Harlan was asked on his return to the county seat, minus his prisoner, "Why didn't you take Bill when you had him?" Harlan replied, "How could I, when I had a gun in one hand and a hickory stick in the other, which he took away and rapped me over the head with, and when I came to my senses he wasn't there."
It was needless to say, that at the next election no one cared to enter the race on a strictly horse thief catching platform.
One of the most remarkable political contests ever waged in the county was that of N. M. Hubbard and William Smythe for congress in 1868. Hubbard had been a sort of political dictator since the organization of the republican party. He had held the office of county judge for a short time, and had been appointed attorney for the Northwestern railway, and for this reason was a powerful factor in financial as well as in political circles. Hubbard was quarrelsome, impertinent, and out-spoken, and used to say, that he "loved a nigger more than he did a democrat." In his aspirations for office he was backed by many friends and admirers, such as the Weares, Elys, Carrolls, and Higleys in Cedar Rapids, and by most of the prominent Marion men, such as the Herveys, the Daniels families, Captain Rathbun, Major Thompson, and Bob Holmes.
The people of Marion were bitter against Hubbard, especially R. D. Stephens, who had been Hubbard's partner for some time, which partnership ended in a row, the last formal dissolution of the partnership being to the effect that Hubbard said to Stephens that "he would not attend his funeral," to which the partner replied, "neither will I attend yours or ever darken your threshhold in any capacity."
Stephens by this time was a financial factor in the county and had many friends. It was thought that he should make the run against Hubbard, who had removed to Cedar Rapids, but the leaders of this faction of the party thought that a candidate must be selected who had been in the war, and thus the opponents of Hubbard selected William Smythe, who was a brother-in-law of Stephens, as the logical candidate to make the race. Smythe was an Irishman who had been an officer in the Civil war; was an eminent lawyer, a most affable gentleman, who had made a reputation for himself as a conservative and safe political leader.
In this canvass Smythe was also backed by Robert Smythe, an older brother, who had been in the legislature, and was favorably known throughout the county. Stephens was the financial backer and the organizer of the Smythe faction. He was far-sighted, wielded considerable political and social influence, and used his money freely in this campaign to get even with Hubbard, if for no other reason. In this fight Stephens enlisted the service of a number of prominent democrats who were unfriendly to Hubbard. Everyone expected that Hubbard would win hands down, and carry Cedar Rapids and many of the county precincts. Smythe enlisted in his cause such men as Colonel Preston, Dr. Thos. Bardwell, J. H. Preston, S. W. Durham, James Brown, and many other democrats who were on the inside of this movement to dethrone the republican county boss. Smythe carried Marion township much to the surprise of the local leaders who had thought up to that time that everything was cocked and primed for Hubbard.
The county went about half and half; both parties, of course, had expected a small majority. When the officers were selected and a contest came up to a show of hands, the convention stood a tie. The old court house was filled to overflowing, and many wordy contests took place outside as well as inside of the old dingy court room.
The afternoon passed and neither side got ahead. Stephens was the active leader on the floor of the convention and knew more about parliamentary rules than anyone else. Still there were others in the convention on the Hubbard side who were no novices at the business of packing a convention.
An agreement had been made that the winner should select his own delegates, and it was conceded that whoever carried the county would carry the district. Neither faction dared to adjourn, and so the fight was kept up on motions of one kind and another with voting now and then to ascertain if the members had changed. They all "stood pat," and it has since been suggested that this must have been the first time the word standpatter was used in a political sense.
In the evening Dr. Thomas S. Bardwell moved about in the convention hall shaking hands with his professional brethren and others. He invited a stanch supporter of Hubbard from up the county, and a professional brother, into his postoffice and into a back room where he lived. They got into conversation and Bardwell knew that the man wanted a little for his stomach's sake, for he had traveled a long ways that morning and had had nothing to eat all day. Bardwell fully agreed with the country doctor that the air of a dingy court room was bad for the lungs, and that a life of that kind would certainly ruin the health of any man, however strong he might otherwise he. The country doctor took one and then another drink from the city man's private supply, and the Marion man was not one of the kind that refused even to take a drink with his country friend. The conversation moved much easier and more pleasant after the first few drinks, and Bardwell, to show that he was a good fellow, brought out a variety of liquor, such as would have made the mouth of a true Kentuckian smack in anticipation. It was not long till the country practitioner forgot all about the convention and was "dead to the world." He was placed in the doctor's bed, the doors locked, and Bardwell hurried back to the court house, sending a note to Stephens to the effect that he must put the vote at once. Stephens did not know whether Bardwell was putting up a scheme on him or not, but he was about at the end with his objections and thought he would try just another vote and risk everything on a democrat's advice. Stephens withdrew his motion then pending and called for a vote by ballot. The Hubbard faction was glad of this opportunity, and as there were no objections the seesaw affair of balloting once more began.