The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-11-04
Letter from Acting Governor Ell
weed Evans OF Washington Ter
rltOEy.

and Justice requires that he should be heard in his
own defence. Here follows his letter,
OLYMPIA, WAsnISGroS TERaIrpRS.l
October "a, 1855. 4
EpTToR SrArE RIeRTs DENooRAr: The article
headed "Disgraceful Triokery," in your issue of
18th. instant does great injustice 10 me. and Is Mt
variance with fact in several important particulars.
As l cannot believe you would willing esperse my
motives, except upon The conviction that YOU werr
Justified by = facts derived from official and mn.
thentic Sources 1 have thought 1t proper to fur
nish q statement Of such facts as they actually cx-
ist asking only that your readers who have seen
the accusation against nae, may also have the on.
~pOrtunity to be advised OF my Official action.
Frank P. DUgan, ESD, the defeated candidate
for Councilman In the District composed of the
counties Of waiia Walla, Stevens and Yakima, Is
tho sathor of the present appoEtionmcns law of the
Territory ef Washington. tsec Journal Hove
Representatives, w, t., Session 1854: D. 4j
lpassedk1ahuary 18th, 1864, which, among u
l~thinE4RF1ides ~ followss
"TheeSanty of walla Walla shall be entitled Ia
elect one Councilman, 10 be elected in is6l.
" The counties Of Walla walla and Spokane and
stevens and Ferguson shall be entitled to elect one
Joint Councilman In 1856,
''The counties Of Clarke, Klickitat and Skp.na-
mia shall be entitled to elect one Joint roanc.lmr-.
to be elected in 1864, whose term Of Off "a vii; ~,
| pire in 1865"
These consulate all the Couneil DiS. riots N ,
manner affected by the counties of Tann Wals ~
I~SkamaHia Section IS of the same Act provides
that !" All Acts OF parts of Acts inconsistent with
this Act BE- and the same arc hereby revealed -
IISec Statutes W. IT, 1ss4-5: n. l.
ms Is the last ar ,,ortionment law passed by the
Legislature Assem- oily, and the only one nov in
force. by It's terms, it win be observed that the
teeanty OF Aamania is now embraced in q District
with r.e county of Walla Walla for the purpose of
l~e,ecang a Councilman. Such is now the law. and
was tho law which governed my action as Secretary
4 Of the Territory in canvassing the votes polied al
, the last General Election in this Territory, The
absence Of the Governor made it necessary for me
to issue the proclamation declaring the result OF
; such canvass.
Hon. W. q. Langford is the Councilman for the
= county Of Wans Walla elected in 1864. Hon. Da-
lvid Stewart was elected in 1868, under the appor-
! ed January 9th, 1862; See Statutes W. T.. Ses-
sion lSS32: p. 81, . Joint Councilman for the
2 District composed of Skamania, Klickitat, walla
I lNalla and Spokane counties, and his successor BY
e the Act first quoted was to be elected in 1856, for
the District composed of the counties Of Walia
: Nalla, Spokane. Stevens and Ferguson. Spokane
and Stevens vera consolidated in 1854, and Fcrgu-
son vas changed to Yakima, though as yet 1t re
/. mains unorganized. Mr.. Stewart served the SEES
sion Of 1864, and then removed to idaho Terri
tory. He afterwards resigned, but not sufficiently
early to provide an election before the session Of
lIS64A To ali the vacancy for HE Nnexpirea term
N of the Councilman for the District composed Of the
counties Of Walla Walla, Stevens and Yakima, ex-
piring in 1856, Messrs. Cox and Dugan were can
didatss at the late election. and the following va:
u the result
70 walia MaliA,.-v..u,,COx se4~....F. 7. Dugan $50
a Stevens~.-.-"..-.- H.. )
4akima---..... .~.( Cnorganized-no Returns.
y I cannot conceive what figure the abolition Of thu
leounty Of Skamania BY the Act Of last Winter, cuts
in this matter. Nor do / believe any one can whs
q reada the Law constituting the Council Districts.
It is not true that I in any manner ignored thu
10 TOte Of the citizens who resided in the territory for
f-A1- AAA. - 49,
have my views about the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of eoun
n ties without their consent but this has nothing Il
do With the matter, To the Judiciary Is eomait
ted the question of testing the validity Of that law
But I felt il my duty. and I did canvass the rot
for every oheer, which by Law / am directed t
> canvass and the records Of the Executive ans
SeeFetary's once Of this Territory bear me witnes
that 1 duly certified according TO law that in thu
I'd counties Of Clarke. Skamania and Kliekitat, tn
following vote was polled for Joint Councilman:
. Clarke-..-FarpswOrth 2ss... Dugan 6I...sohns 81
Skamania- g.. r.. s;
lKlikitatvw. 2s...
N In regard to the vote for Skamania county,
4 might add that the oeacer certifying 70 The Secrcta
!, Ffy the abstract of votes, returned Mr.. Dugan n
having been voted for rs "Jeint Representative.
e. Satisfied that this was a mere clerical mistake, b.
e THE paper itself. / gave Mr.. Dugan the benefit o
the certificate Of such votes received, though clear
iIy justified IN rejecting all such votes For The re
tarns evidence the fact that those who voted 70
DuFan voted also for the joint Councilman running
he for the District as defined by law and in addition
thereto, were voting for q Councilman for q Distrie
which had no existence under the law in force.
&, an clearly Of opinion that any eapvasser might re
! Ijeet such votes and ignore all such attempts t
claim more thanlegal representatives. had th
right, TOO, knowing the fact to have regarded GU
law, which expressly provides that Mr.. Dagan, no
of being = resident of the District, was absolutely
: Ineligible.
might here rest for my justification bat I an
u @h@-..1 18th ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IN La.sw. EN~ =
a. purposes, both Recognised and ignored the exist
: ence of said county of Skamania. This is untrue.
: steadily failed TO travel outside the apportionmen
IN Law ofls641 proof Of which is found in the fac
that I refused to give the certificate Of election t
"a H. g. Struve, q Union candidate from Clarke eaun
ty. for Joint Representative of skamania and XIX
= stat, who received . larger vote in Clarke count
fur that once, and more votes than did J, W: Bra
II zee, who received the certificate. Mr.. Strive
!, e,aim was barred on the fact that as Skamania wa
annex I'd to and merged In Clarke, the latter coun
lev y - entitled to the tsereased Representatives..
trcfuxed to consent by my individual aet, 10 disfran
ic chise the voters residing in the old county, for
fshoaeh the Legislature had blOtted out the count
Inca il hid JAILED to provide q modification of til
A~Iannw4ionm snt law. I could have increased tn
Union repres ensation of Clarke by ignoring Ska
maD;a. Parh san feelings might have invited il
re / eouid not so yet, and was not even tempted I
e shiTk cay daty-
s ! soaree o. satisfaction to me that my cel
Il tffeate is not conclusive upon the question of th
righk of any genflem. N to a seatin the Legislature
The CoHnel is properly the judge OF the qualinea
bipartisan uetFres hare I Q srti6ed the evidence pre-
sented by this ONCE, thai, Under the apportionmen
;. Law Of 1864, Anderson Cox was elected to a scat /
. the Council for the District cosnposed of the coun
n ties Of Walla WaRA, Stevens AMI Yakima IL th
!, Legislature decides the District Ia ger than the la'
defines, the evidence Of Mr.. Dagan having receive
votes is recorded in the Secretary Office. A Unto
+ teaadidate failed to secure my eertiacste OF electlo
as Representative. hQRgh having the largest mum
/ Der of Yotes, because I refused TO count the vote Q
81 Clarke county in a joint RepresentatiSe Distric
declared by law as composed Of the Ct unties Q
lSkauania and Kikitst For a like reason, an
for none other, I believed it Illegal to add tho vote
Of Skamania and Ciake to secure the e~lectio.1 Of
lCeaneilmaa for the District 2eEaed By Law to con
sist of said counties ef Walle Walla, Stevens an
lt3Yskfma. ELW00D EVANS.
Secretary Washington Territory.
We viii simply say at present that, n all his ar
,fgumeak Gov. Euans fails to convince us of the lc
eality Of his eonduct in the matter; yet We do mol
Iimprgn Us fntegrity As a man-A is only With his
q oncial coarse We find fault Messrs. DagAn and
q cox contested fer = scat in the Conncl to 6I 8
/. -vacAacy under the old appOrtiOnnent, (which IN
Iciadcd Skamania county IN the Council District
We contend therefore that the subsequent Act
changing the appcrtiopnent did net 4aect that csee-
Iton-dt could only operate on . regular subsequent
election. Hence the votes east for Mr.. Dugan for
Joint ouncaman IN Skamania county ought to have
been counted. Furthermore, Gov. Evans fails to
: explain or clear up his conduct IN counting the
8 votes cast in Skamania eousty in some instances,
after having 1sjacisd tasm IN the cas- Of Mr.. Du-
gan There are otheT points open to criticism,
but We have now neither time nor space to refer
I to then.
SAErIAn MIsEs.-A man named Victor,
LIKE r.1-a.a,A.t:-a a, c.