Ralph W. Gaylor and the recount of 1921

1914 – 1922

Two terms: Ralph W. Gaylor, a Republican, holds the mayor's office across the whole span the 1921 directory can see. The directory ends Herzog's tenure in 1914, and a letter printed in the South Bend News-Times of 7 October 1921, from a Fifth Ward voter who had supported him, says the writer voted for Gaylor "the last two times he has run for mayor" and complains of what the Fifth Ward had asked of him across "the past eight years" — a letter consistent, in both its counts, with a first election in November 1913, a term from January 1914, and a second victory in 1917. He is documented in the office directly by April 1917, when the News-Times shows him running garden-plot campaign meetings in the library room of the city hall, and on 1 May 1920 Mishawaka's local-history blog records "Mayor Ralph Gaylor" introducing General Leonard Wood at a Mishawaka appearance. His 1921 campaign slogan, quoted by the same Fifth Ward letter-writer, was "He has kept the faith."

The election of 1917: The News-Times of election day, 6 November 1917, gives the Democratic closing rally at the Century Theater: the Democratic candidate for mayor was Achille C. Colpaert; the party's city chairman, Isaac K. Parks, spoke, and J. Fred Bingham with him. The campaign had an edge the paper reports in detail: a sum of city money was missing, and the blame for it had been fastened in turn on Parks, on former city treasurer Joseph Causer, and on the man who had held the records — and there was a "conscription board matter," charges aired about the police shooting of two Belgian residents. Those charges belong, as a dispute, to the controversies record, and as offenses to the crime record; what belongs here is that they were the Democratic campaign's case against the incumbent, and the incumbent survived it: Gaylor held the office into 1921, the incumbent of the next election. (The directory's sketch says "the last city election was held Tuesday, November 4, 1917"; 4 November 1917 was a Sunday, and the News-Times of Tuesday 6 November covers the voting — the directory's date is a misprint or an OCR slip, printed here so it is not repeated as fact.)

The election and recount of 1921: On 8 November 1921 the Democrat William W. Dodge beat Gaylor — by eleven votes on the first count. A recount followed before a commission of J. Walter McInerny, Democrat, and John Yeagley and Daniel Schurtz, Republicans, sitting in Superior Court room No. 1 from Friday morning until late Saturday night, 25–26 November, counting every ballot cast. The News-Times of Sunday 27 November 1921 headlined the finish: the recount "again ends in Dodge victory," the margin rebuilt to twenty votes. Gaylor watched the count ballot by ballot until, about six o'clock Saturday night, Dodge's majority recovered to fifteen and the paper says the mayor "gave up the ghost," sleeping afterward in the judge's chair. Dodge's statement as mayor-elect is quoted in full by the paper: "I am just 20 times as pleased at the result of the recount as I can possibly put it to words… After 36 sleepless hours a brandnew mayor-elect is in no condition to thank his friends sufficiently for their loyalty and wonderful support. I am probably the happiest man in 48 states." Gaylor's second term ended with the recount's verdict, and he left the office in January 1922.

Sources:

1. South Bend News-Times, 27 November 1921 (Hoosier State Chronicles, Indiana State Library) — the recount, its commissioners, its ward-by-ward movement, the final margin of 20 votes, Gaylor's concession during the count, and Dodge's statement. Read in the Chronicles' OCR text.
2. South Bend News-Times, 6 November 1917 (Hoosier State Chronicles) — the Democratic closing rally, Colpaert's candidacy, Parks and Bingham, and the campaign's money and conscription-board charges.
3. South Bend News-Times, 7 October 1921 (Hoosier State Chronicles) — the Fifth Ward letter: two prior votes for Gaylor, "the past eight years," and the slogan "He has kept the faith."
4. R. L. Polk & Co., South Bend City Directory (1921) — Gaylor as mayor in the 1921 officers list; Herzog's ex-mayor span ending 1914; the sketch's election-date misprint.
5. Indianapolis Times, 5 October 1921 (Hoosier State Chronicles) — Ralph W. Gaylor of Mishawaka named among the Knights of Pythias grand officers, confirming the mayor's full name in the same season.
6. Mishawaka history blog (mishawakajosh.com), article of 8 May 2025 — "Mayor Ralph Gaylor of Mishawaka" introducing General Leonard Wood, 1 May 1920; a local-history blog, weighted accordingly.