The Montgomery Advertiser
- Al Smith Sweeps to Easy Victory Over Republican Opponent
- Wagner and Walsh Replace Butler and Wadsworth
- Pugh Testifies for Prosecution in Davis Trial
The Montgomery Advertiser's front page on the morning after the midterm elections led with Democratic successes. One story described Governor Al Smith pushing through cheering crowds at Tammany Hall to thank New Yorkers after his re-election. A Senate roundup reported that Robert F. Wagner's defeat of Senator James W. Wadsworth Jr. in New York was practically certain, that David I. Walsh had beaten Senator William M. Butler in Massachusetts, and that Democrats were ahead in Arizona, Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kentucky. Closer to home, an AP dispatch from Birmingham reported that Wiley Pugh, whose statement had set off an inquiry into convict deaths at Alabama's prison mines, spent most of the day testifying for the state against former warden Charles R. Davis, who was accused of murdering James Knox at the Flat Top prison mine in 1924.
Translation
AL SMITH SWEEPS TO EASY VICTORY OVER REPUB OPPONENT
Tammany Hall shouted itself hoarse when its favorite son pushed his way through cheering throngs to speak from the rostrum of the historic building. "After a long and hard campaign," said the governor, "it is a great satisfaction to come here feeling that the people of the state of New York understood what we were talking about
WAGNER AND WALSH REPLACE BUTLER AND WADSWORTH
Democracy forged steadily forward in its march to control of the United States senate early this morning when the election of Robert F. Wagner for senator from New York over Senator James W. Wadsworth, Jr., became practically certain. The apparent election of Wagner added to democratic gains made in other sections of the country notably in Massachusetts where David I. Walsh, democrat, was elected over Senator William M. Butler and in Arizona, Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kentucky where the democratic candidates continued ahead.
PUGH TESTIFIES FOR PROSECUTION IN DAVIS TRIAL
BIRMINGHAM, ALA., Nov. 2. - (AP) - Leading with its main witness, the state today plunged into the midst of its attack on Charles R. Davis former warden charged with the murder of James Knox at Flat Top prison mine in 1924, Wiley Pugh, whose statement several months ago to state authorities precipitated an investigation which resulted in the indictment of six persons in connection with the deaths of convicts at prison mines throughout the state, was sent to the stand early in the day and his testimony occupied the attention of the court until late in the afternoon.
Context
Al Smith's 1926 win and the 1928 presidential race
The Advertiser framed Smith's re-election as an easy sweep and ended on the celebration at Tammany Hall. The official count supports a comfortable win: the New York Times put Smith's official plurality over the Republican Ogden L. Mills at 247,478, and almost the whole Democratic ticket was elected, with only the Republican attorney general, Ottinger, keeping his office. The presidential question was already present. Smith's supporters had begun laying the groundwork for a 1928 effort soon after the 1924 election, and in late 1926 Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to Smith warning against a push by Tammany allies to build a national organization on the Tammany model, telling him, "you will be a candidate in 1928 whether you like it or not." The Tammany scene in this article also points to Smith's main weakness, since anti-Catholic and anti-Tammany sentiment was a major obstacle to his nomination. These records do not measure how much the 1926 margin itself counted. By 1928, however, Smith was regarded as an immensely formidable candidate, won the Democratic nomination easily, and then lost the general election to Herbert Hoover in a landslide.
How Wagner beat Wadsworth in a three-way race
When the Advertiser went to press, Wagner's victory over Wadsworth was only "practically certain." The final count confirmed it, but Wagner won with a plurality rather than a majority. He took 46.5 percent, Wadsworth 42.4 percent, and Franklin W. Cristman, running as an Independent Republican, 8.2 percent. The Prohibition Party made no Senate nomination of its own and campaigned for Cristman, so the dry vote that the party could mobilize went to a candidate other than the Republican incumbent. Cristman's share was roughly twice Wagner's 4.1-point lead over Wadsworth. That suggests the division on the Republican side mattered to the outcome, although the totals cannot show how Cristman's voters would otherwise have cast their ballots.
Did the 1926 Democratic gains end the Republican Senate majority?
The Democratic advance fell short of control of the Senate. The Advertiser wrote of Democracy marching toward control of the chamber and listed gains from Massachusetts to Kentucky. In Massachusetts, David I. Walsh took 52.0 percent to William M. Butler's 46.5 percent. Across all the 1926 Senate contests, the Republican majority was reduced by seven seats, but it was not eliminated. Two Republican winners then became disputed cases. The Senate refused to qualify the Pennsylvania winner, William S. Vare, because of charges of corruption and fraud in the election, and it did not consider the Illinois winner, Frank L. Smith, to be a senator. Those decisions left the Republicans with an even thinner working margin than the seat count alone suggests.
The Flat Top case and the end of Alabama's convict leasing
The Davis trial took place in the last years of Alabama's prison-mining system. In 1912 the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company announced that it would employ only free workers in its mines, and the state then took over the management of the prison mines and sold their coal directly. According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, the 1924 death of a prisoner who had been tortured by being lowered into a vat of boiling water prompted an investigation. The encyclopedia does not name that prisoner, so it does not by itself establish that he was the James Knox of this trial. In the 1926 governor's race, Bibb Graves won support from organized labor with a pledge to abolish the convict-lease system, which the encyclopedia says depressed the wages of free labor. The legislature enacted his proposal late in 1927, and prison mining finally came to a halt in 1928, making Alabama the last state to abolish convict leasing, some five years after Florida. The sources do not trace a direct line from this trial to the law, but the testimony the Advertiser reported came during the same years as the investigation, the campaign pledge and the legislation.
Original
AL SMITH SWEEPS TO EASY VICTORY OVER REPUB OPPONENT
" Tammany Hall shouted itself hoarse when its favorite son pushed his way through cheering throngs to speak from the rostrum of the historic building. " After a long and hard campaign, " said the governor, " It is a great satisfaction to come here feeling that the people of the state of New York understood what we were talking about
WAGNER AND WALSH REPLACE BUTLER AND WADSWORTH
Democracy forged steadily forward in it's march to control of the United States senate early this morning when the election of Robert F. Wagner for senator from New York over Senator James W. Wadsworth, Jr., became practically certain. The apparent election of Wagner added to democratic gains made in other sections of the country notably in Massachusetts where David I. Walsh, democrat, was elected over Senator William M. Butler and in Arizona, Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kentucky where the democratic candidates continued ahead.
PUGH TESTIFIES FOR PROSECUTION IN DAVIS TRIAL
BIRMINGHAM, ALA., Nov. 2. - (AP) - Leading with its main witness, the state today plunged into the midst of its attack on Charles R. Davis former warden charged with the murder of James Knox at Flat Top prison mine in 1924, Wiley Pugh, whose statement several months ago to state authorities precipitated an investigation which resulted in the indictment of six persons in connection with the deaths of convicts at prison mines throughout the state, was sent to the stand early in the day and his testimony occupied the. attention of the court until late in the afternoon.
Source: Holding institution