100 years ago in Spokane: Newspapers tracking close presidential election results

From our archive, 100 years ago

Presidential election returns were still coming in when The Spokesman-Review issued its “Extra” edition at 7:30 a.m.

“Hughes and Wilson Almost a Tie in the Nation’s Electoral Vote,” shouted the banner headline. The outcome still hung in the balance. Woodrow Wilson had 256 electoral votes and Charles Evans Hughes had 254. However, 21 electoral votes from California, New Mexico and Oregon were still in doubt.

Spokane County’s returns showed a slim lead for Wilson. Washington as a whole had been awarded to Wilson.

By the time the Spokane Daily Chronicle came out in the afternoon, the picture was somewhat clearer. The Chronicle reported that Wilson had a small but significant nationwide margin. Yet California and Oregon were still in doubt, as were several other states that had shifted to the tossup category. California would eventually land in Wilson’s corner, effectively giving him the presidency.

Meanwhile, it was all good news for the Spokane Daily Chronicle, which reported that it had “smashed to atoms” all previous circulation records. It sold a whopping 57,000 copies on Election Day. Meanwhile, hundreds gathered outside the Chronicle Building, which flashed bulletins on a screen illuminated by a stereopticon projector. A “leather-lunged human siren” stood by with a megaphone to blare the latest updates.