Douglas Daily Dispatch

WIN

BITTERLY

FOUGHT

RACE

Heaviest Vote

Ever Cast

In Windy

City

Polled

Tuesday.

BREAKS RECORD

Big Bill Is Returned Winner by Upward of 70,000

Plurality.

CHICAGO, April 5 (AP) - William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, republican mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923, today, was elected to that office for the third time.

Thompson, who conducted his campaign with a slogan of "America first" won over Mayor William E. Dever, democrat incumbent, in one of the bitterest and most closely contested elections in Chicago's history. Dr. John Dill Robertson, who ran as an independent, offered no serious opposition.

On the basis of returns from 2,000 of the city's 2,384 precincts, Thompson was returned a winner by upward of 70,000 votes.

With 384 precincts missing, the vote stood: Thompson 431,484; Dever 371,553; Robertson 13,456.

On the basis of the same figures, it was indicated that the vote was the heaviest ever cast in Chicago upward of 1,000,000 of Chicago's 1,143,000 voters going to the polls.

The record breaking vote also was counted in record breaking time and four hours after the polls closed at 4 o'clock virtually the entire mayoralty vote had been tabulated.

Despite the fact that both Thompson and Dever had forecast victory by from 150,000 to 200,000 votes, the winning plurality was one of the closest ever returned and was by far the closest ever returned in a mayoralty election for so large a vote.

The election campaign tonight wound up with a big celebration as soon as Thompson's victory was assured.

Around the city hall great crowds gathered and Thompson's supporters gleefully handed out hundreds of new brooms, with the comment that the new mayor upon his return to the city hall after a four years' absence would "sweep the building clean."

Tabulations of the first returns gave Thompson an early lead which, however, was soon overcome by Dever and which the democrat candidate held until several hundred precincts had reported. Thompson, however, gradually whittled down the early democratic lead and when returns from strong republican wards and from precincts in the negro district began to pour in Thompson jumped into a lead which he held until the close.

Dr. John Dill Robertson, at one time city health commissioner under Thompson and running as an independent with a slogan of "peoples ownership-smash crime rings" and with the backing of Fred Lundin, once Thompson's principal backer, ran a poor third with an indicated vote of about 50,000.

CHICAGO. April 5 (AP) - Pre-election turbulence in Chicago's mayoralty contest today gave way to almost normal election orderliness while a record vote was cast. This was in contrast with a request that preparation be made for national guardsmen to protect voting places, which was later withdrawn, and predictions of

(Continued on Page Eight)
Republicans Win Bitterly Fought Race

racial disorders. The flood of upwards of 1,000,000 ballots out of 1,143,600 registrations was brought out by the bitter campaigns of Mayor William E. Dever, democrat, and William Hale Thompson, republican, and former mayor. Dr. John Dill Robertson, once Thompson's health commissioner, ran as an independent republican. There was but one discharge of fire arms and that without casualties. Failure of hoodlums to attempt to demoralize precincts in the River wards was attributed by the police to the killing of Vincent "Schemer" Drucci, north side beer baron, by a policeman yesterday in the rounding up of gangsters and other trouble makers in pre-election raids. Two bombings, hours before the polls opened, wrecked two democratic club houses in the 42nd ward, which embraces the gold coast homes of the wealthy and the humbler abodes of ward heelers and rooming house habitues. One of the bombs was directed against the headquarters of State Representative Lawrence O'Brien. A number of reports of kidnappings and shootings proved false. After an inspection of polling places, John Stege, captain of detectives viewed the election as being "as quiet as a Quaker funeral."