Digital Bob Archive

APRIL 1918 - PART 7:

Alaska had its first ever Primary Election on April 30 and the Gastineau Channel area had a heavy slate of candidates for the Legislature, Juneau city had three polling places: City Hall at 4th and Main, the Brunswick Bowling Alley building on South Franklin, and \"the building next to the LaFrance Grocery\" on Willoughby Avenue. Douglas voters cast their ballots at the City Hall or the Natatorium. Other polling places in this vicinity were at Eagle River, Jualin, Jualpa, Sheep Creek, Perseverance, Treadwell, Salmon Creek and Mendenhall. Polls were open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The most watched race in the first Primary was between C.A. Sulzer and William Malony for the Democratic nomination for Delegate in Congress, Sulzer, a former territorial senator, had narrowly lost to Judge James Wickersham when the votes were counted in 1916. A federal judge threw out some Wickersham votes on a technicality and awarded the seat in Congress to Sulzer, but the House of Representatives had subsequently tossed out Sulzer and seated Wickersham. In the 1918 Primary, Sulzer won easily over Malony, the former Territorial Mine Inspector. In the fall, the election would again pit Sulzer against Wickersham who filed in the Primary as an Independent and was unopposed.

There were no elective territorial officials in 1918, and the whole of Southeastern Alaska was one election district for the legislative races. William Britt, a Juneau druggist who had served in the House, easily won the Senate nomination over F.B. Harrison. No Republican filed but Ed C. Russell, editor of the Dispatch, was nominated at a convention. He would lose to Britt in the fall.

Ten Democrats and two Republicans filed in their respective Primaries for the four House seats. Two of the Democrats, W.W. Casey and Isaac Sowerby were incumbents, while another was E.J. \"Stroller\" White, the editor of the Douglas Island News. Also among the ten was Juneau's first woman candidate. She was Grace Vrooman Bishop who had taught school in Juneau for several years before she married Harry Bishop in 1911. She made a strong run and placed fifth, and the man who beat her by 171 votes, J.J. Connors of Juneau, would be defeated in the fall. It would be another 18 years before a woman would be elected to the Alaska Territorial Legislature and by that time Grace Bishop had become Mrs. James Wickersham.

Other losing Democrats in the 1918 Primary were E.J. Shaw, E.A. Heath, W.W. Batcheller, E.L. Cobb and L.E. Young. The only two Republican candidates were John H. Davies of Ketchikan and P.C. McCormack of Wrangell. Before the General Election, however, Grover C. Winn, Juneau, lawyer, and H.R. Shepard, insurance agent, were nominated by convention. But only Davies of the Republican candidates would be successful in November.