Fast-driving politician in Fort Edward in 1920

I cannot pinpoint which statewide candidate was ”disregarding speed laws” while driving through Fort Edward on the way to the state Republican Convention in Saratoga Springs.

There were 13 candidates seeking the party’s designation, just for governor, and all but one statewide office was expected to be contested.

The Post-Star, although a Democratic-aligned paper at the time, did not identify the guilty politician, but did have a little fun in reporting.

“The village treasury is twenty dollars to the good on account of some men from New York who were up this way while attending the unofficial Republican state convention in Saratoga Springs,” The Post-Star reported on July 28, 1920.

Traffic Officer Clayton Philo had stopped the men for speeding the previous day and taken them before Justice Ransom Hamilton.

The judge fined each man $10 — the equivalent of about $123 in 2019 dollars — which the men paid, with a little something extra for the judge.

“Before leaving they also gave the justice a ticket for a reserved seat at the convention. One of the men is a candidate for state office.”