Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-10-19
The Lamaseo Fraud.

OF the part be took IN the meeting in La
masco on Friday night last We spprs-
hend its attempted smartness will not
disturb Mr.. Hutchinson's equanimity in
the least He has Witnessed too many
abortive efforts on the part Of that paper
to blseken The character of our best citi-
zens, to be either surprised or alarmed
at its attack upon him. As an honest,
independent voter, Mr. Hutchinson was
at the Lamasco polls all day on Tues
day, the llth inst An old resident in
Lamasco, be is personally acquainted
with a majority of those who vote in that
precinct. From the manner in which
the votes went into the ballot box, Mr..
Hutchinson is confident that the bulk Of
the Union vote was cast earlyin the day.
He was not alone in this opinion.
Others, acting with the Mcclellan party
eoincided with him, and as early as 3
o'clock retired to their homes, alledging
that il was no use to work against the
tide any longer. When, therefore, 10
Mr.. Hutchinson's and every body elss's
sstonishment, the result was announced,
be felt convinced that an infamous fraud
had been perpetraied upon the voters Of
f-amasco. Feeling thus, and believing
thus, be expressed himself fully and
csndidly at the Lamaseo meeting on
Friday night He used no soft words in
giving the people his opinion. Probably
be thinks "soft words butter no parsnips"
Bat suppose we look into this Lamasco
matter little In the frat place The
County Commissioners, In appointing
Joel Sherwood Inspector of that pre-
cinct, did it for the express purpose Of
having everything done that cosld be
done By an Inspector to dsfea. the UniOn
party, We presume it is not necessary
to argue this point or that Mr.. Sherwood
was personally Objectionable to every
Union voter in tho district Ia carrying
out the wishes of bis patrons, Dir. sher-
wood, after il was ascertained that the
Union men would insist on having rep
resentation on his Bossd, appointed Mr
James Wiltshire one of the Judges
NJ Wiltshire is known, throughout the
county, as one ofsthe best eanyassers in
the Union party, and his appointments
was strenuously objected to on the
ground that the Union men could not
spare him on election day. Mr.. Sher-
wood, however. insisteG that Mr.. Wilt.
shire should act as Judge, stating that
If he refused Board composed wholly
Of Mcclellan men would be appointed.
Under these circumstances Mr., Wilt
shire accepted and the voting com,
menced.
At noon Mr.. Sherwood took the ballot
box to his home. The tin slide covering
the hole in she lid Of the box was sealed,
but the lid itself was not sealed, and all
that was necessary TO get at the tickets
was to obtain another key to ht the lock.
How easily another key could be OBJ
tanned We win demonstrate further on,
There were between seven and eight
hundred votes polled 10 Lamaseo. Not
quite two hundred tickets were counted
out on Tuesday night, and yet they
gave the Union candidates majority OF
twenty or twenty-five. While counting
the tickets Mr.. Wiltshire was taken quite
sick. His eompanioas--the Inspector
aud Judge-were smoking one on each
side Of him. BE appealed to them to
desis., saying the smoke made him very
sick. But they persisted and Mr.. Wilt
shire waf forced 10 suecamb aud leave
the room. The slide of the box wa.
sealed, and the box again carried to the
residence Of Mr.. Sherwood. On Wed
nesdsy morning, to thssurpriae Of some
but not all, for few began to smell 4
rat, the ballots that came cut Of the bo,
were nearly all printed on one kind o
paper and most of them folded in th,
same manner The tickets, too, We ar
Informed, were ell clean and looked q
though they had, as general thing
been folded and deposited in the box b
the same hand Over one hundred q
this kind of tickets came out of the bot
tom of the box without any Union ticl
els whatever intervening. This, tsC
= when it was well known that the bulk &
the Union vote was cast early in th
+ forenoon of Tuesday, and must, in cor
sequence, have been at the bottom of tn
= box. These remarkable coincidence
! we're well calculated to aroase suspieioE
and il is not strange that Mr. HatchiI
> son thinks there was "foul play,
When the box was brought to h
Court House to make ont the official r.
sarns, two gentlemen happened to be
+ the room where it was placed One T
marked to the other that he bad X
at home that be was confident would u
lock the box. The other replied that
had key With him that would unlo'
il, and taking out a bunch of keys, 3
piled one Of them to the key hole, 81
found thati worked ike s charm. q
a common lock IS it, that almost a
bunch of keys can furnish one or I,
that will throw the bolt and give adm
tanee to the contents Of the box.
There is another fact IN this conn.
A., -n~..L 49,