Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1864-12-23
THE ARMY VOTE AGAIN.

Inc sanitary silent workings of old Time. had
almost effaced from our kind recollection. the Oc
tooer and November trlumphs achieved in great
part BY the many brave and scarrred veterans who
love our flag 20 well, and who are voluntarily giy
ing their lives for the preservation of our now d.
videdand distracted but we hope soon, to be uni
ted and happy country Not that we did not suf
fciently appreciate their patriotism then but true
to themselves they have been constantly yachieYing
greater deeds and winning rewer and fresher la,l
rels to crown afresh their already well bedeck ed
brows, casting into the shade the many gallant
deeds ofa few months since. But if we had felt
disposed TO allow the past to wear into fo,getfu
ness and to consider bygones to be bygones We are
compelled to take notice that it has not been so
with our neighbor Of the Gdzeite The army vote
steals upon him ike Banquos ghost and sadly dis
turbs his equanimity, producing most admired
disorder at every visitation To the sad and BIT
ter misgiyings ofa guilty COINCIDENCE ne propose to
offer few words ofexpIanasorg consultation.
The leaders of the opposition in the various dis
tricts OF which this county forms part Congress
Iona, Judicial and Legislative, felt their inability
tosuccessfuly yconductthe presidentialea
less they couldnduee their adherentst to believe that
they had successfully carried their candidates into
the offices for which they were respectively run
ming. Knowing that the act allowing soldiers To
cast their ballots inthefeld, was comparatively new
and intricate, and that their must be errors commit
ted, they, determined avail themselves of all the
the bubbles and tsohnicalties of the law They
could not wait and test the matter before the courts
or legislative bodies of the country, the proper
and only tribunal having jurisdiction over such
cases but first, the prothonotaries. the officers
authorized to receive and present the returns to
the return judges nthe proper day of meeting con
stltuted themselves judges of what they considered
regular or irregular, legal or illegal returns, and
secondly, the district return Judges following in
the same wake, constituted themselves similar trii-
bunas OF judicial and legislative power and reject
ed such soldiers votes as were not rejected by the
prothonotaries, thus making clear case of it
No lawyer has hesitated Is an instant to pro-
nounce the action ofboth prothonotaries and return
judges Illegal and without shadow offoundation
IN law. There is not even single precedent an
pearng IN the books and nothing could Justify the
means, save the end at which they aimed. namely
the detrauding of the union candidates and the
distranchisment of fthesoldiers. To this high han
ded and outrageous proceeding, the union men
took exception and insisted upon the right of the
soldiers to vote under the law and at the same time
insisted that If there was any wrong DONE it must
appear from the beginning; that no one had anv
right to presume fraud, and upon such presumn-
ton proceed to violate all the laws in the land. up
on the subject, as remedy This is a new theory
While the law abiding portion of the population
contended correctly that the courts and legislative
bodies were the only authorized tribunals to
decide the matter and not selfconstituted Judges
unknown to the law,
The Gazete contends because its friends succeed
ed thein perpetrating great wrong, after the
casting of the ballots, that the party thus wroueed
should calmly give way without resorting to any
precedent method of acquiring their rights anteri
or to contest before the tribunals authorized to
hear and determine such cases. Thisis the sup |
pEcation of mendicant We ask for an execution |
of the law as it is understood by the courts and
this viii place these men where they ought legally
to be.
However, if our opponents will take advantage |
of the tecknicalities of the law theycertany ought
to allow us to have the advantage of precedent |
established by themselves in the same case. We |
contend that the only full and legal returns made
were those made by Somerset county, and reject |
all others, the union candidates were duly elected
to the positions to which they aspired.
But the Gazette drops this point after feeble |
effort to show that its party friends should not be
made the contestants and proceeds to intimate |
that there were great many fraudulent votes cast
amongst the Bedford county soldiers. How the |
soldiers will bear this charge Of dishonor and |
fraud we shall see Itsays:
The returns show that about 500 votes were
polled IN the army By persons claiming to be citi-
zens OF Bedford county. Somerset county, with I
the same population as our own poed but abont
200, whilst Franklin with nearly twice the popn
iatlon OF Bedford polled but about 300 This
shows fraud on the very face of the army returns
for this county. 1t is simply absurd to claim that
Bedford county had 500 votes in the army on the
18th oflast October
Now, we happen to know that the Union coun-
ty Committee ofBedford county alone had at least
600 soldiers assessed for the October election and
from 750to Sooin all besides those who we're asses
sed by their friends, and that the names are now
in the hands of the committee and if this is not
satisfactory; the Gazette is well aware that the
name of every individual who voted in the army
from this county is now ON file in the prothonota-
rvs Office where it win have but little difficulty in
ascertaining whether they are legal or not. The
comparison made between other counties in the
district Is unfair. Does anybody suppose that
Somerset had only 200 and Franklin 800 voters in
the army on the sth Of 0ctober2 IF the same eff
fcient effort had been made in those counties that
we're made by the Union County Committee of
this county their would have been different re-
suit. Bedford county had at least 900 voters in
the army and the evidence is not hard to get at.
The effort of the Gazette to impugn motives Of
he Union judges who could not be induced to vi
'late the laws of the Commonwealth which they
worn to execute, and at the same time endeavor-
Dg to place the responsibility of its rascality upon
hen' ~ rare specimen q sopnistry, and ealeula