While the election of Mr. Vanderhoop last Tuesday was not unexpected, the size of the majority by which that result was secured was probably hardly anticipated even by his friends. The campaign for Mr. Vanderhoop developed into a regular craze as it progressed; he became a sort of Buffalo Bill-among-the-British-nobility. People began to glory in the notion of elevating a Gay Head Indian to in some respects the highest place in the gift of the county. Men shouted exultantly, “We’re going to vote for the coon!” - the coupling of an offensive epithet with the utterance of their intention appearing to give a new zest to the thought and an added joyousness to the declaration. All of these influences, co-operating with the spirit which bolted the convention of 1879, and aided and abetted by divers disappointments and jealousies and personal antipathies in the defeated candidate’s own town, combined to give the victorious contestant and his backers the large measure of success which attended their efforts.
On Monday, the fifth of July, two men, (Indians) natives of Gay Head, named Amos Jeffers, Jr., and Jeremiah Weeks, proceeded in a Vineyard sailboat on a swordfishing expedition off Noman’s Land.
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