Celebrating History - Election delays memorial

By Emily Mayer

As mentioned before in this column, the year 1916 was also an election year. Sometimes campaigns get in the way of other events, and this article was published on the front page of The Havre Plaindealer’s Oct. 21, 1916 issue:

LEWIS MEMORIAL AT A LATER DATE

Will Not Take Place Until After Election

Memorial services for the late R. X. Lewis, which was announced for Thursday evening of this week at the Hill county court house, will not take place until after the general election in November. Definite announcement of the date will be made later.

The postponement was made necessary through the request of Hon. Chas. N. Pray, Harry B. Mitchell of Great Falls, and others who are engaged in campaigning the state and who could not be in Havre this week. The gentlemen mentioned and scores of others who knew the late Mr. Lewis requested postponement until a time when they could be present and pay tribute to the newspaper man whose life effort was expended in helping to make of Montana the great state that it is.

Rev. Leonard J. Christler this week mailed the following letter in regard to the memorial service:

‘One a date not yet fixed that some evening after the election we shall have a meeting for the purpose of permitting friends of the late R. X. Lewis to pay tribute to his memory and to give recognition of his service to Northern Montana. This meeting will be held in the court house chambers at Havre.

‘We would appreciate greatly your presence at this meeting or a letter of tribute from you to be read and made a matter of record along with other letters of appreciation and of memorial record from those who knew or who were associated with Mr. Lewis in the early and later days in the upbuilding of the state of Montana. Notice of the date of meeting will be sent you later.’

Efforts for and against the passage of prohibition were also prominent in the papers. A group of Great Falls business owners and citizens took out a full-page ad in the Plaindealer rallying against the initiative, which was on the ballot. Churches and women’s groups in particular were quite for the passage of prohibition, and this area was not immune to those efforts:

DRY CAMPAIGNER IN HAVRE

Dr. Edwin R. Worrell of Chicago, one of the anti-saloon forces, addressed a fair crowd of voters at the Boone corner Thursday evening. The Doctor was very eloquent, and, set forth convincing facts from the standpoint of those favoring the elimination of the open saloon; one of the facts that he could not controvert being the main one that prohibition laws like that proposed for Montana does not keep the bootleggers and others from plying their nefarious trade.

The Plaindealer’s Society column had a couple of entries, one purely social and the other political.

Informal Party.

Mrs. R. E. Devney of Malta was the honor guest at an informal affair given by Mrs. J. G. Blair on Saturday evening.

Bridge was played at two tables and after the game a buffet lunch was served.

The guests included Mesdames Devney; Brodrick; Geo. Hulfish; Cronin; Lange; Phil Jestrab; Williams; Misses Carrier; de Lorimer; Williams.

Reception for Miss Rankin.

A large number of Havre ladies gathered at the Lyceum hall on Wednesday afternoon to greet Miss Jeanette Rankin, Republican candidate for congress.

Miss Rankin addressed the audience and an informal reception followed.