He received just over 250,000 popular votes and no electoral votes in the 1904 presidential election, but the Rev. Dr. Silas Swallow's name on the ballot added one more voice to an already colorful election year. Teddy Roosevelt defeated the Democratic candidate, Alton Parker, by a hefty margin. Eugene Debbs ran on the Socialist Party ticket. The Rev. Swallow was the Prohibition Party's candidate.
The "Fighting Parson" was born in 1839 to staunch Methodist parents. His father was a trustee of Wyoming Seminary. At age 16, Silas taught school. In 1860, he was licensed a Methodist preacher in Hazleton. In January of 1886, he married Rebecca Louise Robins of Elysburg.
Early in his life, the Rev. Swallow championed the abolition of slavery as a member of the Central Pennsylvania Conference. He put his beliefs into action in 1862 when he, by election, became 1st lieutenant in Company E of the 18th Regiment Pennsylvania Emergency Volunteers.
After the war, he was known for more than a quarter of a century in both church and political circles throughout the state and at the national level. He was editor of The Pennsylvania Methodist. The Methodist Church at that time opposed drinking, and, in this newspaper, the Rev. Swallow made known the position of political candidates whose views on alcohol differed from that of him and his church. He also used the newspaper to speak out against what he saw as government corruption. His political enemies successfully prosecuted him for libel and slander. The State Superior Court later reversed that verdict.
The Rev. Swallow advocated total abstinence from all intoxicants. As such, he joined the Prohibition Party. Founded in 1869 to campaign for a ban on the making and selling of alcoholic beverages, the party was strong near the end of the 19th century.
The Rev. Swallow ran for mayor of Harrisburg and for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. After a fire in one of the buildings near the Capitol - a fire that destroyed many records - the Rev. Swallow published an article in The Pennsylvania Methodist that claimed the fire was set in an attempt to destroy records that revealed a huge conspiracy to rob the state of millions of dollars. The article was reprinted across the nation, and the Rev. Swallow became known almost overnight. He ran for state treasurer on his "Capitol fire" platform but was unable to convince voters that he was the best man for the job. In 1898, he ran for governor and lost. Undeterred, he looked to higher office. In 1900, he sought, but did not win, the Prohibition Party's nomination for the presidency.
He made another bid for governor in 1902, and in 1904, he was the Prohibition Party's candidate for president. Although he lost, he received one of the largest votes ever given to a Prohibition Party candidate.
The Rev. Swallow died at age 91 in his Harrisburg home on Aug. 13, 1930.
CHERYL A. KASHUBA is a freelance writer specializing in local history. Visit her at scrantonhistory.com.
Contact the writer: localhistory@timesshamrock.com