Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-06-08
sPIBlT or rHE nOaNIao pHYss

Inc I"te"sS7"CeT says VI tpe pre8rranged
shameless frauds committed upon the rights
Of citizens of Washington In the late election:
"IHz LATE ELEcIIos-ALLEGEp FRAUDS,
DC We yesterday had occasion to state that
st the late election in this city, "tbe Commits
sioners Of Election 10 every Ward, in the ex-
creise of their judicial functions, disregarded
ths decision of the Circuit Court, aud re-
rHSed TO adn1tfke v0tFS Of Sneh natHyalized
eiIksHs as haze become roteys since The 3lst
of December last" Wemade this statement.
not in a partisan spirit, but as an item CT To-
cal intelli gence worthy of record. az being in.
timstely connected with The arguments before
m the decisions of the Circuit Court on the
suhjsc', which had been previously recorded;
and also as necessary to proper understard
ing OF the fur her legal proceedings which
aIe threatened Ia relation 10 the same m sttcr
We recur TO the subject to day because the
American OfgIs OF yes erday evening denies
the accuracy Of our statement, its denial be.
ing couched IN the following terms:
lbe lnteligencer is in error in its state
ment that the Commissioners 'disreg arded
the deoi'ion Of the Circuit Court The CIR
eslt CoH'f niGae no DECISION We had sup
posed this was fact known to every citizen
OF Washington, rs il has been published in
several of the city papers, including, We pre-
sumo, the lntelligencer itself
"The Court AID dec de that the Commits.
sione,s were the cole judges of the qualifca
tons OF ectors; and upon this decision the
COWmiss oHevs took the r>spoRssb,I.fy ofys
Jseting all applications to voc which were not
auth Tised by the city charter
Ii will be perceived that the last paragraph
Of the Organ a mits that the Commissioners
S'took he responsibility Of rsjecting'' tina,
class of votes alluded to by US but il does not
describe them, and expresses IFS own opinion,
IN opposition to the opinion of the Court, that
such votes Z" were not authorised by the eity
charter" There is, then, no disagreement
between us as TO the Sejecti0H Of these votes
To sustain what We asserted on the other
point, thu. TIE Court dscided them to be Icpal.
We are also willing 10 adopt the authority of
the Organ itself, and We respectfully ask its
EiitOr's attention to his own account of the
decision OF tie Court, han which nothing
could GO mora conclusive II appeared in the
Organ of hOrday evening, June 4th, and we
quote fheref om the two material paragraphs,
as follows:
The court room this morning was not 80
aensely crowded as on Saturday, although
respectable number Of our citizens were gro.
sent 8: tie DECISION, which was delivered by
Justice Dunlop
- The first question is, whether persons who
have been natursliIet since December 81
possessed all other required quali6ca ions Of
This depends on the construction of the fifth
seciion OF the charter 5f 1913 The trus con.
sfTHefio" tbs court supposed to be, that the
vo. d resiicnc, did not cor noct itself vi tn the
word citlZsn, so as 10 require 'one years resi-
dence as d" citiZsn, for that would make the
foreigner reside here six years before entitled
to vo e. Instead Of five as provided by law
1Hs cOSCLUsIoN ON THIS QUESTION Is, thar
arg PRISON tpho ic1S q 1ctsfe FIRE. Dtqks on rhe
H. l.
1zsd SI,'cc h2t tims, HAS RIGHT TO VOTE"
This st-tement of fact, copied from the
" Organ Of Morlay, is directly Opposed tn
the construction assumed by the " Organ " Of
1hur-dsy
We were informed lass night by Mr. James
mckeah, one of the Commissioners of the
Fourth Ward, that the Commits sioners were
kept in Ignorance of the above decision of the
Court (-bich was given about the time the
polls were hfst opened) until SIX 0 clock in the
evening when one of his colleagues obtained
an evening paper in which il was announced
The same gentleman further stated TO u tina.
III tho Commissioner mad been officially in
foTmet Of The decision il would have been
obeyed, not oGly in the Fourth Ward, but. IS
he believes, in ali the other wards"
Now, We have to say that copies Of the deci-
sion Of the court above referred to were made
out, and were signed by the judges, to bs taken
to the som missioners of the election at the diff.
ferent polls for their guidance, by order of the
cour'; and that they were prevented from
reaching their destination by the interfer ence
Of an active leader of the Know Nothing
lodges Of This city, struggling to bring our
municipal Affairs under the authority Of the
oath bound, secret, proscriptive political So
eiesy, By setting at defiance the authority of
the United States Court to that end. A mes
senger bearing one of these copies, dispatched
by the court was actually on his way to the
First Ward polls when, he was oyertaken by
an instrument of the lodge leader above re-
ferred TO, and WAS made to give I'D hi.
charge, tie purpose evidently being to afford
the Know Nothing commissioners the fImsy
pre'e1t Of pTe;e ded ignorance of the court
decision, for their violation of the rights
CT their fellow ciIiB,ns. The parties thus de
frauaed Of their right to vote are prepsr ng
To viooicate thense YES by suits for dana ges
against those who illegally refused their bal.
lots; while those who were defrauded through
such means, Of the certificates of election, are
taking measures to have the Circuit Court rule
that the votes thus illegally refused shall be
counted in their favor, and these as against
them, illegally received, thrown out.
The Union contains a letter from the Hon.
Vim. Preston, Of Ky, declining the anti
Know Nothing nomination for Congress in the
Louisville ditrict the gist Of which We extract
~ follows:
The old Wing party by which vas cleo ted
10 disb1ndet A new organization, which
proposes to introduce questions OF religious
belief as criterions for Office, and to repeal the
natuI aliEstlOn laws under which we have
lived from the beginning Of our Government,
with the single exception Of the federal inter.
regnum under Adams, when they were ex
tended to fourteen years, has arrayed itself in
the field Of politics. In addition we fpd III AT
the new party maintains an ominous silence ia
RELATION to the rights Of the southern States
rnieh should ill every patriotic heart with
Iear have ever been, and yet am, infexibly
opposed to such principles.
Inc regularly nominated Democratic ticket
Is tne only opponent in the field against this
new party. III Is Steay IN AZ In