Newman Numismatic Portal Project Coordinator Len Augsburger submitted the following for this U.S. Election week. Thanks. -Editor

The newly formed Daviess County, Missouri, held its first local elections on August 6, 1838. William Peniston, a candidate for the state legislature, made disparaging statements about the Mormons, calling them ‘horse-thieves and robbers', and warned them not to vote in the election. Reminding Daviess County residents of the growing electoral power of the Mormon community, Peniston made a speech in Gallatin claiming that if the Missourians ‘suffer such men as these [Mormons] to vote, you will soon lose your suffrage.' Around 200 non-Mormons gathered in Gallatin on election day to prevent Mormons from voting. When about thirty Mormons approached the polling place, a Missourian named Dick Weldon declared that in Clay County the Mormons had not been allowed to vote, ‘no more than negroes'. One of the Mormons present, Samuel Brown, claimed that statement was false and then declared his intention to vote. This triggered a brawl between the bystanders.