Celebrating History: The more things change ...

By Emily Mayer

This week's column is a reminder of the old adage "the more things change, the more they remain the same." For all the current hopping up and down, finger pointing and bawls of "fake news" emanating from various persons from the highest office in the land on down, those of us alive today didn't invent that as the Nov. 2, 1918, edition of The Havre Plaindealer proves.

First, a correction. For all of the yammering of the political war between Hill County Attorney Victor Griggs and Republican and Non-Partisan League backed candidate C. R. Stranahan, I thought the two were on opposite tickets. The Democrats had local attorney J. P. Donnelly on their ticket, Griggs opting not to run for another term.

Locally, the elections of Hill County sheriff and Hill County attorney were downright filthy and openly being fought in the local papers in Hill County, not just Havre's newspapers. These articles are quite lengthy, which is why excerpts have been published in this column. I also wish I could include what other papers are publishing, but at 25 cents a copy, this can be quite costly at part-time wages. I've chosen the Plaindealer mostly because of the Society column, which the others didn't have, and the Plaindealer's reporting of the real happenings in Havre were much more descriptive than the other papers, if they published the gathering at all.

Regarding the sheriff's race, the Plaindealer was backing Democratic candidate H. E. Loranger and the others were seemingly favoring opponent the Rev. E. J. Huston. In part, this is what the Plaindealer stated on its front page Nov. 2, 1918:

NEIGHBORS STRONGLY SUPPORT LORANGER

While Preacher Was Turned Down by His

Some men are might bad losers, but of all bad losers, the Rev. E. J. Huston is the worst. Holding himself up as the man called to make the race against the man who he now calls the "Hill County Rounder," this man of the cloth entered the race for the democratic nomination for sheriff. After a campaign of vilification, abuse and mudslinging, on the part of the preacher, he and his methods received a sharp and richly merited rebuke at the hands of the decent voters of the county...in a signed statement, which for dirt and filth, surpasses even his own past performances, he has this to say of his successful opponent: "He (Loranger) can't understand why it is that all ladies are refusing to vote for him, and we might also add, all of the gentlemen." This is somewhat obscure, the preacher's English being almost as vague as his knowledge of the habits of a gentleman appears to be...

... This incontrovertible evidence shows two things: First, that where Loranger is best known, he receives a large majority of votes and where Huston is best known he receives the worst beating. And second, that it was not, as the Rev. Huston implies, the saloon and vice elements that defeated him, but it was the voters who believe in decency in politics as in everything else and who will not stand for dirty methods even in a preacher.

Similar sentiments were delivered in a neighboring column regarding J.P. Donnelly, this time with the Plaindealer slamming Assistant Deputy Attorney General Grorud in his efforts, backed by C.R. Stranahan and the Rev. Huston, to prosecute Shorty Young in the badly failed Border Saloon raid, and how awful Stranahan is and how great Donnelly would be as Hill County Attorney.

But the Plaindealer was not done with Mr. Huston. Taking another swipe, the Plaindealer published a column titled "Will Play It Safe and Vote for Walsh," wherein the Plaindealer states:

Late this week the Rev. E. J. Huston, an active member of the Hill county executive committee of the non-partisan league, and a supposedly strong support of Jeannette Rankin, made a trip through the county distributing a circular bearing the authorization of the republican county central committee and eulogizing Dr. Lanstrum for senator. Can it be that at the last minute the non-partisan leaders of Hill county, who have so vehemently characterized Dr. Lanstrum as a wearer of the copper collar and champion of "big business" are going to try and switch the farmer voters of Hill county from Jeanette to Dr. Lanstrum. Evidently that is their game, but if the farmer is going to be switched at all, he is not going to be switched to Dr. Lanstrum, for the non-partisan executive committee having fooled them once, and having double crossed Jeannette, will double cross them. They will play it safe and vote for Walsh.

And the Plaindealer still wasn't done with the Rev. Huston. The Plaindealer issued a rebuttal on its editorial page to a column published by the Gildford paper provided by the reverend against the Plaindealer, calling the newspaper a liar in stating they had interviewed him about the botched Border Saloon raid, with the Plaindealer stating they had and pointing out that Huston had yet to deny facts published by the Plaindealer.

Also on the editorial page was a favorable column for the election of Judge W. B. Rhoades. There will be more election news as the coming weeks go on. You don't want to miss this!

Of course, the Great War raged on and the Hill County Woman's Liberty Loan committee submitted an article about their efforts to raise money for the war effort, stating at the end of the column: "The women of Hill county are in this war to the end, whatever she may be called upon to do."

And, amidst the numerous articles of political posturing, was this short addition of news regarding the war:

HAVRE BOY HONORED.

Word has been received in the city that Sgt. John H. Ehrhart, formerly manager of the Shoe Department of the Havre Commercial Company, now serving in France with the Ninety-first Division, ha been thru the thick of the fight, returning with a bullet hole through his pack.

Sg. Ehrhart captured six Germans single handed for which feat he has been honored for his bravery and cool headedness under fire, and has been recommended for a commission.

Sgt. Ehrhart is probably the first Hill County boy to earn one of the distinguished Service Medals offered by Havre Chamber of Commerce.

News that August "Gus" DesCelles, one of Havre's pioneers, had died was tucked away on the back pages of the Plaindealer, as was a tantalizing legal publication stating that a statement being circulated by the Rev. Huston, paid for by the Hill County Executive Committee of the Non-Partisan League was untrue - well, let's leave that for another column!