, 1876-04-16


Whenever any town shall fail to elect the prope
number Of town oticera to which such town may .
entitled by law, OF when Any person e4scte0 10 Sn
sha happen ID any town from death, resignation, n
mos1 from the town, other cause. shall 10 Jaw
fui tor tho Justices Of the Peace ct the town. togehe
| With the Supcry1sor and Town Clerk, to du sho W
cancy by appointment by warrant under their nam
| aud seals; sad tho paraons 70 appointed aaan ao4
their respective Offices during tho nnssplFed @ term
| eso.-Seo. 81, page LOTS, Rerssed autute*.
The first duty OF the Board ~ appeared o'
the face OF the statute, was to inquire into th
question as to whether = case had arisen upo1
which tho Board should act. This WAS simply {
case for the Court to inquire into it's own ju
risdiction. 1t frequently happened that Court'
mere required to determine their oVn 3urisdic
ton, and that they bad the right to do 80 wa.
for the first time, so far aa he had ever heard
! now for the first time called In question
The statute included hreo cassea OF cases "hsreiI
the Board should act. Tho. first clause ststed 1hs
whenever = vacancy happened BY reason Of deatl
or removal, the Board hhould, y etc.
Tho nezt case was "whenever any person elected to
town Office ahoud fail to quality, tho Board should
ETC.
Suppose it was represented that person who had
been elected to town Office had removed from town
must not the Board inquire whether tho man had re-
moved uot7 Suppose HAs represented that John
Doe, who had been elected Assossor; WAS daad Wond
1t not be the duty OF tho Board to inquire into thu
matter and eco whether not he dead So, with
tho Same reasoning II elected 10 torn otace
should fall to qualify, must not tho Board ask about
Carrying it still further, the speaker saId when cii-
appeared before tbs Board and said that tlera
Of the Board to inquire into the matter 1t was rep
| resented by the Committee that
] THERE Had BEEN FAILURE
to elect town officers, and thsJ s1ksd that the Board
proceed to elect. What was tho objoction7 One Of
tho Justices Mr. Heoch, bad 1t the beginning Of the
meeting demnuaea the residing Of tbs minutes Of tas
aTT1{f1j NA had
said Here Ia q record, signed by the proper Off
cals and you cannot go back Of It and tmpugn it.
threshold By stating that the record not only false
but fraudulent He would undertake to shor that Il
such record exaed it was fraudulent, aud mast not
| be accepted by tbs Board. That MAS tho end for
which evidence had been introduced to ahow that no
such election recorded in the minutes had taken
p!ac.. Gentlemen had come III and testified
that ballots legally cAat haa not been counted. Yet
with all this unlnpeached testimony, all that any nan
had to do tn order to ugee the Court out Of its in-
qriry to tat there vas record and the Court
! could not 60 back Of itl
Suppose IN election had regularly held the
bAllota after being cast were lost in transmission to
the conntlugpae Set according to this reasonias
soc Town Clerk could make up fictitious returns and
claim that these RETURNS could not be Investigated
and the Court weuld b thu, whseasa @ oa OF its
suppose there had bean forgery In making up tho
returas, what should be done7
Gleeson-Hang ths 1nan that did It, tLoud ap-
p!ause]
protect their Jurisdiction and would not allow frauds
to to ptactcod npon them. Now what sort Of record
had the Clerk got here Justice Meech had saf that ho
anxious to bring these acounarels to 1usca The
not r,cord cor Of eettue Of ths Town Board but Of
= town-meetiug. What had the Board to do with
townmsetings? The minutes Of the town-meeting
we-e simply evidences and on level with tho evidence
which Mech sought to exclude. But what did tho
3 statuteE Aay about the record7
before ths t 1i M aaE b. .e .t shs AZ
oath faithfully and mpartia1y to diacharga the duties
Of spcn ofce which oath may be administered By thu
Town Clerk Or Other proper odiear- Sec. 81, pase
The clause required that the Moderator Of the town
meeting be sworn, aud tbs record failed to show that
the Moderator was ever aworn. -
4leeson-You haye my Evidence
Yes sid the speaker but the people hzd hid enough
hera vas ths d..syes.ole spectscl. d man sitting IN
Judgment
ON MS OWN oAsE.
9loeson-1 shaIl sit longer Jet. snd don't propose
Tbs speaker said that he vss very psacesbo gsntla
man, and didn't sesre anvbody.
Gleeson-You can't do 1t it you want TO-.
The minutes did not show, further, that the votes
wero counted dinerant d&Js There was nothing in
tbs statute to SHOW shat tho counttng OF the votes
could be strung along any length Of tmo convenient
to the Canvassiug Board The statuts said that the
votea should be counted Immediately. He would quo.e
@After the m opehins of tho pos no adjournment sh.
b had, nor shal any receHs b. takent until al tho
votea cast such election snail hare bean counted,
The Iegaature contemplated the possibility Of bal
1ot-ho1 stufhng, but that bslot-boxcs should b4
robbed they hAa evide1tly bad no idea. ine Leg
isl2turo had evidently hzd no experiences With Town
Boards,
Tho minutes further showed that regular election
was held The evidence introduced had ahoNn that
votes never reached the Oanvasaine Board.
The Town Clerk, If thero bs one and he is present
shall zct clerk Of the meeting, and shall keep faith
full minutes Of the proceedings in book to be known
the town record, in which he shall enter at length
orery order direction. and ali rules and regulations
=! sp9n te Mn'ea Of abs
poqs 1077, R<t5s<d Statutes.
There vas no signature Of the Moderator attached
to the record - required BY Law, And thaefors the
record was illegal.
THOMAS L. MORAN
then addressed tha Court aud said that the records
il produced not and hence salus1eas. In
the Pounsylranla caso cited. The Commonwealth vs.
Jones the facte rsaemoled n an details those With
characterized. The Court decided that no election
held, and the County Commissioners were obliged
to appoint the ofceE. The case 3s Barber. New York
ReporD relAted to an election called by two School
Trustees to elect third The election wss held and
the result was contested It went TO the Court OF Ap
pea1s and the Court decided that the election
legal in every In another caae three Jue
uccs OF The Peace elected Constable the people hav-
over contested The Court decided that ths appoint
tuent uads by the Justices was Judicial and Iegsi
act.
such \ discrepancy betwaen the ballots and the poll
lists that uncertainty e1sts eNeh election becomes
failura and 1t Is the duty Of tho Appointing Board
to appoint snd il the Bosrd beieve rhat there has
been failure to appoint IL their hounden duty to
do 10.
GLEEsON HEARD 5uoaL
Mr G1ceson jumped mp excited1y and said that some
of the gentlemen present csmo to him like whipped
dogs and begged him to resign, and offered him 81 $50
to do 20.
TIE HON, LEONARD SWEET
said that no We-uded citizen should ask violation
of the law to put and to the situation in which the
town is placed The facts prove that David Thornton
derived his power as Moderator from riot. It IL
proven that Mr. Hoyna elected Moder1tor bnt was
not declared by Mr. 9feeson. Such by itself would
only bo m itregularity; but 1t is portion Of plot
to perform fraud. The testimony elected during
the course Of the investigation wu then reviewed st
length, showing tho fraudulent progress OF tho e1sc
ton from its beginning until tho concluson OF the
count.
The inference fs irresisfabIs that the ballots
counted were the ba1lots ssutfed md not the ones
voted. This makes m uncertainty and failure TO
elect. Alr. SWEET hers cited tho Laws governing the
ya1ous kinds at election frauds to show that where
town officer commits fraud in the counting Of the
ballots, his certificate is worthless.
The result OF declaring this election to h4ve been
failure will bc to appoint honest to tho Offices In
ths South Town. tLoud spplause.l i de tacto OIL
GERS official acts binding regars third parties.
II the men who think themselves the 1ightfuI pos
Of the offices want to get possesHion, they
11ust apply for writ Of quo waEzznto. Let them do
20 and the public will then how much attention
tho Courfs will Pay 70 the candidates. for Office armed