Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-01-05

D Ai' NNN"NN w. N'f' ~" I y
aud fraud, by counting out and an.
seating Democrats who were fairly
elected to that body.
A case in point, this session, is, ihc
one from the first district, Philadel
phia, where Diamond, Democrat, was
elected over Watt, Radical, by PIG
majority, yet deliberately counted ouI
by the Radical return judges. The
defeat of Watt rave the Democrats 1
majority in the Senate, hence Ia,
outrage was perpetrated upon th,
ballot-box by Geary, Covodo & Co.
to perpetuate their power in tina
body. The fraud is admitted by every
decent Radical in Philadelphia. Al
application was made to the Radica
President, Judge (Allison,) for wri
Of mdaddmus to compel the return
Judges to count the true vote cast il
that Senatorial district, but it wa,
denied upon the ground that it wal
n question of Legislative, and noI
judicial investigation.
After discussion by counsel, Judge
Allison said :-"This is precisely the
same application that was made to me
yesterday, The returns were prima
facic correct, not a forgery. They
may probably be false and fraudulent,
but certainly not forgery. We must
not call things by wrong names, nor
confound one thing with another.
We had yesterday u plain, palpable,
unmistakable forgery but the returns
in question this morning are not like
it. Though us ! say, they may be
false, yet prima tdcie they are correct.
Now the act of Assembly provides a
remedy for wrong like this by Civ.
ing right to contest. We cannot
usurp the rights Of the Legislature
would 90 far to correct this wrong,
which | am convinced it is, bad / tho
power, but there are limits beyond
which cannot go, aud | cannot give
the remedy you ask. This is nothing
else than false return, for which the
law has adopted separate and dis.
tinct remedy"
TO still further illustrate this out
rage, VIC call the following Radical
witnesses to the stand. The following
on "frauds among the return Judges"
we clip from an editorial which
appeared in the Philadelphia Sunday
Dispatch, ("loil to the core" of the
18th October, 1869:
at can scarcely be questioned, by
any one who looks carefully at the
returns Of the election last week, that
fraud has been resorted to in the
Board of Return Judges in order to
give the certificate Of election to the
Senate from the First district TO Will.
lam ", Watt. The district is com.
posed of the First, Second, Third.
Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, aud Twenty.
sixth wards. The return is: For
Watt, Republican, 1906; for Dia.
mond, Democrat, l2,S40. In the same
wards Gcary had 1928 votes or 203
less than are given TO Watt; while
Packer had 1921, or 407 more than
are awarded to Diamond. Now, is
there any reason why Watt should be
more popular than Geary or Williams,
or that Diamond should be more
unpopular than Packer or Pershing Z
The presumption is that the vote of
neither OF these Senatorial candidates
was governed by personal considera-
tions, but was purely political. There
is no reason why Mr.. Watt should r1n
ahead of his ticket, nor that Mr.
Diamond should lag behind The
whole thing has q suspicious look, and
justifies the belief that the return is
gross fraud.
A similar outrage was attempted in
the legislative return for the Thir.
tcenth district The return Judge.
who must have profted by the knowl.
edge of the means by which the Byerly
frauds were pcrpetrated some years
ago, took his returns TO his residence
aud placed them in a book case, from
which they mysterionsly disappeared
before the next morning Officers Of
election usually have good memories
as to the very few figures required in
a general return, but this one had not.
With his certificate he lost bis recol-
lection. He was compelled to resort
to the return filed in the Prothono-
tary's Office, and by most remarka-
bic fatality, that return had been
with and the figures altered,
the Innocent return judge not being
aware Of the remarkable change in
the result, which elected a candidate
whom lac mus, have known was
defeated and, being unable to notice
tho palpable alteration in the figures, |
he copied Off the mutilated return as
he found it. The result would have |
been to certify that Mr. Geisz, Repub. |
Iican, was elected to the Legislature /
instead Of Mr. Forsyth, who had the |
No one with common l
sense viii believe that the election I
officer was ignorant Of the fact that /
Gcisz was defeated. In that case, by /
prompt action, the fraud was prevent 1
I'd, and Mr.. Forsyth received his /
certificate. Ono of the effects of the |
Registry law, We were told, would be /
10 create an honest class Of election /
officers, appointed by the Board Of |
Aldermen. In no case heretofore in |
Ibis city have there been such glaring /
attempts at fraud as have been made |
a the hope Of unseating Diamond and |
Forsyth. If these arc the blessings /
If the new system, the sooner we
return to the old plan the better"
The following editorial appeared in
he Philadelphia Post, on the 18th of
October last. The journal is very
-ddicoi but not corrupt, hence it fire.
luently tells the truth, and on this
testifes against its own