The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1866-11-08
ILLEGAL V0TING--FALsE SWEAR
ING. PERJURED WITNESSES.

Whsn thu comnlets returns of the late elsc.
ton shall have been received 1t Will DO found
ta.t the democratic vote 10 about the same as
in 1864. and that the republican vote has
been largely increased. Much of this in
crease is due TO fraud, false swearing and
perjury, and thousands of illegal votes have
been cast in order to keep up the radical
strength. We know of many such In this
town, but we propose to allude, particularly,
to but one case, now. At another thine we
may expose others. The case we allude to
now is that of Edwin G.'Briokley, q cook at
the Island City Hotel, and that of Charles
Fisher, . barber at the same hotel, who was
his witness Mr.. Briekley, according to his
own story, is not voter, and both he and
Charley Fisher are liable to fine and impris-
onmens for .falss swearing. Whether they
shall be prosecuted or not depends upon the
forbearance Of the democracy.
Mr.. Brickley was resident OF this state,
shout the year 1860, and kept On ice cream
saloon near the railroad depot. We called On
him this Thursday morning and took down
in writing his statement, as follows:
ST was a resident of Rock Island in 1860 and
moved to Davenport that year the year following
| lived there about year, and then moved BACK IN
the country, to Fulton, Iowa, where lived about
year. / then moved back to Davenport ana hFeu
there some or months then moved to Rock Is
land and stayed or months then went as stew
ard on the steamer Comet, some or a months My
wife went with me. All we had was our trunks and
clothes and all this we took with us. After being
on the Comet or months we went to Memphis
and stayed there until last February, when went
to St. Louis, and lived there until last August, when
we came to Rock Island again, and have been here
since
According to this statement Mr.. Brickioy
is no more voter here than is Hiram Price
or any other citizen of Iowa. The laws of
this stste, act of February %, 1861, declare :;
THAT to constitute residence, under the con-
stitution and election laws of this state, a
permanent abode is necessary" &c., &c. MIR.
Brickley had permanent abode here in
1860, but he abandoned it some six years
ago, lived or years in Iowa, and since
that time has had no permanent home.
The, law besides requiring a permanent
abode within the state. requires that the per
son offering TO vote shsll have so permanent
ly resided in the state one full year next pre-
ceding the time he offers to vote, and thirty
days in the township or voting district. This
qualification Mr.. Brickley did not possess,
even according to his own story, and for
signing and for swearing to an sfh
davis that he did possess these qualifications,
he is liable to fine and imprisonment. He
swors, in his affidavit, as follows:
81 a citizen of the state of Illinois and have
resided permanently therein year preceding this
election. . I am entitled to vote at this poll.'
According to his own story, he had not SO
resided, and wss not entitled to vote.
Mr. Fisher also swore TO tho same fact
which was false. Even if it had been true
Mr.. Fisher did not know TIE TACT, and could
only swear frem sae story OF Mr.. B.-whioh
he had no right do.
We will give case in point Mr.. Whit
in, painter for Blythe & Ssoddard, called Mr..
Stoddard 20 prove that he had been resi-
dent OF this state for the last year and of this
swore that Mr.Whifhn had, to his knowledge,
resided in this town Tor the last thirty days
and he believed he had resided at Peoria, in
this state, for the last year, but that fact was
not within his personal knowledge and he
could not swear 20 IT, He believed it, but he
dad no know it. The board said that positive
evidence was required !; that guessing or be-
lief would not answer, and 80 Mr.. Within
did not vote
Mr.. Ssoddard would not swear to what he
did NOT kpor NJ uxpaaw -bot
he did not know, and TO what was not true
Be may not have intended to swear falsely
but his intentions have nothing to do with
the matter, any more than the Intentions of
man who steals q horse the act governs, not
the intent with which it was committed
Mr.. Brickley excuses himself on the ground
that, as he says, 'they told him he had a
right to vote wherever he happened to be, be
cause he had been running on a steamboat
This 10 another fsIlacy, and whoever told him
so was either ignorant OF the law, or told
him 30 in order to ger his vote for the radical
negro ticket. The law about that matter is
this: A man engaged on the river does OF
lose his residence because he is thus engaged;
but he cannotlegally vote anywhere except
al bis last permanent residence. Mr.. Brick
ley has had no permanent residence here
since 1860
Mr.. Fisher would probably excuse himself,
also, on the ground that he did not intend to
swear falsely. But the law does not excuse
people on that ground. Every lHan is sup
posed to know the LAYOUT whether he
knows it or not, he is liable to punishment,
just the same, for violation of it. He cannot
get OF by pleading ignorance.
Inis ID only sample case. showing how
the radicals obtained their increased vote
BY fraud, false swearing, pejury, and illegal
voting.
AS we said before, whether these and other
msn who committed the same crimes shall he
prosecuted, depends wholly upon the forbear-
ance of the democrats.
The registry law, in our opinion, ia the
best devised machine for getting in ILLEGAL
votes ever invented. No record is kept O,
who swears for this or that man. and the on
lY way to ascertain that fact is by outside
testimony. In some instances the oath O.
any man, registered voter or not, was taken