Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-09-06
!, "a. Is he a resident of the ward in which

Is ne resident OF the ward IN which
he offers to vote! hal
"5. Has he been returned on the books O,
the corporation during the year ending 3Is
day Of December last as subject 70 school.
tax for that year; or (srhat IS the same thing
under tie decision of tire court IN tkc case oil
Wattaeh as. the Register of the Corporation
was he liable to be so returned, and has he
been omitted through the inadvertsnce and
oversight Of the Assessors. in which case he Il
TO be considered as If in fact returned on the
lists!
''6. Has he paid the school-taxes and all
taxes on personal property due from him 2
" III all these questions are resolved in the
Affirmative, he is, by the terms of the 9th
section Of the charter of 1913, ENTITLED TO
VOTE unless he be non conapos aaentis, va
grant, pauper, or shall have been convicted of
an infamous crime"
These tests were directed by the same reso.
luton to be furnished to the commissioners of
| election, and were, in fact n rule of conduct
for them, and should have been for their sue.
cessors
In the Board of Aldermen, in the settle
ment Of the contested election cases in that
Board lately, the opinion of Mr.. Bradley, the
present corporation attorney, was evoked. 1t
| was matter of astonishment that gentle
man enjoying some reputation as a lawye in
this community, should have been willing to
| q
bears on its face marks Of absurdity and in
consistency. Mr.. Bradley in this paper says.
in effect, that allowing a native citizen to vote
who reaches his majority six months before an
election. and requiring a naturalized citizen
10 be such one year before he can vote, is
| .'p~tftng them tOth precisely OH an equal
Hy." Mr.. Bradley says the grammatical con-
struction of the fifth section of the charter of
| lSlS is, that voter " must be a citizen of the
United States for whole year next before he
offers to vote, " and almost Immediately after
states the result of his inquiry to be:
"l. That no man is entitled to vote aRiesS
Ae acas returned on The books of tie corpora
tion during the gear ending The 3lst of De-
| center next preceding the day of election as
subject to a school-tax for that year
80. That if tie as so returned, and has the
| other qualifications, is native, or Raturakies
before he offrs TO cote, his vote OUGHT TO BE
| RECEIVED"
That is, IF any man (the converse OF no
man } is so returned, [six months before clec-
ton whether ''native, or naturaliSe2 before
he offers to cote, his vote ought to be recesUed''
The words quoted are Mr.. Bradley's own,
though they have been emphasized to make
their meaning broadly palpable. The assc s.
sor, in some cases. would therefore be the
judge of the right of foreign born person to
vote, and determine whether he should vote or
not
Now, in the case of Gruem VS.. the Register,
what did the Circuit Court say Immediately
preceding the late election? Mr. Bradley had
correctly stated as follows:
Every free white male person, residing in
the city Of Washington on the 3lst of Deem
Der. in each year, being twenty-on years of
age, whether naturalized, or alien, is liable to
be assessed for q school-tay.
"If he shall have been omitted, by aeci-
dent or design, he has right at any time
| thereafter, during the next ensuing year to
have his name put upon the assessment list.
" If at the time of the election in June next
succeeding. he naturaliZed citizen, and has
all the other legal qualifications, he is entitled
| then, upon his own demand, to be placed on
| The poll list, and on complying with the other
| requirements of the charter he is entitled to
vote.
"a. Ii is not necessary that he should have
| been naturalized for any certain period Of
| time before he offers to vote, and il may be
Immediately before, and on the same day"
have confined myself, said Mr. j., to the
naked outline Of the legal points Of this ques
sion as authoritatively set forth, because have
been unwilling to consume time of this Board
| in any heightened views of my own in this re-
| gard, which are of no weight.
| Mr.. j. adverted again to the long delay in
the settlement of these cases of contested elcc-
| ton. lie then spoke of the peculiarties of the
Fifth Ward case. He knew there were some
| Irregularities charged on both sides, the proof
| OF which had not been brought forward. He
would lay no stress on those Of that character
/ which made in favor of his own party, except
| to balance them against any others alike un-
| stained But here were afidavits, and eer-
| tificate signed by the three commissioners of
| election, that eighteen persons had offered 10
vote the Union or anti acknowledging ticket,
| and had been refused. The certificate ap-
| pended to the eighteen names set down By one
pff fla cor asSStnF fs folln
The aboye-named persons presented them
| selves to vote, but were rejected on account of
| not being naturalized one year before the
| election.
| "W. p FERGUSON,
EDMUND BARRY,
''Comnaissiosers Of Election for Fifth Ward
"June D, 1855"
The objection that some Of these names were
| not spelled alike on the Commissioners list
! and in the afidavits, were perfectly pUerile.
| He had himself, year or two since, had a
| piece of Government land located, and ID
| taken some pains TO furnish the correct orthog
| raphy of his name in q plain. handwriting
| but the patent from the United States had is
| sued to him with his name wrongly spelled
| and get his friend from the First w ard, (Mr.
Abert.) as every other good lawyer know, very
| we'll that, iaeM SOaans, (the sound being the
| same,) the instrument was perfectly goOd in
| law.
lie admitted there was one fOrmality which
| had been neglected and which should have
been attended to; namely, the party taking
the testimony ought to have given notice to the
| other party Of the fact, inviting them to be
present. But the men whom the people select
| for membership in this board were not. gener-
ally speaking, lawyers and as contested elec-
t;on cases had perhaps never before occurred
in the city, 1t was natural that such formal
ity should have been overlooked. But this
omission is fortunately supplied by the certi-
fcate of the commissioners, which cannot be
| so easily objected TO. Some Of the gentlemen
on the other side had called for the living wit
mesa call which would have more appro-
priately been made Immediately after the elec-
ton, and not now when some Of the witnesses
have scattered.
The commissioners Of election return the
following votes to have been received at the
election of June last
a Baldwin, 800; J. Ii. Peter, 81; John
Bohlayer, 309; L. Hutchinson, 303; j. Va
Mead 3(l " III ThomnSou 2SS