Thompson owed
Hopkins a large sum of money and Hopkins held a mortgage on the stock.
Therefore Thompson dared not make a fight, and although the Republican
vote was normally the largest in the district, Hopkins had managed to
win enough of them to his side to win.
He had been a little anxious about his renomination, because he knew
that he had not represented his district very satisfactorily; but when
Kenneth Forbes received the nomination on the Republican ticket he felt
that "all was over but the shouting" and that he would "win in a walk."
Had it been an issue between the personality of the two men, Hopkins
would have had little chance of success; but young Forbes had already
raised another issue by his anti-sign speech at the school-house, and
Hopkins intended to force that issue and so defeat Kenneth because of
the ridicule the latter's position had already brought upon him.
He began to circulate humorous stories about Kenneth's antipathy to
sign-boards, saying that the young man demanded that the signs be taken
off the Zodiac, and that he wouldn't buy goods of the village grocer
because the man had a sign out.
Mr. Hopkins also printed thousands of large hand-bills reading "The
Signs of the Times vs.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50