Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-09-27
Judge Taft at Akron.

was crowded to overfio wing, and tn
many good points OF the discourse wer
heartily applauded. The following
the speech in full:
FELLOW CITIZENS There are som
points, at the present time, In tn
| principles respectively advocated b.
the two great parties of the State il
| which they concur; nevertheless, ther'
are important differences which forn
abundant reason for voting the Repub
/ iican ticket. It's nay purpose thi'
evening to present some of the reasons
why You should vote against the Dem
publican ticket. = H ult b d at.
In,the first place the Democratic
party has failed TO appreciate and De
feud the right of suffrage. n lis plat
form lately adopted at Columbus, II
resolved that "the Registry law framed
by the last Legislature is burdensome
and expensive, and discreminatf un'
justly against the poorer class of voters
and etherefore demand IFS immedi.
ate repeal" Ohio has been late In the
adoption OF Law requiring the registry
of the names OF its voters. The history
of the frauds upon the ballot box in the
last few years shows the occasion q
the enactment of such law in Ohio as
well az in other States OF the Union.
1t has been found impossible in cities,
especially in large ones, to detect the
frauds which could be and have been
perpetrsted upon the ballot. .-.. 5....
Fraudulent voters, unknoyn to The
judges of election, challengerS. and
officers, can come to the polls, falsely
answer The questions which by law
are required TO be answered, vote, and
depart without detection. The same
unknown fraudulent v9ters can, under
other names, at the polls in another
precinct, perform the same feat with
out detection, aud this fraudulent re-
peating process has been carried on in
and perhaps in other cities, to an ex-
tent which would be Incredible, but
for the fact that it has been established
proof. In the great election of 1876 eX-
tensive frauds that had been commit
ted at the polls in Cincinnati were more
carefully Investigated than the frauds
of any former election, and the public
miud became convinced of tiagrant
violations of the right of suffrage at
that election. l had, personally, oc-
casiOn to examine the proofs, ami assist
in bringing to justice some of the Of
tenders. Ephraim Holland, Charles
Young, and several others who had
been indicted for fraudulently voting
in Cincinnats, had escaped and gone to
parts unk nown. and it became my du-
ty, in the position / then held, to en-
ploy some of the best detectives in the
Department of Justice to aid in ferret
ing out, arresting, AMI bringing back
to the Jurisdiction of our court the Of
tenders. They were found, brought b *,
tried and convicted, and in the investi
CATION it appeared that more than 800
votes had thus been fraudulently cast
by several gangs of repeaters in Cincin-
natl for the Democratic nominees;
enough to change the results, and cause
several Democratic candidates to be de-
clared elected. instead of the Republi-
cans who had received majority Of
legal votes; enough to give the Demo
Gratis one, and probably two, members
of Congress to which they were not en-
titled.
How many illegal votes were cast by
the other gangs of repeaters we cannot
know. We only know that ether
gangs were at work. The public mind
was thoroughly convinced that the re-
ports of frauds in former elections, in
the same city, in the interest of the
Democratic party, were true, although
they had not been detected.
Many witnesses were examined in
the contest of Cox against Harmon,
who had taken mis- seat as Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas, after the said
election. The testimony was vOlumin-
Gus, and showed great many more
fraudulent votes for the Democratic
ticket than were necessary to seat Judge
Cox and unseat Judge Harmon. Eph.
Holland, to whom / have referred,
after his rearrest and return to Gincin-
natl. was examined as a witness in the
case, and although he had friends in
the business whose names he declined
to give, his testimony was racy and
significant, and to any fair minded
man entirely satisfactory as evidence
of enormous frauds, making the nu-
merous other witnesses to the same
general effect quite superb Ious.
Ephraim was a character. A native
of Cincinnati, little more than forty
years of age, by professional gambler,
with a good deal of shrewdnesS and in
telIigence, with sufficient knowledge
of law to know how to evade and es
cape detection in the violation of its
provisions, and without embarrass-
ment from conscientious scruples, he
was retained by the managers of the
Democratic party. He says, in his te5-
timony, that he had been in New
York, sometime prior to the election,
but "that he was requested to return to
Cincinnati before the election, and re-
ceived as many as dozen telegraphic
dispatches to that effect" He declin-
ed to give the names of the persons
who telegraphed him. He was asked
whether upon his return to Cincinnati
he took an active part in relation to the
election, and answers: II did, sir.
Also, received letter while in New
York City, from very eminent parties
here, that wished to see me very
much" The letter had been destroy
Ell, and would not give the name. He
was asked: SAT whose request did
yon take an active part in the said
election ?" He answered, "At the So
licitation of most of the candidates-in
fact, nearly all the prominent politi-
clans of the Democratic party" On
further inquiry, he gives the names of
several well-knOwn candidates which
it is not necessary that should repeat.
He, however, gives many significant
interviews and says he told New
York gentleman, who gave him about
81 900 that any part he took in politics
was moneyed consideration with him,
and that he expected to be well paid.
He tells how he received about $4,000
from different persons, and how others
received money, and how he placed
some of that which came to his hands
as a direct compensation for repeating
and voting Illegally. He was asked:
"What was the service that you was
to render to the Democratic party for
this money; what was the kind of ser
vice ?'
He answered, swell, was to look
to their interest. 1 was notified al