The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-12-26

Gen. Francis c. Barlow, the Republi.
can Witness, says the Returns
gave the State to Tilden.
From TIE ", Y. Herald.
New York, Dec. Is, 1875.


My DEAR
certainly thought / had made my own
opinion clear as to the points Of contest of
which protested to have knowledge. A
little calculation would have shown what it
was. On the face of the returns the vote
was:-Hayes, "a, 1929; Tilden, 24,2S7.
Certain additions and deductions were
agreed on unanimously by the board,
which we may assume to be correct.
These conceded changes left it-Hayes,
24,287; Tilden, 24,438 Then / should
have thrown out 2l9 Republican votes 10
Archer precinct, No. 2, and also Friend
ship Church precinct in jackson county,
as majority of the board did, They also
rejected CAmpbellton Church precinct, in
this county, as to which do not know the
facts, but will assume that it was rightly
rejected, as it does not alter the result to
which should have come,
The two last precincts disposed of III
Republican and 436 Democratic votes, and
deducting these and the 2l9 in Archer
you can get the following result
T1lden. 24OO2
Hayes'.'..'...' 3,S47
Tilden's majority ......................... SO
l should have come to this result after
passing upon all the cases before the board
except Hamilton county. 1t is this county
which causes the only doubt l have about
il.
The official minutes of the board, as
published in New York papers of Deem
Der Is, state that in some precincts Of
this county name not givenl SO Demo
cratic and So Republican votes were thrown
out do not know the ground, but allow
ing it, you still have Democratic majority
of 80. Then comes Jasper precinct No.
6, where the vote was Democratic 1913,
Republican lS5, as returned. About this
case know only what appears in the
minutes Of the board and in Cowgill's let
ter and Cookies protest attached to my
report. The irregularities complained of
abandoning the canvass when half fn-
ished, and turning it over to two lawyers
who completed it the next day., would
justify the throwing out of the whole re-
turns; but what am in doubt about is
whether the inspectors were Republicans
or Democrats Cooke says in his protest
that they were the former, and Cowgirl
and the minutes say nothing about it. l
have heard, and Cooke also says, that they
made afhdavits in aid of the Republican
contest, and, if so, l presume they were
presumed that In the return as made they
looked after the interest Of their own party,
and at any rate | do not think that a
Democratic majority should be thrown
out because of Republican wrong-doing.
if such were the case. If this precinct
be rejected it would give q Republican
majority in the state, otherwise not, In
the latter case the Tilden majority would
be so small that perhaps some of the Re-
publican contests which the board did not
stop to consider probably because the
majority had been reached on other
grounds) would haye changed the result il
passed upon.
But there is no use in specializing about
this, as the case must be considered as il
was made up by the board. Leaving ou
Jasper precincts, we see therefore that, il
my opinion. there was Tilden majority
even conceding that Campbellton and tht
first named precinct in Hamilton county
should be thrown out, which | do not SAL
was rightly done. l certainly have ha(
my doubts as to what my own opinion wa
except as to this precinct, upon which i
happened that | did not know fully wha
the evidence was: hut as i do not hav
the assurance to put my own opinion
above those of the board upon question
as to which there w&s conflicting evidence
l was not willing to give my own view
without at the same time giving the evi
dence, and hence my report was IS
long"
| am not unwilling to express m
opinions, nor do l object to having any on
to whom they are Of any consequence
know them. Yours truly
FRANCIS G.. BARLOW.