100 years ago in Spokane: Teddy Roosevelt sweeps Spokane County in confusing vote

From our archives, 100 years ago

Teddy Roosevelt swept Spokane County in a Republican presidential preference poll, winning 727 votes, compared to 376 for the second-place finisher, Charles E. Hughes.

Apparently, presidential primary rules were just as confusing in 1916 as they are today, because this “straw vote” was informal. It was held principally to furnish an “indication of the voter’s real preferences.” The “preferential vote is in no way binding upon the delegates,” who were elected at the same time.

The 1916 Republican contest also included a rich and controversial business tycoon. Henry Ford won a number of votes, including all six votes in the Elba precinct.

Roosevelt, who had already been president from 1901 to 1909, had always been tremendously popular in Spokane.

From the suicide beat: A body found shot to death at the Pericord Hotel a day before was identified as Dan Darling, a Ritzville barber.

Apparently Darling had recently gone to Spangle to visit Miss Blanch Mays, to whom he said he was engaged. However, when he got there, she “refused to have anything to do with him.” Spurned, he went off in search of a rival suitor, and threatened to kill him and commit suicide.