The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1858-12-03
The Baltimore Election.
Men Toting the Fusion Ticket Eighty and On
Hundred fines al the same Polls.


Hundred times al the same Polls.
| L. E. Ballard, one of the Judges at he late
municipal election in Baltimore, has made a
| published statement he facts that came under
his observation at that time He states that
when the polls opened they were surrounded
! by a crowd of men and boys, who openly assrr-
ted that one should vote who was not for
Swami, the Fusion candidate for Mayor. Men
whom they suspected Of different intention
were driven off. The remainder Of this state
| tnent must be given n his own words
''The time for opening the polls arrived, and
the voting commenced-and | am compelled to
say | never before witnessed such scenes at an
election-mon and boys voting as often as they
pleased, both seen and unseen By the iud gts,
who took their ballots.
Il >trenuousIy protested against such procee
ding, but to no avail. This sort of voting went
on for about half an hour, " hen there was add
ed to il another mode, viz: That of voting
iIom hacks aud omn ibuSrs-a means by which
more gross outragps are prrpetra,ed on the elrc2
i've franchise than probably any other In Al
COULD be ad 'pted, for in nearly every case two
or three times as many ballots were taken as
there were persons IN the hacks and there can
be no doubt Of the ilIegaIty OF almost the entire
number OF those that were in them, to say
nothing ofthe repetition of voting. This mode
OF voting was carried on to an extent lncredalous
TO state, while those who wished to vote tick
ct other than those marked on the back, excepl
IN few instances, were not allowed to vote at
all. | saw in more than a dozen Of instances
person come TO the fence in front of the win
dow, holding ticket in each hand, both OF
which were taken and put IN the box, the per
son giving some naHr, no doubt assumed, as he
voted. Men from other wards, k2own 20 iuises.
came up and had no difficulty in voting. I
determined 10 leave The window and have
nothing more TO do with the election as Judge,
al took seat in the back part Of the room.
and witnessed continued repetition of VOTING
by the same persons until their faces, which I
had never seen before that day, became as
familiar as the sun. From notes taken them.
am sure l would not exceed The bounds f,rufh
we're to say that the same person voted in the
Eighteenth Ward, on that day, eighty 10 6ae
hundred tunes, and certainly as often as Ae
wished. know the people pretty we'll m fay
ward, having lived there for the last eight wears
and | am confident not more than ona thousand
legal votes were poled then, although the rp-
turns show nearly thirly-two hundred and I
am sustained in this by facts collected since the
election, viz : In some six blocks which |
canvasSed, containing about one hundred and
twenty voters, one hundred did not vote, and
have no reason TO think this other than fair
average in the ward. / left the room about
three O'Clock, and did not return-conseonent
Iy, gave what | knew 10 be farce and gross
fraud, no sanction by my signature | nov
leave the matter 10 my friends and the PUBLIC to
say whether or not stand as one of the peri,-
red judges, and whether, under the crcumstGn-
ces, did right in leaving, &c.