Battle of New Ashford

Famed for its early voting is the town of New Ashford, Mass., which has been first in the U. S. to count and report its handful of ballots in every Presidential election since 1916. Such promptness and its attendant national publicity have been carefully fostered for New Ashford by the Berkshire Eagle, published in Pittsfield about twelve miles away. Last week the newspaper, in danger of losing its prize story to Radio, saved it by an ingenious scheme.

New Ashford's 48 voters get up on Election Day at 5 a. m., troop by lantern light down steep Mt. Greylock to ballot at the district school. This year National Broadcasting Co. arranged to send one of its bullet-nosed transmitter trucks to the scene for a play-by-play description of the voting & counting. That this would dull the brightness of its election morning flash was at once apparent to the Eagle. Editor Lawrence K. Miller sent a newshawk to sleep in the filling station which has New Ashford's one public telephone, to tie up the line day & night against all comers.

N. B. C. then prepared to short-wave its show over the Berkshires to Cheshire Harbor, where it would be put on a telephone trunk and piped to Springfield's Station WBZA for national rebroadcasting.

Conceding these arrangements to the enemy, the Eagle quietly stole the whole story by entertaining New Ashford's elecorate at a pre-election turkey supper and square dance Saturday night. Here the loyal New Ashfordites told Editor Miller in confidence how they were going to vote on Election Day. The story was kept under cover till 15 hours before the opening of the polls, then "broken" in the Eagle and simultaneously sent to the 1,350 members of the Associated Press. Score: Landon, 32; Roosevelt, 12; Aiken, 1; not voting for President, 3. Featured voter: Miss Phoebe Jordan who announced that she was switching from the GOP to plump for Roosevelt.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.