The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1870-01-20
THE sCUaE-FENDLAY CASE.
The Seat Given to FindIay.

We gave, last week, an outline of the
features Of the Findlay-ScuIl contest,
in the State Senate, in reference to the
p;'inla .facie right 10 the seat in that
body for the Twentieth Senatorial dis
trict, composed of the counties of Bed
ford, Fulton and Somerset. The whole
case, in a nutshell, was just this: The
return judges of Somerset county had
refused to count the voteof Allegheny
township, in that county, because the
return Judge for that township brought
to their meeting the tally paper, in
stead of the return. The district return
judges, however, counted the vote of
Allegheny township. If the vote of
that district had been rejected, Scull
would have been elected by IL MAORI
tv. 1t was counted and Findlay was
returned as elected by D majority
The question of the power of the dis
tfict return judges to count the vote of
Allegheny tp., was argued at great
length in the Senate, and finally, on
Wednesday evening of last week, the
sense of the Senate on the subject was
tested by a vote on a resolution to adj
NIT Mr.. Scull to the seat. The resolu-
ti0n was lost by a tie vote, 10 to Is, two
Republican Senators, Messrs. Billing
felt and Lowry voting with the Demo-
coats against it. The effect ofthis vote
was to rule Mr.. Scull out of court, and
to leave Mr.. Findlay as theonly claim
ant to the seat. Accordingly, on the
next day the latter was sworn in and
now occupies the seat.
The reader must not understand from
this that the matter has.come to an end.
No sooner had Mr. Findlay taken his
seat, than Mr.. Scull filed a petition set
ting forth an undue election and claim
ing that Mr.. Findlay's majority was
made up of illegal votes. The former
contest was rs to which of the two was
to be given the seat pri0'a .facie, that is
on the face of the returns. Now con-
test is to be made winch involves an
inquiry into the character of those re-
turns and the legality of thevotes cast
for the respective candidates.
This investigation will be very eX-
pensive one to the taxpayers, witnesses
will be required to attend at Harris
burg, and much work will have to be
performed by the Sergeant-at-arms of
the Senate and by the committee
drawn TO try the case. Why Mr.. Scull,
who now holds an Office the salary of
which is much greater than the pay of
a Senator, should be so anxious to get
into the Senate as to rake over the dis
trict for a few illegal votes, seems an
enigma to some people. The reason
for his persistence in the matter is well
known to the initiated. 1t was part
of the contract b tween himself and
Cessna, when the latter obtained Stutz-
mans withdrawal and arranged the
nomination OF SculI, at Philadelphia,
that he tSeull) should resign the As
sessorship of Internal Revenue in or
der that Cessna might fill the office
with a franklin county man. There
are at least two Franklin county poll
ticians who demand this Office at the
hands of Mr.. Cessna. One of them is
Mr.. Cook, of the Repository, the other
is Mr.. Ritchey. 1t is this Franklin
county pressure on Cessna that is driv-
ing Mr.. Scull up TO the work Of con-
testing F'indlay's election. The Phila-
delphia bargain is TO be carried out,
which cannot be done if fScull fails to get
into the Senate.
There can be no doubt Of the fairness
and legality of Mr.. Findlay's election.
There were, we are satisfied, more
illegal and fraudulent votes polled for
Scull than for FindIay. But these votes
must now be oscertoiaed and prOred. =
II Democrats will exercise but ordina-
ry activity and care in looking up such
votes, We have ne doubt that a suffi-
cient number can be found to swell Mr..
FindIay's majority, to at least one hun
dred. W., therefore, cdH on the Gctire
Democrats ia each and eUery election
district in the counties Of Bedford, FIi-
ton and .Sonae,set, to gather at the infor-
nation Hey Gun obtain il, regaTd 10 Hle-
qqt Republican r0tes cast at the tate elec-
ton, and forrard such information al
once, by letter, to Hon. Hiram F6ldlGy,
Senate, Harrisburg. The names Of per-
sous under the age of 81 years, or per-
sons not having paid a State or county
tax assessed within two years next pre-
ceding the last election. Of persons not
having a legal residence in the election
district, or in the State, at thc'iast elec-