The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-07-14

Make No DiRtrcncc-Great Latitude 10
be Taken in Constituting the La'r-1he
Ttcine Seal-Thc Judge Reserves His
Decision, &C., &C., dc. ....
The case Of George Chahoon and others,
contesting the right to office Of Henry 4.
Ellyson and others, known for weeks rs tie
" contested election" case, closed in the
Hastings Court yesterday, and the opinion
of Judge Guigon may be expected in day
OF two. The courtroom was fuller than ut
any time since the heated term, and the
proportion of white men was larger. A
mistake of an hour in the time of meeting
gave the audience that length of time to cool
their heels and talk over the situation be-
fore the court met. One citizen wanted to
know if the decision of the Judge was in
favor of ElIysOn would it be any harm to
Z" hollcr." Sergeant" Dudley presiding on
this point, decided that to holler would be
illegal, and referred the inquirer to Sd
Starkey on Evidence, p. 213. At this point
and before the presiding Judge could de-
liver 4 further opinion, Judge Guigon en-
tered, and this interesting legal point had
to be dropped. Some time was spent i'll
calling the grand jury and sending them to
their room, when, after snme other b,isi-
ness, the court announced itself ready to
hear the
ARGUMENT OF JUDGE ROBERT oULD.
DIr. Ould gave history of the books re-
turned from the third precinct of Jefferson
Ward, now in court, and of the assaults that
had been made upon them by the other side.
He was sure, whatever had been said, that
whoever really ardnted to find out the truth
nj, RI
come TO these books. It was the courts
duty to look at them in that spirit. The
books were intended for one single return,
furnish intrinsic evidence OH their face Of
il, and those who believed otherwise
wanted tn believe 80. If the fact comes to
the knowledge of the court that this is one
return. that is sufficient. lie claimed that
according to the 9th section Of the election
law nothing else was considered aS Gre
turns" but the certificate, and the certifi-
cate should he so deemed. The commits
sioners OF election had no right to look
further than certificates. 1t made no diff
ference to them what tho names or figures
on the poll-listS were. ...- ..
lie held that the court had right to in-
yestigate the returns in every respect, to
test their integrity. .-.
THE ABSENT JUDGE.
With regard to the absent Judge, the
other side must show what number of
votes were cast during the hour he was alb
sent. Ii they prove that we will give them
every vote polled in that hour. ChahoOn
had 2S3 majority ut that precinct, and it
was impossible that number of votes could
have been cast i'm an hour, or two hours
either. Strike off all that might have been
poled and it leaves Chahoon majority.
The Judges of election have judicial and
ministerial duties. Their judicial function
consisted Of passing on vore when it is
challenged, and "Sw0rn - is marked Op-
posite the name of the voter if his vote is
accepted. Now. there is not Il single
"Sworn y appearing on these books, show.
ing that there was 40 necessity for all three
judges to he present in their judicial capa
city. I'm their ministerial capacity-that is,
| in receiving n ballot-it was not required
that all three should be present all the time
Mr.. Crump: Why, the words Of the law
are that the voter shall hand his ballot tic
two"
Mr.. Ould: admit that the law contem
plated that three judges should be present
but it does not make it necessary that they
should be. lie contcndcd that though there
were two windows for receiving votes it
did not separate the Judges so as to prevent
their consultation. Even in the weighty
matter OF making n will, while 1t is pre-
scribed that it shall be attestcd before two
witnesses, it is not necessary that the two
witnesses shall be in the same room.
THE TwINE SEAL.
lie could not sec the great importance
given to the seal OH the returns by the
other side, and claimed particularly be.
cause the court had decided that they could
not go into the investigation Of frauds. Ii
had been shown on oath here that the re.
turns had not been tampered with, and the
substance had thus been shown to have
been secured though the form had not been
followed.
If he understood the decision Of the
court it was that any inquiry might be made
into frauds except rs to how Il man voted.
The Court Suppose q judge had taken
ballots out Of the box, would it be neces.
sary for the compliments to show before
me that enough had been taken out to alter
the election?
Mr.. Ould Not Of necessity. There can
he no fraud perpctrated under your Honor :
decision but the false pcrsonation of 4
name. Your decision does protect that,
but goes not one step beyond. 1t was lncunl.
bent on the cOmplanants to show that the
irregularities complained OF might have
caused them damage. Where the returnsare
defective, not in form, and altogether void,
it was the duty of the court to 90 behind
them and 90 into the election to prove or
disprove them.
Mr.. Crlmp: We are cut off from show
ing how the result would or might have
been affected by the law-that is, the law OF
Virginia !; and the quotations which have
been and will he made from authOri.
ties of other States do not apply here. We
desire to prove that certain voters who
voted at the third precinct were not good
voters, but we are debarred from il. Votes
might have been polled at one window
which the very judge receiving ballots al
the other window would have known were
bad if he had been there (as he ought tC
have been) and seen them.
Mr.. Ould: Wen give wider ground than
that. Giving you every vote that coulC
have been p0llcd in the one hour, yet Cha
hoon would have had 81 majority. In 9
case where party got 5000 majority, ant
IL was proved that 200 of these votes were
illegal, would any judge set that election
aside when the candidate had 4,800 ma
jority outside Of the 200 votes declared lille
gal?
Mr.. Neeson Yes; but you are proceed
ing on the assumption that the election wa:
conducted regularly the other eleven hour:
in the day. .....
LIBERALITY IN CONSTITUTING THE LAW.
Mr.. Ould went on to read from 14th Bar
bour, ut considerable length. cases in which
il was decided that the court had great lati
tude to decide whethera law was directory
or mandatory, and especially in election