1915-01-02rr

It was a heated campaign to become the mayor of Hamilton for the year 1915.

Early in the fall of 1914, several prospective candidates were weighing their options as regards throwing their hats in the ring. The decision was particularly agonizing for those who already held office at City Hall, and would have to give it up on the gamble that they might win, or lose, in the mayoral contest.

For Charles Gardiner, member of the Hamilton Board of Control, he thought his chances of being elected were reasonably good, but wished to see who might be his potential opponents.

Chester Walters was an alderman, a first term alderman, but he had become exceedingly popular because of his investigation into corruption in City Hall administration, notably in the Board of Works.

Controller Gardiner sought out Alderman Walters to ascertain his future intentions, and was assured that the alderman had no intentions of seeking the mayor’s office.

Two or three days before Gardiner was intending to announce his candidacy for mayor, Walters came to the law of Gardiner and Thompson. An employee of the firm overheard Walters say to Gardiner, “Now, Charlie, I want you to come out right away for the mayoralty and declare yourself. If you’ve got in your head that I am going to run for the mayoralty, get it out, because I’m not. I am coming for the board. You pay no attention to what you hear in the newspapers or in what any person tells you. I’m not going to run. That’s my word on it.”

Gardiner did indeed soon declare his intentions to run for mayor, but Walters had a change of heart.

Claiming that he was under intense pressure to use the abilities in exposing the Hamilton City Hall scandals on a wider, continuing basis as mayor, Walters succumbed and declared that he would run for mayor.

A heated campaign resulted and days before the vote, Gardiner went public with his claim that his opponent, Chester Walters, had given his word that he would be running for the Board of Control, not the mayor’s office. To back up his claim, Gardiner filed an affidavit, in which John Richter, the person who overheard the conversation between Walters and Gardiner, swore that Gardiner was correct in his claim.

On December 29, 1914, L.B. Sanders wrote the following letter to the Spectator in defense of Chester Walters:

“Dear Sir:

“A story is going around the city that Ald. Walters visited Controller in the latter store sometime before nomination day, saying that if the controller wished to run that he (Alderman Walters) would not run against him. This I understand was supposed to have occurred previous to Gardiner having announced himself as a mayoral candidate. The story goes that Mr. Walters said if Mr. Gardiner would run for mayor, he would run for board of control, and that he would help Gardiner all he could. Mr. Walters was supposed to have given him his hand and word on this this. Now, Mr. Editor, I think this story should be stopped. Mr. Walters is of too high a character to do any such thing, and I hope you will publish to the citizens that Mr. Walters has never given his word or any such proposal to Mr. Gardiner, and whoever is circulating the story had better stop it at once. The people ought to know that Mr. Walters’ word is as good as his bond, and if he had made any such promise, he would certainly have kept it.”

Chester Walters was supported by the Hamilton Herald in the race for mayor, while the Hamilton Spectator favored Charley Gardiner.

On December 30, 1914, a largely-attended political meeting was held in Farrar’s until the auspices of the Ward 8 Improvement society.

The Herald’s coverage was of course tilted in favor of Walters, starting from the headline which read, “Gave Ald. Walters Great Reception : Efforts Were Made By Organized Clique to Heckle Him, But They were Cried Down by the Big Gathering.”

While the exact attendance at Farrar’s hall was not stated, there were so many present that “the spacious hall was taxed to capacity, over two hundred electors remaining standing from 8 o’clock until midnight.”¹

¹ “Gave Ald. Walters Great Reception”

Hamilton Herald    December 31, 1914.

It was a rowdy gathering right from the start:

“It was evident at the outset that a certain clique had attempted to pack the meeting against Ald. Chester Walters, but there were too many thinking men there determined to hear about the municipal politics of the city and they grew so disgusted with the repeated interruptions that they shouted to throw certain well-known Gardiner supporters out of the hall. This silenced the interruptions.”¹

As the speeches were to begin, Charles Gardiner had yet to arrive:

“His workers gave him a fair reception when he arrived at the meeting late, but the reception was nothing to that of Ald. Walters’, and if last night’s meeting was any criterion, the candidate for a clean sheet at City Hall, Ald. Walters, will be successful.”¹

The election day was January 1, 1915, and the following day, the Spectator editorial was grudgingly gracious to the winner:

“There were two contestants in the mayoralty race yesterday. One man with but one year’s experience in the council, the other a man who had served the city for eight years, and during five years of that period in the responsible position as a member of the board of control. The verdict of the people, by a very large vote, was to accept the man with the lesser municipal experience.

“If anyone a year ago had ventured to predict that Chester Walters would be mayor-elect of Hamilton today, he would have been set down as a crank or lunatic, but such has been the course of events.

“Ald. Walters, by taking advantage of opportunities presented to him by older members of council, has been able to lead the civic muck-rake to such a degree that he has been landed in the mayor’s chair.

“If Chester Walters can deliver only one-half of the promises and pledges that have been made by and for him, Hamilton will indeed be fortunate in having such an acquisition.

“The Spectator sincerely hopes he can, and herewith assures him that he will have our cordial support in everything he undertakes for the betterment of local conditions and the uplift of the community in general.”²

² “Yesterday’s Elections”

Hamilton Spectator.  January 2, 1915.