Placing bets as politicians reached the homestretch

A Republican rally at Whitehall, N.Y., was not, as it turned out, the best place for Democrats to line up wagers on the 1888 presidential election, in which Republican Benjamin Harrison was challenging Democrat Grover Cleveland’s bid for a second term.

“Two Glens Falls Democrats and one from Fort Ann went to Whitehall the other day with $1,000 to bet on Cleveland’s election,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Oct. 26, 1888. “They found no takers.”

But in Columbia County, it was Democrats who had become reluctant to put their money on Cleveland.

“A few weeks ago, there were many Democrats anxious to wager their money on the election of Mr. Cleveland,” The Columbia Republican of Hudson reported on Oct. 18. “Now it is difficult to find one who even bet even money that Cleveland will be elected.”

Wagering heated up as Election Day got closer, and those who bet against Cleveland won.
Former U.S. Rep. H. G. Burleigh of Whitehall, a Republican, and Collector Smalley of Burlington, presumably a Democrat, each wagered $500 — the equivalent of $15,384 each in today’s dollars — on the outcome of the election, The Morning Star reported on Nov. 2.

Betting on presidential election outcomes was common both locally and nationally in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And in those decades before the advent of scientific polling, betting markets often gave hints of how presidential campaigns were faring with the public.

On Nov. 2, the Friday before the 1888 election, a group of Glens Falls gamblers pooled $700 together and sent a representative to Granville to place bets. The representative bet $500 with G.N. Finch on the election of Cleveland.

He also bet James G. Brown $50 that Cleveland would carry New York, $50 that Cleveland would carry Indiana, $50 that Cleveland would carry Connecticut, and $50 that Cleveland would win the election.

Brown won three of the four wagers. Harrison carried New York as well as his home state of Indiana, and he won the election. Cleveland carried Connecticut.

Betting continued on the day before the election.
“A Glens Falls man went to Ticonderoga yesterday with a good-sized roll of greenbacks to bet on Cleveland,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 6.

 

Vote early, bet late
The People’s Journal of Greenwich advised against election betting.
“The safe way is not to bet,” the newspaper wrote in an Oct. 11 editorial.
But if one insisted on wagering, the paper continued, the strategy should be vote early and bet late.

“Those who are determined to bet should wait until they have cast their ballots on election morning,” the editorial advised. “There will be plenty of time during the day the 6th of November when men will still be as anxious to bet as now.”

The day after the election, a lot of cash changed hands.
“Some of the unfortunate boys were engaged in paying off their bets yesterday,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 8. “It was like paying for a dead horse, but ill luck and the code of honor demanded the obligation be met.”

Some bets were on a non-cash basis.
“James Jackson and Edward Cashion, two popular members of the M.B. Little Hose Company, are parties of a novel election bet,” The Morning Star reported on Oct. 29, 1888. “If Cleveland wins, Jackson will wheel Cashion from the Central House to Monument Square in a wheelbarrow.”

If Harrison won, it would be Jackson who’d ride in the wheelbarrow from the hotel to the square in downtown Glens Falls.

“Friends of the young men look forward to the event with considerable interest,” the newspaper reported. “It is not improbable that the band or drum corps may be employed to escort this little procession in its rounds.”

The wheelbarrow bet made its rounds, pun intended, across the region.
“Two novel election bets were made in the village last week,” The People’s Journal reported on Nov. 15. “Seymour Sullivan wheeled Peter Lee from Scott’s Hotel to the Hamilton and return, and furnished him with cigars. And Saturday evening, William Dooley of Middle Falls carried a Mr. Dooley from Middle Falls to Scott’s Hotel and furnished him supper at Scott’s.”

One perhaps overzealous bettor was in danger of losing his horse-cents, another pun intended.
“James Morris of Stottsdale, a good Republican, boss weaver at No. 4 mill, who, having bet all of his loose change on the result of the election, now offers to bet his horse that Harrison will be elected in November,” The Columbia Republican reported on Oct. 18.

Morris had recently bought the racehorse Sorel Dan for $600, and the horse had already won two-out-of-three races at Albany. Morris offered to put up the horse against a $250 cash bet.

Wagering also was rampant in Vermont.
Two “well-known” Rutland men made a wager that if Cleveland won, the Harrison supporter would carry a sign through the city’s principal streets reading, “I was fool enough to think Harrison would be elected,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 2. If Harrison won, the Cleveland supporter would carry a sign with the same message, substituting his own candidate’s name.
The paper also reported that “a Rutland man who is a strong Republican has agreed to participate in the Democrat parade should Cleveland be re-elected, and a young Republican lawyer has made a similar agreement.”

The loser of another bet probably proved to be a mad hatter, or at least an embarrassed one.
“These are the terms of a novel bet made yesterday,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 6. “One man agreed if Cleveland won to wear a white stiff hat for two months.”
The other man would wear the hat if Harrison won.

Louis Weinman of Warrensburg, “an earnest Democrat,” made good on an agreement with Republican business partner L.C. Emerson to march in the Republican victory parade if Cleveland lost the election.

“Wednesday night Mr. Emerson called for a fulfillment of the contract, and Mr. Weinman turned out good naturedly, mingled with, and had just as much fun as any of the paraders,” The Morning Star reported.

 

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star of Glens Falls for 21 years before retiring in 2017. He now is a freelance writer focusing on the history of politics, labor and media in the region.