Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-08-04


was completed
He absolutely refused, even after demand
in writing, to make copies Of those returns.
or any returns, and made out only a general
table OF all the returns In his own way leay-
ing nothing whatever for the Judges to do.
de added up all the returns then subtract
ed such as in his view were not *such re-
turns and made one general certificate for
the aggregate. Not satisfied to stop here.
but disrpgarding or forgetting every sense
of propriety, he went before the board of
return judges in person, and made speech
| of some length to prevent them from re-
/ celvlng the two returns which he had rejec-
ted, terrified copies of which were sent by
the Secretary of the Commonwealth and
/ argued to the boArd that they had no right
to receive any paper whatever, except such
as he gave them. This effort, strangely in
consistent with his allegation that he had
sent to the Secretary of the Commonwealth
! for copies and explanations, in order that
these returns might be counted. After the
4 argument closed before the board of return
! judges, upon the suggestion of the attorney
| for Gen. KO0ntz, the room was cleared In
order that the judges might decide for them
/ selves. Scarcely had this been done, when
/ 1t became apparent that some of those who
had been counted upon to aid in carrying
out this infamous fraud were alarmed by
/ what they had heard in the argument; when
/ Mr.. Shannon again comes to the rescue
and having been sent for by few of the
more faithful, actually returned and remain
/ ed with the board until the whole work had
/ been consummateds
Emboldened by the apparent success Of
these efforts of few individuals to elect
member OF Congress In opposition to the
! wishes of the legal voters of the district, as
/ declared at the ballot box, some of these
/ same worthless, in connection with few
/ others at once turned their attention to the
/ selection Of president Judge and two mem
beFs Of the Legislature. The district return
/ judges were to meet on the Friday following.
The issue of the Bedford Gdzette immedi-
ately before those meetings, gave the note
Of preparation for these contests. It's editor
was one Of the candidates for the Legisla
ture. A short article, taken from among
many others, reads thus:
Nor OUT OF THE WoODs.
The Abolitionists crowed before they
we're out of the woods. They have claimed
I the defeat Of General Coffroth, Judge Kim
/ nell and the Democratic candidates for the
/ Legislature. The latest official reports elect
| General Cofroth, while the Judicial and
Legislative districts are still undetermined,
with the chances in favor Of the Democratic
candidates, when the legal votes shall be
counted Wait and see.
1t seems almost, or rather altogether Inn
possible to imagine how this work could be
accomplished But the job had been COM
meneed and must be finished. Without
giving the figures here, the committee win
state, that by virtue of the returns these
gentlemen had made up themselves, after
--sy-.sslta all fl.a ---il:.-1
could throw out, In the counties of Bedford
and Fulton, and taking their own tables, as
signed and assented to by every Judge in
every county, Of the district, except the six
in Bedford county, who had signed larger
Congressional return, lone which included
every vote embraced in the majority return,)
they elected Hon. Alexander King, presi-
dent Judge, over Hon. +. vi. Kimmell, by
a majority of one hundred and FIVE votes
They elected Moses A Ross to the Legisla-
ture by majority of one hundred and ten
votes, over Hiram Finley, and elected Da-
yid b. Armstrong, over b. h. Meyers, by
majority of one hundred and fftytwo votes
For the truth of these statements, the COM
| mittee refer to the certified copies of returns
| embraced in the evidence. Had the sol
dieTs' votes of Bedford and Fulton been
/ properly counted, these majorities would
| have been made larger. When the judicial
| district return judges had assembled, they
deliberately proceed to throw out the entire
soldiers vote of Bedford county, which gave
| to Judge King a majority of one hundred
and seventy-six, besides the two returns
withheld by Mr.. Shannon. VIM. j. Roch,
| the return judge from Bedford county, who
was one of the thirteen judges who at Bed
ford had made and adopted this return, and
bad himself signed it under oath, as the
/ true return, actually voted and assisted in
throwing out the same return, carried there
| by himself, and contained in the only CON-
mission which he had to be there himself:
This action elected f NJ Kimmell by ma
| jority of seyenty-one votes; and these judges
actually proceeded to give him certificate
of election, and to make return TO the See
retary of the Commonwealth.
BY this actirn, every soldier of the five
hundred and forty-six, whose names were T.
returned to Bedford, were denied the right
of participating in the choice of president
| jndge for the next ten years. 1t is scarcely
necessary for your committee to add, that
this manner of electing judges was hardly
contemplated by the trainers OF the Con
stitution and the laws; and that a judge OBJ
tanning his commission in this way would
not be very likely to command the respect or
retain the confidence of the people, or to IN
! spire very remarkable degre of respect for
his love of justice or the supremacy of the
law. Fortunately, this latter experiment
/ was not tested, for the reason that the Gov
ernor and Attorney General of the State
! concluded that under the law, return judges
did not certify to the election of president
judges but only computed and returned the
votes. The Governor commissioned the
man duly elected.
At meeting of the Legislative district
return judges, the twenty-five, out of fifty
one soldiers votes which had been counted
by the return judges of Fulton county, were
actually omitted, or rejected, by two of said
three district return judges. Mr.. James
Lynch, of Fulton county, who had helped
to make the return just one week before,
and who had signed the same under oath as
a correct and true return, being party to
this action The whole soldiers vote of
Bedford county was also thrown out the
home vote of Fulton and Bedford counties
and the whole of Somerset county being
counted, and thus electing Messrs. Meyers
and Findley to the Legislature, by majori-
ties of fifty-one and seventy-one, respect
lively. Mr.. Joseph Elder, the return judge
from Bedford county, who had aided IN ma
king this return, who had signed it, under
oath, as true return, actually voted with
Judge Lynch, of Fulton county, to reject
his own return, although without it he had
no other commission to be present at That
meeting of district return judges. BY this
action of these two men, Joseph Elder and
James LYNCH aided by the nrothonOtary of