LEROYPENNYSAVER&NEWS -AUGUST28, 2016
Politics In 1888
byLynneBelluscio
Last Thursday I attended the
County Historians meeting and
picked up a small booklet writ-
ten by Pembroke Historian, Lois
Brockway in2007. She andAllan
Starkweather and Joann Cum-
mings updated it this year. The
story is about the “TallyhoTrip in
1888” in Genesee County during
President Grover Cleveland’s re-
election campaign.
AlthoughGroverClevelandwas
born in 1837 in New Jersey, he
grew up in NewYork. His father
wasaPresbyterianministerand the
familymoved toFayetteville,New
York, near Syracuse. The family
then moved to Clinton, N.Y. in
OneidaCountyandfinally toUtica.
After his father’s death, Grover
headed west and in 1855 he was
living in Buffalo. In 1859 he was
admitted to the Bar. During the
CivilWar, hepaid tohaveaPolish
immigrant serve his Army con-
scription. He became politically
aligned with the Democrats and
opposed theRepublicans ofAbra-
hamLincoln. By 1870 he ran for
SheriffofBuffaloandwon. In that
capacity,hepersonallyhanged two
criminals.
In 1882, he became Mayor of
Buffalo, and then won the state
election as Governor a year later.
He ran for President in 1884 and
tookoffice in1885. In1888he ran
for reelection against theRepubli-
cancandidate,BenjaminHarrison.
Genesee Coun t y was
predominatelyRepublicanand the
Democrats decided on a publicity
tourwitha“tallyhocoach.”Willis
Z, Stanard, who owned a livery
stable,drove thehorses.Thecoach
was covered with banners which
read “Cleveland and Thurman.”
The coach left the Continental
Hotel in Batavia on Monday
morning at 9 in the morning. On
board was Edward O’Donnell,
from New York, who was the
Democratic State Speaker. From
Batavia was O.C. Parker,
the hotel landlord; Wilbur
Smith, hardware merchant;
A.E. Clark lawyer and one
of the speakers; andBatavia
lawyers,DavidLentandR.L.
Kinsey.Thereweremusicians
perched high on the back
seats – afifer, bass drummer
and two snare drummers.
As they left Batavia, the
bandplayed “TheGirl ILeft
Behind Me.” Packed inside
the coach “was the best of
everything: 10 cent cigars,
good liquor, and lunch . . .”
“Short stopsweremade at
corners where people were
gathered tohearaspeechand
atoneplace theyraisedapole
with a flag with Cleveland
and Thurman’s names upon
it. They reachedOakfield in
the evening and stayed over
night at the Arnold House.
There was a big torchlight
parade and a speech. The
nextmorningafterpartaking
of thegood things necessary
for any such an outfit and
stocking with some they
resumed their journey, vis-
itingWheatville, Smithville,
finally hitting Indian Falls
for dinner. Here O’Donnell
delivered another one of his
famous speeches ... They
were dressed in continental
style with showy hats with
rosettes. One man told the
crowd that he was working for
theDemocrats for $2 a day, good
wages for thosedays,boardandall
and thathe thought thatDemocrats
were a pretty good bunch of fel-
lows but theygotme intoone bad
habitand thatwassmoking10cent
cigars. He also stated that he did
not get thirsty again for amonth.
Everything went along nicely
inCorfu until evening. Therewas
a big meeting that afternoon but
pandemonium reigned supreme in
Corfu that night. Tanglefoot ran
freely. It proba-
bly was by far
the worst jolli-
ficationmeeting
thatmany had the
misfor-
tune to attend. They devoured the
1,000 pound ox which had been
prepared and dodged beer bottles
and chairs to keep them from
getting hurt. The program passed
off very satisfactorily, interrupted
onlyby threefights ... They rolled
up literature andput rubber bands
around them to be thrown out
along the way for residents to
collect and read.Oneman jumped
on thewagongrabbed theboxand
threw it in the weeds. That was
one man who did not agree with
their politics. LeRoywas the next
stop where a big crowd greeted
them. It was then on to Stafford
where things changed. Wherever
else they had gone they had been
greetedwith anovationbut not
so in Stafford. One resident
invited them for lunch but
the ones whowhere outsidewere
subjected toa terrificbombardment
ofwater fromahoseand ‘poorhen
fruit.’Thegrouphastilymade their
wayback to thewagonwhere they
rolled and tumbled into the coach
for agetaway. Thedriver showed
his dexterity as a horseman and
wielder of the whip and with a
mighty shout they departed in re-
cord timewith the patter of rotten
eggs following,”
I checked the
LeRoyGazette
for
details and it mentioned that the
TallyHovisit required3,700bags
of sandwiches and 10 barrels of
coffee, but since the
Gazette
was
Republican, there was not much
information. “The Courier was
Democrat, but we do not have
the 1888 issues. The Gazette ran
a poem:
Grover Clevelandwon the pop-
ularvote forPresident in1888,but
lost the election. He ran against
Harrison in 1892 and won and is
the only American president to
serve two non-consecutive terms
of office.
