Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1864-03-30


non-resdents, beyond your territorial lin
! its and the passage OF this amendment
! throws wide the door, and invites fraud TO
enter. An outraged people and an out
ragged soldiery will learn too late that the
right Of suffrage their priceless jewel,
:" the weapon of freeman" has been by
you debased, and made the synonym of
force, fraud and wrong The constitution
al qualifications can be, and they will be,
disregarded and those who are not vo-
ters at home will be invited to aid in
drowning the voice Of the citizen. Your
carefully prepared system Of checks and
oaths will be thrust aside or broken
| through whenever they o5struct the wish
es Of designing men. Returns will be sup
| pressed before they reach the borders of
the State, and false and forged returns
will be manufactured and by them the
man who bids highest, or is most subser-
Went to the will of the controlling power,
will be declared elected.
speak by the record when l say that
these things will occur and that you can
not guard against them. The frauds of
1861 are still fresh in our minds and upon
the pages of your criminal reports and
among the records of your courts are to he
foand repeated evidences of the truth Of
this fact.
The case of IIalseman vs. Rems, reported
in 9th Wright, 396, is but one of those ca
SeS of outrageous frauds perpetrated over
the head of an innocent soldiery. There
the fact was clearly developed that the
alleged returns from three entire compa-
MES were forgeries. They were counted
in the return and they decided the cleo
ton. A certificate was based upon them
and the highest court of the Common
wealth was powerless to deprive the fraud
ulently elected officer of his place. One
Of the syllabi of that cas- is as follows -
"Where the return judges included the
soldiers vote and issued certificates of ell
eCtion 10 those who were thereby elected
members of common council, and it was
evident that some Of the returns were
, forgeries, and that through them several
OF the candidates had improperly obtain
, ed certificates of their election, the courts
cannot for that reason summarily inter
fere with and annul those certificates in
the absence OF proof that the return Judges
acted fraudulently, but the case must be
tried by the forms Of q contested cleo
ton before the tribunal appointed by
law, and not by the ordinary forms of lie.
gal or equitable process before the usual
judicial tribunal"
The wholesale frauds committed in the
election of sheriff of Philadelphia, as de-
veloped in the case of Thompson VS. Ew-
ing, and particularly the the return OF
the Schimmelpfennig regiment will also
be rememb cred. A formal return Of up
wards of one thousand votes was regularly
filed in the Office of tho prothonotary
having come by course OF mail to his
hand. Those votes were cast almost sole
ly for the Republican candidate. They
were produced before the board of return
judges and were thrown out because it
appeared that only two companies of the
entire regiment were recruited in Phlla-
delphia; that the regiment was not at
the place named on the day of the cleo
Lion, that no vote whatever was had in the
regiment, and that the entire return was
base and palpable forgery. To the
credit of the soldiers it is to be said, that
none of these instances of outrageous
| fraud were traceable to his act. Tley we're
all committed by the mercenary politician
who lay in wait in the purleus of the
camp, seeking his opportunity 20 cheat
both soldier and citizen out Of the fair
and equal election provided for by law.
Frauds like these, persisted in and sue
cessful through the meshes of the law,
tend to move men to violence 10 resist
them and when it is seen that fraud and
force are the controlling power, and hon
esty and justice submerged, riotOus resis
] ha ~
law and orGer.
You cannot punish frauds committed
out of the Commonwealth beyond the
borders Of the State your laws are power
less. The viest outrage upon the right;
Of free people, if perpetrated outside the
jurisdiction of your courts, must 60 un
punished, and the rufIian who committed
IT may come here and mingle with you
unwhipped Of justice.
Show me the way in which you will
control these frauds and punish the per
petrators of them, and you will show me
new system of laws and O power never
before vested in the courts of the Com
monwealth. The sixth amendment L
the Constitution OF the United States pro
vides that ain all criminal prosecutions
the accused shall enjoy the right TO a spec
dy trial by an impartial jury Of the STATE
and district scLerein the crime shall have bee,
committed"
The case Of the Commonwealth yersu
Kunsman, reported in Wright 429, de
oides and conclusively settles this yer!
point. "By common law, crimes and mis
demeanors are cognizable and punishable
b exclusively within the jurisdiction wher,
= they are committed"
AN unnaturalized foreigner who fraud
ulently votes at company election, helt
outside of Pennsylvania, by virtue Of tn
act of July I'd, 1889, relating TO election
t by the militia or volunteers in actual ser
= vice, cannot be indicted and punished il
: this State for such offence. The courts o
quarter sessions have no Jurisdiction owe
r such a case"
/ Judge Read, of the Supreme Court, i,
delivering his concurring opinion in thi
, case, says:
, "Tbere are, therefore, insuperable oh
! jections 10 any criminal courts in this Stat,
. 4 . 4 r 4. L