The Portland daily press., 1868-02-18
To the Republican rotsrs Of Portland:


TO the Republican roters Of Portland:
At an informal meeting OF citizens from
different Wards, who are not satisfied that
any fair and valid nomination for Mayor has
been made, the undersigned were appointed
to ascertain and report the facts bearing on the
question. These facts are within the personal
knowledge of Gwo of the Committee; and
their correctness has been verified By Others
As incident TO the case, aud connected
with the other facts, it should be noticed that
the Ward meetings were called nearly t,ro
,ceekS earlier than usual, when no one was
expecting it, with a notice only t,co days
prior to the day appointed. Such proceed
ing was without precedent, and whether so
designed or not, it gave TO those who knew
beforehand that it was to be done, great adj
vantage over those who had no such know
ledge, and had therefore made no prepara-
tions for it. We believe that at least one
Ward was thus carried for the nomination
that has been made, that would have gone
differently if the meeting had been called at
the usual time, or if sufficient notice had been
given.
In addition 20 this, we are satisfied that the
delegates from Ward 2 were not legally nor
fairly chosen, and thatthey ought not to have
been admitted to the meeting of delegates TO
make the nomination.
At the meeting in this Ward during the
time of voting, there was no light in the room
except from one small lamp; and written
ballots could not be read at any distance from
the table. On complaint being made of this,
one who was distributing ballots for Mcclellan
delegates announced that the two tickets
could he distinguished by the fact that the
Mcclellan tickets were printed, while the
others were uriiten. The ballots, instead of
being deposited in box on the table, where
they could be seen, were gathered in the
room in hats, where they could not be seen.
and double voting could not be detected. The
meeting was noisy and disorderly and neither
the chairman, nor the committee who re
ceiyed the votes, were able to prevent it. And
when the ballots were finally received and
counted, it was found that large number oe
written votes for Mcclellan delegates had been
buAOhht uhAV"beONy ~ hNu Wit ohlkiVSCu
they were voting the other ticket.
About the time the polls were closed. other
lamps were brought in, and order was restored.
One of the undersigned, believing that there
had been double voting, before any person
had left the room, carefully counted all who
were present, and made the number one h,n-
dred and lhree. He does not claim that this
count may not have been varied from the
fact to the extent OF three or four. But he
is positive, and he is ready to make his aff-
dgvit, that the whole humber present at the
meeting did not exceed one hundred and ten.
And vet the number of ballots thrown was
one hundred and dirty-one! And upon this
being made known, the meeting broke up
in confusion, ,cittout any result being an.
nouHeed.
Knowing these facts, a number of citizens
demonstrated against the admission of the
delegates from that Ward to the nominating
convention, and requested that the nomina-
ton should be postponed in order than an
other Ward meeting might be called, and the
question thus settled. No credentials were
required from any of the delegates. This
was proper enough where no question was
made: but when these facts In regard to the
meeting in Ward were made known, the