Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1844-05-23
Connecticut Legislature.

Pc Ao"t5
wy Connecticut Legfsiature.
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, May IA. |
Petition of; Herman g. Stone VS., Richard Stone I
N fer divorce; referred tocommittee on divorce. Of
James Muckett for confirmation to title Of lands;
a referred TO committee on sale of lands, fs.r |
Report of directors of State Prison, referred to
"a the committee on State Prison. fa4-sr ~; cis.
,r Message from the Governor accompanied by a
report of the Adutant General, and sundry docu- I
nents handed him by his predecessor The report
of the adjutant referred to committee, on Military
I'D Returns. - -
wv, ~ communication from the New York Institu
~ ton for the Blind, referred to in the message, was
(.1 referred to committee on insane poor. "a. ia
.e r. A document from the Peace Society to the COM
M mittee on the Militia. and letter romthe Amer-
an can Consul at Genoa relative to the purchase of
,1 Library, referred to committee on education o-
M Bill for public act repeating the act Of lS42re-
"a latng to students at Literary Institutions; read
n third tiLne-and on motion Of Mr.. Palmer laid on
the table. "a ot .4,o5....e,. a.. E.;
u0.a "WEDNESDAY MORNING, May 15.q
G'L Committee ON divorce reported favorably to petit
:" ton of Sarah R. Sofoneya Report accepted, and
resolution passed oN 60 5-
Pills fer four several acts, prospecting guardians
" lhalah l'-'ds--proceedngs in equity-and annual
" meetings OF e~~oordtons; referSed to committee
OK On Judiciary. 4r h So N fs,a,5 ,lf, N
co. Report of COMMITTEES on c,~teste Flect;ors. ia
ea vorabe to the renonstrance ofSetn I North and
ga others, against the right of Jas. B. Carpenter and
i Marcelus Clark, representatives from Berlin, to a
seat in this house, read. The report states that the
A0.rotng in Berlin commenced at about half past g.
% and was conducted regularly till after A. BY law
nd the voting for State officers closes at 5.FPThere
two qG 1r"@ s b3Sngs s Fst
eratbr deelaBed that there was no Choice going to
the outer door aof the room for. that purpose. He
thenaalled for "a third ballot, and withdreweto the
&C table where he bad previously had his seat. "A
}lof
a. lin send no representatives this year. It was en-
"a tertained without objection by the Moderator; and
"a be went out through window and submitted the
&c, resolution. cplng for theyeas and nays. He de-
cared the vote, il was supposed, in the affirmative;
but some voices cried out, no vote, and after con-
versng from to 90 minutes '(wltnesses disagree)
with those around him, he reversed his decision,
and declared the vote to be in the negative. There
was a call for division; he however withdrew
Through the window into. the room, and resumed
his seat. At this time some cried loudly for di-
dvisidn! The Moderator did not reverse his decis-
ion for the negative, order division. The con-
fusion becaaaeyery greats and the Moderator order
ed constable Tread the riot act--which was ac-
cordingly DONE A very large number of voters
withdrew, protesting against any further proceed
ings. On the third ballot there were $50 votes of
which Mr. Carpenter had 277. On balotng againi
estherewere 213 votes, oftwhch Mr. Clark had 200.
I9.n the first ballot, there were 40 spoiled,
and in the second 705 Thus the majority of the
electors of the town had noIvoice in the choice Of
Representatives, These proceedings the commit
tee claim to be Illegal, and report resolution de-
claring Messrs. Carpenter and Clark illegally
turned ,gG0l3aIEHbA1NY.r ,a4rl N ,a515d 4---4S1
MIR. Spencer moved to lay report on the table, to
~ allow the minority to report, whchwas done, and
the report of the minority read. .g5Gai
- AiTais report states some additional facts The
moderator was Edward Wilcox, Esq, The result
80 of the first ballot VAST votes; for Carpenter,
= 355-2d ballot, To5 votes ;for Carpenter $40 The
room in which the moderator had his scat was very
small voters passed lat east door ndwent out al
west #S
1T mo question could put BY the Moderator IN
side. He stood upon "a woodlpe at the window,
when he put the question on the resolution. On
his return during the noise above described he CALI
led upon the magistrate, who directed the constable
to read the riot aetggFhe reading was almost en-
tirely unavailable. Little was known about it till
= DR.. Gridley protested, ind desired the wings to
withdraw. There was good reason for refusing a
- dlvsioh4-1the weather was cold, the ground very
muddy and the hour late. The moderator acted
with good fdth according toathe best of his
judgement.
The minority insist that, all cases of contested
seats, the presumption is in favor of the return
made by Abe presiding officer, and she burden Of
proof Is, on the shoutdessef the other side.aaThe
subject Presents only two quaStlpnsrls In regard
to the refusal Of the moderator to divide the house
I'd. The dispersion Of the meeting, on account, as
pretended, of the reading Of the riot act. The mil
nority insistthak offered by pr Grid
ley TO chuose no tepresenta tKes, ant of order
and llegas and in regard to the second point they
say there was no riot, and if there had been, the
slnestlng could not be broken up by the reading of
the act,--being convened fora lawful purpose
- hey present the argument in full aiigpai sfE.
Mr.. Foster explained thelrsport made by, him /
sxand MIR Stuart ,addinG such facts seemed impor
tant The voters who left the ground belonged to,
both sides; 50 were democrats. He argued the !
Htwopoints brought forward in r.peneersreportJ
After rehlarks from essrs Spencer, Palmer.
and Stqaftsi the House adjourned O'Clock. Wv \
rs ni's sis7la' ~ 4feth0ota.ad gi4lo5I sia 4
ouss resumed The consideration Of majority
port nn case Of srlii representatives a1 aS@ \
Mf C.tsH Beardsley remark chiefly on Dr.. !
Gridey's resolution and-the course Of the modera
tor, That resolution was entirely out of order n
Mr. Wilcox NEED not have put il 10 Vote at all
ssThe eentlehlan reEiewedth and practice in
IffaspeetQ the election Of representatives for many
wears back. Formerly state officers could moi be
Voted dr fit affef the efesental ives were chosen
This was changed. Power wasgiven toadieuF6 10 /
Monaay ager-s1d q 1885, power was granted p \