, 1876-12-20

Of the Sonth-Town Collector IN not only
prominent instance Of unblushiug cheek, but
it aptly illustrates how soon tho people at
large forgot, and even sometimes forgive,
wrong which has been imposed upon them.
It was only In April last that the people Of
the South Town Of Chicago held IN election,
elected honest and trustworthy officers, and
thon had the results changed right under
their very eyes. Thoy saw the swindle per-
petrated, saw how It was done, aud who did
it. There were witnesses who detected some
of the scoundre1s coming out Of tho va,,|t
where they had been robbing the ballot
boxes. There wore witnesses who saw them
take dozen Of ballot-boxos, In the face of
protest and without law, dump their con-
tents in pile on tho table instead Of count
ing zach box separately, which was done to
prevent detection Of tla rasoaliy frauds TINT
had been practiced In seyeral Of tho pre-
cinots. The villains who manipulated the
contents of ths boxes abstractcd tickets
by the handful. aud, in replacing
others to fill the vacancies by guess, did not
put back within 1900 ballots tho number
tA0J 0eV40 WV VI tAt OVAE6* A4GA NV hAV"A Il
to be candidates at all were found to bs
elected, and mon who werc recu]ar candi-
dates wero found to have only handful of
votes. Republicans known to bo elected by
lcayy majoritias were found to bo defeated.
There mover was bolder or more shameful
frnud practiced at an election, even In tho
worst tlays Of Tammany. Public indigna-
tion roao to white heat, and the first senti-
lnent was to hang the scoundrels to the near-
cat lamp-posts. Tho citizens met In COM
mittees, and met en- nnsse, and Issued their
indignant protests. For a time It looked ms
it the Understanding and allot-box-stufnng
eonspiraciea had been defeated. Some of
the bogua-clect resigned, another was baf1led,
third failcd 10 get Ills hands on tho assess.
ment books, a fourth, by tho aid Of unscru-
pulous attorneys, got his bogus olaim into
court on technical grounds and carried
it up before Tho Supreme Court, which
rendered decree or Judgment which In ef-
feet upheld tho Original election fraud, to tho
disgust and chagrin of the honest public
The same Court had previously upheld the
validity Of tho charter election, which was
carried by Tho most unblushing ballotbox-
stuf3ng. Appealing to the Supreme Court
to purge elections OF frauds haa been sue.
oessful business. And now comes MIKE
EVANS, ono Of tho bensticiaries BY the late
decision, who well knows that be waa not
elected, but beaten by majority Of thou
sands, and Tint he ran considerable danger Of
being "bulldozod 10 a lamp-poat by the
outraged rotera He haa tho imputlence to
demand the Collectors office, for which he
was defeated, aud that in the faoo Of Tue
allegations publicly made against him
that he is defaulter to the amound
Of $4,000 on previous collections,
II ever man displayed m adamantine
cheek 1t is tha "1teformer Evans, And
yot tie people have Gained down aud nearly
forgotten all about 1t, and his impudcnt,
brassy demand fails to create ripple OF
popular interest. Is It owing to tlo fact
that honest and law-abiding people arc hope.
less Of ever getting their election rights In
the Courts Is 1t that, between bnllot-box.
stutiing on tho one hand and tho combina-
ton Of courts aud officials against them on
the other, they are In utter despair, and are
convinced that they ore at the mercy Of cor
rupt bun,mesa past all holp from so-called
justice? The people should not settle down
in such hopeless conviction. They n,ay not
be able to eject those who atolo tue town
Offices at thu Inst election, but they eau
prevent repetition OF tho fraud next
spring BY making the proper effort. At
least, they can give the thing another trial.
Meanwhile something can bs done this win.
ter By the Legislature to improve tho
wrctched "Town" Board system In this city.