In the 1904 presidential election, Theodore Roosevelt beat his opponent (Democrat Judge Alton Parker of New York) easily and voter turnout was huge. Sixty-two percent of eligible voters went to the polls. But not in Arizona, which still was a territory, and whose residents could neither vote for president nor elect a governor. (The governor was appointed by the president.) Arizonans could elect their congressional representatives, however, and because of that, residents were vitally interest in politics.

In October 1904, the political season opened with a meeting at Democratic headquarters in Bisbee. The hall was filled to capacity, with overflow attendees waiting outside the doors. The Democratic County Central Committee decided to arrange for a special train to meet their congressional candidate, Marcus Aurelius Smith, at Benson on the morning of Oct. 25. The train then would stop at St. David, Fairbank, Hereford, Naco and Douglas, giving residents of southern Arizona a chance to meet the candidate. The Bisbee Brass Band and Democrats from all over Cochise County would also ride the train.

The Bisbee Review joined in the excitement and determined its readers should be the first to get the results of the election, which was held on Nov. 8, 1904. W.H. Kelly announced on Nov. 5 that a special train would deliver papers to Douglas, Naco, Fairbank, Tombstone, Cochise, Pearce, Willcox, Bowie, Solomonville, Safford, Thatcher, Fort Thomas, Globe, Clifton-Morenci and Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. From Benson, another train would take the paper to Tucson.

Shortly after midnight on Nov. 9, the Bisbee Review train pushed into the local station. Using results supplied by The Associated Press, the newspaper began to print its election special sections on two presses that ran until 3:45 a.m., as fast as possible. As soon as the election sections were printed, they were hauled off to the train. The special section would be put together with the rest of the paper en route to the first stop, so that not a moment was wasted.

Altogether, 2,000 newspapers were loaded on a car pulled by Engine 16 — the fastest engine on the El Paso and Southwest line. Just before daybreak, the train left Bisbee. It was nine minutes late, but the conductor said they would make all connections and that the train had been granted the right of way on all the El Paso and Southwestern tracks. Although the engineer twice had to run with the throttle wide open, every precaution was taken to make the trip a safe one.

The last 16 miles into Douglas, the train reached 60 miles an hour. 

Hundreds of people hungry for news of the election greeted the train. 

Newsboys from the Bisbee Review rode on the train and at each station assisted local newsboys in getting their papers.

By 7 a.m., the newspaper arrived in Cananea, Sonora. At Benson, the papers were placed on the Nogales train, which carried them to Tucson. 

Thus the Bisbee Review had the first special newspaper train in the Arizona Territory and carried the news of the election within 36 hours of the polls closing.

Although most of the Democratic candidates, according to William Jennings Bryan, “had met with overwhelming defeat in the national election,” congressional candidate Marcus Aurelius Smith won. His rousing speeches to residents throughout Arizona on the desirability of statehood helped him prevail. And, with the help of the Bisbee Review train, all Arizonans could celebrate in the victory.

  — Jane Eppinga. Photo courtesy Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum. 

Sources: Bisbee Review October 13, 1904, Nov. 3, 1904 and Nov. 10, 1904.