Volume 16 , Issue 32

100 Years Ago 23 September 1914, Wednesday

One hundred years ago, 23 September 1914, Wednesday, The Times Dispatch front page headlines read: State-Wide Prohibition Wins Decisive Victory In Virginia. Richmond voted for local option by small margin. Total vote cast was largest in many years. Out of 10,293 ballots, 6,239 were against and 4,054 for Prohibition. The day at the polls was quiet, and no disorder had been reported.

Richmond defeated State-wide prohibition by a majority of 2,185 votes. Complete returns from the twenty-two precincts showed that it was defeated in every one of the four wards.

A total of 10,293 votes were cast, the highest city vote recorded in recent years. Of this number 4,054 were registered in favor of the State-wide prohibition and 6,239 against it.

The Richmond figures were regarded as a surprise. From the early days of the campaign it had been predicted that this city would defeat State-wide prohibition by a majority ranging between 2,500 and 3,500 votes. As the contest drew to a close the converts to this estimate grew in number and it was confidently expected that Richmond's majority against State-wide prohibition would be not less than 2,500.

The reduction of the local option majority in this city was attributed in large part to the strenuous effort on the part of the State-widers, during the last few days of the campaign, to swing Richmond into the prohibition column.

Returns from the precincts began flowing in within a few minutes after the closing of the polls. By 7 o'clock, fifty-two minutes after the polls had closed, sixteen precincts had reported, giving a majority of more than 1,200 votes against State-wide prohibition. At 7:45 o'clock the result of the election in the city based on returns from every precinct, was flashed by The Times-/dispatch on the big screen on the eastern wall of the American National Bank Building.

State-wide prohibition was defeated in every ward in the city.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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