About ten o'clock
The Liberals went for those who wore Tory colours and vice versa , and in a few seconds there was a general free fight , though most of the original crowd ran away , and in the confusion that ended , Barrington and Owen got out of the crowd without further molestation . Monday was the last day of the election -- polling day -- and in consequence of the number of motor cars that were flying about , the streets were hardly safe for ordinary traffic . The wealthy persons who owned these carriages ... The result of the poll was to be shown on an illuminated sign at the Town Hall , at eleven o'clock that night , and long before that hour a vast crowd gathered in the adjacent streets . About ten o'clock it began to rain , but the crowd stood its ground and increased in numbers as the time went by . At a quarter to eleven the rain increased to a terrible downpour , but the people remained waiting to know which hero had conquered . Eleven o'clock came and an intense silence fell upon the crowd , whose eyes were fixed eagerly upon the window where the sign was to be exhibited . To judge by the extraordinary interest displayed by these people , one might have thought that they expected to reap some great benefit or to sustain some great loss from the result , but of course that was not the case , for most of them knew perfectly well that the result of this election would make no more real difference to them than all the other elections that had gone before .