The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-11-20

the mail. and ut the time regretted it; went
| Immediately to Mr.. Mikell and asked him II ne
intended to serve; he said he did, and thought
every man ought to serve his county; told
him I regretted my appointment, from the fact
that had served before and had not been PAID;
Mr.. Mkell said he would serve, and then con-
cluded to do 30 myself; never met and organlz-
ed as board; there was mutual understand-
ing between Mr.. Iaft and myself that Mr; MI
kell should be chairman; MIR. TAFT received MS
appointment through mail, with some prlnt-
ed instructions, and concluded, as his name ap-
pearcd first, he was chairman OF the
board. Subsequently. I saw MIR. Mken, and
he said the first thing we had to do on the
day of the election is to elect chairman;
I said, very well; Mr.. Taft has received printed
instructions, and has concluded that as MS
name appears first, he ID chairman; -Nr. Mlkeil
said he would vote for me az chairman. and
my reply was I would vote for hlm; Mr. Iatt
did not act as chairman; Mr.. Mikell was always
recognized as chairman OF the board.
In reply 10 Mr.. Barker for protestants: he trst
thing iIr. Mikell said to me upon meeting a.,
ter our appointment was to organize and eject
chairman; our first meeting was at eno Cl.S
Hall, to prepare tor the gcnerel election; there
was no further proposition as to who should be
chairman. except mutual understanding be-
tween MIR. Taft and myself; no formal appoint
ment of manager was then made; we regarded
Mr.. Mikell as chairman.
In reply to Mr.. Bowen, for claimants: There
were other persons, not managers, who assist
ed in counting the votes; they were Mr.. Her
nandez for tho Pillsbury party, Mr.. j. Adger
Smythe, Mr. West and other gentlemen for MIR.
I,esesne'5 party; Mr.. AIikel and Mr. Taft kept
tally; Mr.. Mikell and myself were the only per-
sons who handled the balots; the gentlemen l
have mentioned simply kept tally; the first
time We met as board was the dly OF regis
tration for the general election; the flr5t thing
Jo,a ,roo t0 r1rnpnp6 q SOOn nS lrrlQGerQeAGJ
could be made, to receive the names OF per-
sons who came up to register; then recog-
nized Mr. Mikell as chairman, from the fact
that Mr.. Milicll would not vote for MIR: Taft,
and Mr.. Taft would not vote for Mr.. Mikell, and
I waved my Claims in favor of Mr.. Mi
kell; Mr.. MIliell accepted, acted as such,
and all our papers that went forth with the
signatures attached will show that fact; l
will vouch for the accuracy OF the returns
handed to the Mayor; l remember distinctly
on the day after tho election the Mayor coming
in and suggesting to Mr.. Mikell whom sup
posed he recognized as chairman OF the Doard,
the propriety of counting the votes for Mayor
first so as to get rid of the crowd on the street;
I had suggested that course in the morning on
bringing the box from the Guardhouse; we COM
menced that morning counting the vot slnglv,
naming the candidates one by one as the names
appeared on the ticket; on the request OF the
Mayor we changed, to commence counting TOR
and sixty-four votes counted through; the gen
temen have named as keeping tally were Mr.:
Hernandez, on MIR. Pillsbury's side, and MIR. j.
A. Smythe, Mr. West, and MIR. Samson
on the other side; Mr.. T. Waring Mikell
our clerk, and Mr.. Taft kept tally for the man.
ayers; as soon as we changed the manner OF
counting, took the ballots already fully count
ed, rolled them up III brown paper and put
them in my sack coat pocket, and thero they
remiined u.til the close Of the counting; we
got another box (wltness recognized the box
before him as the one in which they received
their ballots); the second bcx had no number
marked on it; We went on counting the votes
for Mayor, and after getting through with that
continued to count tho votes for Aldermen; I
think we finished about nine o'clock at night,
when took The ballots, put them all in the
ballot box, which took to the Mayors office;
AIr. Mikell preceded me with the return OF
every person voted tor; feel satisfied that if the
box has not been tampered with, that all
the ballots cast that day are in it; I lett
the KEY IN the box and said TO the Mayor,
:ere is our box; Mr: Mikcll handed
the return in on envelope, scaled with
mucilage to the Mayor; there was no seal on 1t;
the Mayor having recognized Mr.. 1likcll Us
chairman of the board, I concluded 1t was
oil right. [Return shown witness, who
recognized it as being the original paper
and return.] The parties spoke of, outside
whatever to do with the votes; they never
handled the votes; we allowed challengors from
both sides; there were three from Mr.. Le-
sesne's party and three from Mr.. Pillsbury's
party; these gentlemen kept tally, and one
mistake made vas corrected through them;
upon the first count MIR. latt and MIR. Mikell
made Mr.. Lesesne's majority seventy-six, MIR.
Smythe and MIR. West made it seventy-one;
upon recapitulatlon MIR. Taft and Mr.. Mikell
discovered where they had made mistake OF
five votes, which maie Mr.. Lesesne'5 majority
seveaty-one; was present whom tho returns
were handed in On envelope to the Mayor.
In reply to Alderman Voigt: The clcrk of our
bolrd was not sworn to my knowledge; left
matters like that for Mr.. Mllicll, as chair man,
to attcndt TO.
at the request Of Alderman Yoigt, the Mayor
read sections and of the act authorizing tho
election.
In reply to Alderman Whilden, witness said
the clerk, to his knowledge, never administer
ed an oath to anybody.
Alderman Wall-Did he administer an oath
to those who presented themselves for regis
tration?
Witnoss-I never saw him administer an
oath; the oath was administered by one OF the
board.
The Mayor suggested tho propricty Of COM
pleting the examination Of each ward before
proceeding to another. Ii that was DONE their
VI
Ward No. /.
Alderman Whilden moved thai they proceed
with and conclude the examination OF the
managers before taking ND the ballots.
Alderman Voigt said he had seen snm3 OF
the managers this morning. VIA stated chat
they had not received official information OF
their presence beng required Jcore the board.
The motion Of Alderman Whilden was agreed
to.
Charles N. Winner sworn: Was manager of
Ward No. 2; was elected chairman Of the board
at the first meeting, on the first dly of regis
tration; no one but the managers administered
the oaths and assisted in counting the votes;
the board elected clerk on tho 9th OF Octo-
ber before the registration commenced; he
was not elected at the same timo as the chair
man; a clerk had been previously elected,
who declined, and we then elected another;
the clerk was sworn and his oath tilel; l
was sworn before Major Corbin; do not know
whom the others were sworn before.
In reply to Mr. Barker, for protestants After
the votes were counted, the ballots were put
into the box and handed to the Mayor by Captain
Read, one Of tn, other managers; the Mayor
wes in his Office at the time, sitting ut his
table; (witness here identified the box;) placed
the key of tho box in the Mayors hands; the
return handed to the Mayor in y sealed en-.
velope; after We got through counting the bal-
lots We placed them in tho box, which was
locked up by myself IN presence of the other
two managers. and taken possession Of by my
self: then hauded it to Mr. Read; carried