New Orleans Republican., 1873-06-27
A New Ballot Box.

A ballot box has been patented in Eng
land and the United States, and is now be-
| ing brought to the attention OF the authori
ties of States and cities. By the application
OF two simple principles. which will be ex-
planned, absolute safety against the opening
OF the ballot box. except by the authorized
parties, has been secured. Nobody can get
into the box without leaving the plainest
evidence of violence to betray him
behind him, and the coliusiOn of an impos-
slble number OF persons is necessary to effect
an entrance to it, beside which every one
of them would betray himself in the effort.
This invention does not. Of course. prevent
fraud. But it requires any fraud perpe-
trated to be done either before the ballots
go into the box, or after they come out. in
the counting of the votes Frauds OF that
kind are preventable by vigilance. The
kind which has been nearly always success
fully committed when committed, has had
to do with stutfing the ballot boxes. tor
which end they have been opened with du
plicace keys. Access to the contents of
this ballot box is obviously impossible, as
we will show; so the chances to commit the
kind of fraud known as ballot box stutfing
is out of the question.
Let US explain. The box. as now exhih-
tied. is of sneet iron. the material easiest
for transportation. The boxes can be made,
however, of glass, or of any material
thought best. The box is an ordinary cube
in form. the top side being the lid of tin
caddy. Internal shoulders run from all
sides to the top Of the lid. On the front
side the lid slopes, and on the slope are the
very simple but perfectly secure fastenings.
Upon this incline which the lid makes is a
sliding panel, shutting with catch. and
openable by a provision on the handle OF
the key. When the panel is released or slid
from its position covering the key hole.
square of thin glass, about seven-eights OF an
inch by One-sixteenth thick, is slipped into
a "snug" which it accurately fits. The
panels there are three) are then shot back,
at once fixing themselves and the seals. 1t
is now impossible to insert the keys in the
locks without smashing the seals all to
pieces, and flaw in any one would show
that tampering had been attempted. II
these seals were imitable, their likes could
be substituted, but they are inimitable, aud
are rendered SO by the fusion of red and
white glass blown into sheets or panes.
On each sheet, while in a fresh state, Is
spread paper ruled into squares. On each
square devices of any arbitrary kind are
then penciled. Removing the paper, as
phaltum is applied to the glass surface. 1t
eats away of the red glass pretty much all,
except where the devices are penciled.
Those il leaves intact in red, with here
and there q separate, eccentric streak OF
red, different in every case. These squares
are then cut by . diamond and become tie
seals. The seals are photographed, and.
while the same process gone through with
would not produce any such seals at all, the
photographs OF them preserve their resem.
blance intact. These photograph are
posted on the pages Of little blank books.
and one book containing the seals on each
box at polling place Is given to the officers
of election, to each candidate, or to the
representative of each, or of each commit
tee. Every book holder thus becomes a
check on all the rest. If the seals are
smashed that shows. If the seals are
changed each book shows. And without
smashing the seals no human being can get
into the box except by breaking the entire
thing all to pieces. The panels thus COW
cred by the seals fasten the lid and box TO-
gether by screw on the inside, just as the
knives of jack plane are screwed together.
Mr. Henry Marston. the patentee, and
resident of Washington, though citizen of
New York, patented this arrangement in
England last spring. He took the box to
the office of the London Times in the fall.
That paper stipulated in advance Of MOTTO
ing the box that it should be given over to
the custody OF experts whom it picked for
three months, to see if they could get in.
side the box without breaking the seals.
Two hundred anG fifty pounds were put
inside as an incentite. The experts tried
for the time specified, and could not
break the seals, and could not make
others just like them for substitu-
ton. On December G. last year. the
Times stated these facts in an exceptional
and quite favorable article upon the inven.
ton. Since then the box has been patented
in the British empire and the United States,
and as heen exhihi TO the authorities of
several cities and Of the District Of Colum-
bia, securing from all attestation of its
complete security and admiration for its
simplicity. Its general introduction, indeed
its compulsory adoption by law. is only a
question of time, because it entirely neu-
tralizes ballot box stuffing. and by so much
lie about the best aid to pure politics and
free government which mechanical genius
has yet supplied to the world.