was in “Capital Chips.” Morning
Republican, May 14, 1873, p. 3. In June 1872, Kramer handed out diplomas to
the first graduating free-school class in the city (“Little Rock High School.” Morning Republican, June 14, 1873, p.
4).
[11] “In and about the Capital.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, August 10,
1872, p. 4.
[12] The best explanation of the bases of
Republican power after the adoption of the 1868 constitution is found in George
Thompson. 1976. Arkansas and
Reconstruction. Kennikat Press. He asserts that republican power depended
on the disenfranchisement and voter oath requirement in the 1868 constitution
and the power given to the governor to appoint county registrars and assessors
and to fill vacant state and county positions, plus his control over such
things as which newspaper would print legal notices in each county and final
authority in granting state credit to railroads.
[13] The pigeon shooting competition is
reported in “Daily Fair.” Daily Arkansas
Gazette, November 22, 1869, p. 3. Rottaken also won the pigeon shooting
competitions in 1869 and 1870 (“The Fair.” Daily
Arkansas Gazette, Oct. 15, 1870, p. 4). He started a local shooting club in
Little Rock soon after the 1868 fair, and it periodically held competitive
pigeon shooting matches ([Item], Daily
Arkansas Gazette, Dec. 16, 1868, p.3).
Concerning the fire department, see “The Sixteenth Anniversary.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Feb 25, 1870,
p. 4 and “First Assistant Engineer Resigned.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, April 25, 1871, p. 4.
[14] “Rottaken.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, July 8, 1870, p. 4. From that article, “Our
next door neighbor, Rottaken, is ‘a mighty hunter’—as great as ever Nimrod was;
as a fisherman he possesses natural skill equal to that of Izaac Walton, and
uses besides all the modern appliances.
[15] “Our Neighbor Rottaken.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, August 31,
1869, p. 4
[17] See Rottaken’s affidavit in “The Charges
Against the Mayor.” Daily Arkansas
Gazette, December 3, 1870, p. 4.
[18] See Rottaken’s testimony in “The Investigation
Committee.” Daily Arkansas Gazette,
July 29, 1874, p. 4.
[19] See Chapter 7 in Thompson, Arkansas and Reconstruction.
[20] The belief that Brooks won the election
was widespread, even among the men, such as William E. Woodruff Jr., editor of
the Gazette, who became Baxter’s
strongest supporters. Thompson, in Arkansas and Reconstruction, believe
that voting patterns and irregularities pointed strongly to a Brooks’ victory.
He wrote: “That Brooks was actually elected would be impossible to prove but
the testimony of men of integrity such
as David Walker, Hugh G. Thomason, Isaac Murphy, and James Mitchell of the
northwest, U. M. Ros of Little Rock, and Harris FFlanagin and John R.Eakin in
the southwest would argue he was.” (p. 101).
The chairman of Poland Commission of the U.S.
House of Representatives that investigated the political situation in Arkansas
prior to and after the Brooks-Baxter War stated his view, with which other
members agreed, that Brook had won the 1872 election.
[21] “A Queer Kind of an Article.” Morning Republican, August 20, 1873 p.
2. Another major reason for growing
republican dissatisfaction with Baxter was his opposition to exchanging
worthless railroad bonds for state bonds and his opposition to issuing
additional railroad bonds.
[22] “Men Living in Glass Houses Should Not
Throw Stones.” Morning Republican,
July 10, 1873 p 2. Gov. Baxter kept the support
of Sen. Powell Clayton, the head of the minstrel faction, throughout 1873.
Clayton, who watched events from Washington D.C. finally broke with Baxter after
the governor opposed issuing more railroad bonds, a project dear to the hearts
and pocketbooks of many minstrel leaders.
[23] The different attempts of Brooks to get a
hearing on his claim to office are discussed in Thompson, Arkansas and Reconstruction; Thomas Staples. 1929. Reconstruction in Arkansas. Columbia
University Press, reprinted by Forgotten Books; and John Harrell. 1893. Reconstruction in Arkansas: A History.
Slawson Printing Co.
[24] In May
1873, there were rumors that Chief Justic McClure was going to use a legal ploy
to get the Supreme Court to issue and order that would at least temporarily
remove Baxter from office. To defeat any attempt to physically remove Baxter
from office, he revamped the state militia, adding men loyal to the D-C Party
and replacing D.P Upham as commander of the militia by Col. Robert C. Newton, a
man loyal to the governor. The militia guarded the governor’s office until the
end of September, when the threat no longer was credible. See Thompson, Arkansas and Reconstruction, pp. 124 –
125.
[25] “Our City Currency.” Morning Republican, September 23, 1873, p. 4.
[26] “The Mechanics and Laborers.” Morning Republican. Sept, 27, 1873, p.
4.
[27] “City
Money.” Morning Republican, October
10, 1873, p 4.
[28] “Money
Matters.” Daily Arkansas Gazette,
Oct. 7, p. 4.
[29] “The Quarantine.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, October 7, 1873, p. 1 and “Destructive
Fire.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov.
1, 1873, 4.
[30] “Mass Meeting.” Morning Republican, October 7, 1873, p. 4 and “The Re-Union.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Oct 7, 1873, p.
4.
[31] “Republican City Convention.” Morning Republican. October 27, 1873 p.
4 and “Upham’s City Convention.” Daily
Arkansas Gazette, Oct. 26, 1873, p. 4.
[32] “The City Canvass.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Oct. 15, 1873, p. 2.
[33] “Citizen’s Convention.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, October 28,
1873, p. 4. The Morning Republican
referred to the convention as the “Democratic convention.” “The ‘Citizens,’
So-Called, Make Nominations.” Morning
Republican, October 28, 1873, p. 4
[34] “An Old Citizen Gone” [Sam L. Griffith]. Daily Arkansas Gazette DAG. January 17,
1893, p. 6; Death Claims Dr. Wm Thompson. Daily
Arkansas Gazette DAG. October 27, 1909, p. 9.
[35] “The Lesson of Last Tuesday’s Election”
(Letter to editor by Old Line Democrat). Daily
Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 7, 1873, p. 1.
[36] “A Complete fizzle.” Daily Arkansas Gazette DAG Nov 4, 1873, p. 4.
[37] “Grand Republican Rally.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, November 4,
1873, p. 4.
[38] “Today’s Election.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 4, 1873, p. 2.
[39] Upham and his militia were accused of
extorting money from “helpless victims who were subjected to his merciless
exactions – exactions conducted with an ingenuity of rapacity unparalleled
since the campaign of Alva in the Netherlands. Harrell, The Brooks-Baxter War, p. 81. For a positive view of his command,
see Powell Clayton. 1915. The Aftermath
of the Civil War in Arkansas. Neal Publishing Co. (Reprinted by Negro Universities
Press, 1969). For more on Upham, see http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=1790
[40] On March 17, 1873, an election was held
in Little Rock to fill a vacant city council seat. The winner was William J.
Murphy whose 239 votes were substantially more than G. Ehman’s 116 votes.
Murphy was president of the Little Rock Gas Light Co. He had supported
brindle-tail candidates in previous elections. His candidacy was supported by
the Gazette and most democrats and
conservatives. The Morning Republican
supported Ehman, a tradesman.
When the city council met on March 21, it
voted by a 4-3 margin against seating Murphy, claiming that he was a city
contractor and council rules did not allow contractors to be aldermen. This
reason made little sense, but it was the best excuse that Upham and the other
three council members could come up with. The real reason they did not want
Murphy on the council was that he would provide the brindle-tails their fourth
vote. If he were seated, the council split would be 4 to 4, instead of 5 – 3 as
it had been.
The vote against seating Murphy stirred
outrage, especially among the increasingly vocal democrats and conservatives,
and the Gazette, their organ. On the
day after the council action, the Gazette
raged against the decision and the aldermen who made it: “With the hand of
the tyrant and dictator, the arm of a usurper, and the will of a despot, the
people’s will was trodden underfoot.” After railing against the decision at
length, the Gazette hinted darkly that violent might be in the offing: “That it
may yet lead to something worse than mere words of denunciations is greatly
feared.” (“The Last Outrage.” Daily
Arkansas Gazette, March 23, 1873, p. 2)
On the day after the council decision, a
thousand people showed up to protest at the corner of Markham and Main Streets.
The indignant speakers verbally abused Upham, presumed to be the architect of
the perfidy. One speaker called the action "one of the grossest outrages
ever attempted to be perpetrated on a people claiming to be free." The
meeting attendees passed resolutions condemning the alderman who voted against
Murphy, demanding their ouster and action to reverse the decision. (The Council's Outrage. Daily Arkansas Gazette, March 23, 1873,
p. 4)
A Gazette editorial on March 27 (p. 2),
demanded action to reverse the decision:
We have never
witnessed a more deep-seated determination on the part of any people to right
the wrongs committed on the part of usurper Upham, than is displayed on the
part of our citizens…The wrong must be righted – that’s all. The heads of kings
have been severed for less crimes that that committed by Upham and his crew.
The protest
continued for another couple of weeks with another rally on April 5th.
(The People Indignate. Daily
Arkansas Gazette. April 6, 1873, p. 4) The Morning
Republican published several articles defending the decision and the
aldermen who made it, including “The Facts in the Case.”
Morning Republican. March 27, 1873,
p. 1 and “The Indignants. Morning Republican, April 7, 1873, p. 4. By the middle of
April, the uproar had died down, but memories remained of the Murphy Affair and
Upham’s role in it.
[41] “Upham’s City Convention.” Daily Arkansas Gazette DAG. Oct. 26,
1873, p 4. While the Gazette likely stoked anger at Upham
among democrats and conservatives for whom he long been a source of hatred, the
paper’s emphasis seems strange if its purpose was to persuade black and white
men who had previously voted republican to vote for candidates of the citizen’s
party. While Upham was an anathema to solid democrats, African-Americans viewed
him as a hero who had defended them and their brothers in the militia wars
against the Ku Klux Klan.
[42] Daily
Arkansas Gazette , Nov. 4, 1873, p. 4.
[43] See footnote 9.
[44] “The City Election.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Aug 15, 1873, p. 2.
[45] “The Republican Ticket.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Oct. 26, 1873, p. 1.
[46] [Editorial]. Daily Arkansas Gazette, November 1, 1873, p. 1.
[47] “The Citizens’ Ticket.” Daily Arkansas Gazette DAG October 28,
1873, p. 1.
[48] “Today’s Election.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 4, 1873, p. 2.
[49] “The City Election.” Morning Republican, August 14, 1873, p. 2.
[50] “The Ancient Damsel.” Morning Republican. Nov. 4, 1874, p. 4.
[51] “A Chance for Sarber and Upham.” Morning Republican, September 27, 1873,
p. 2.
[52] “A Hungary Ring.” Morning Republican, November 4, 1873, p. 2.
[53] “The Victory.” Morning Republican, Nov. 6, 1873, p. 4.
With
such a board of aldermen … may we not look for the most auspicious events in
public matters; may we not predict a continued series of uninterrupted
prosperity for our beautiful City of Roses – that prosperity which will invite
immigration and capital to our shores, and which has in years past given to
Little Rock the reputation of being the most prosperous city in the southwest.
[54] “Interviewing.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 4, 1873, p. 4. With the obvious
importance of black voters in the election, the Gazette’s campaign narrative seems misguided. To most black voters,
Upham was the hero of a great effort to protect reedman from harassment and
murder by the Ku Klux Klan. Thus, while the focus on demonizing Upham might
have stirred some white voters, it was unlikely to attract black voters to the
citizens’ party.
[55] “Interviewing.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 4, 1873, p. 4.
[55] “Yesterday’s Fraud.” Daily Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 5, 1873, p. 1.
[57] “Tuesday’s Election.” Daily Arkansas Gazette. Nov. 6, 1873,
p. 1.
[53] Total votes for mayor: January 1869 -- 1,106; November 1869 -- 972; November 1871 -- 1,084; November 1873 -- 2,164;
April 1875 -- 2,063; April 1877 -- 2,316; April 1879 -- 2,401
[59] “The Municipal Election.” Morning Republican, Nov. 5, 1873, p. 4.
It is possible the lack of law enforcement action was due to the fact that the
city police, the offie of the county sheriff, and the state court system were
under the control of republicans.
[60] The Significance
of the City Election. Morning
Republican, Nov 7, 1873, p. 2.
