With the 2012 presidential election fresh in our minds, here's a description how Bluffton watched the 1916 presidential election. This is a reprint from the book "A Good Place to Miss: Bluffton Stories 1900-1975." The person telling the story is Milt Sprunger.
Election of 1916
I was a freshman at Bluffton College in the fall of 1916. The two presidential candidates were Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, and Charles Evan Hughes, Republican. Wilson was the incumbent and both candidates repeatedly assured voters that each would keep American out of the conflict raging across Europe at the time. In reality both candidates were so similar that some dubbed Hughes as “Woodrow Wilson in whiskers.”
Although I wasn’t old enough to vote, some of my classmates and I, with the help of Professor G.A. “Dad” Lehman formed a Republican club on campus. The other members included Vernon and Harry Ramseyer, Wilmer Shelly, Delbert Welty, who was actu¬ally a “Bull Moose” from California, myself and three other fresh¬men.
The other freshmen included Milton Tschantz, Leo Welty, Clyde Tschantz. We shared two upstairs rooms on East Kibler Street at the home of D.W. Bixler. Mrs. Bixler, Dora, was a sister to Clyde Tschantz.
Now remember, this was way before radio, but Bluffton resi¬dents were just as interested in presidential elections in 1916 as they are today. Let me explain how we spent election night.
An election night center was set up in the second floor of the town hall. Someone had hooked up a telegraph receiver and the results were posted on a large blackboard as they came in. During the evening, interested voters stopped in for the latest results. Dr. J.J. Sutter, who started the sanitarium, and who was mayor of Bluffton at the time, served as master of ceremonies. He was a Democrat.
I don’t recall who operated the telegraph, but as results came in first from the East Coast and then from the Midwest, Dr. Sutter would read them aloud and then post them on the blackboard. At first, Hughes took the lead, and as you might imagine, members of our campus Republican club were very happy.
Sometime around midnight, with Hughes in the lead, the telegraph was turned off and everyone went home thinking the Republicans took over the White House. The next morning the country still thought Hughes had won. I remember reading the morning Lima newspaper with its headline: Sweeping Victory for Hughes.
Developments on Wednesday changed things. Results from western states, particularly California, were finally counted and it appeared that Wilson took the lead. With the west heavily Demo¬cratic, by Wednesday evening, the tide had turned and it started to look like a Wilson victory.
Although the telegraph was dismantled at the town hall, some people stopped by the Lake Erie and West¬ern Railway depot on Railroad Street for the latest news. You see, the depot also had a telegraph office.
Eventually Thursday morning rolled around. The election re¬sults were still not resolved. I walked uptown to see if I could learn the latest election update. When I turned the corner from Franklin onto Main I heard what could best is described as a blood-curdling yell.
Near the Cherry and Main Street intersection stood Reuben “Big” Steiner. As his name described him, he was a large man. He was also a Democrat. He had just heard the news from perhaps a telephone call from Democrat headquarters in Lima that California had gone for Wilson and thus, the 1916 president election was finally decided.
It was a victory for the Democrats.
