Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-12-19

act as judge of election. L was not at the
election the whole day; was away in the
morning and evening long enough to
open and close the mail-l0 or 10 min
utes. Might have been absent little
while in middle of the day-about at noon
q of an hour. The polls were closed
about at noon-Went to dinner at \. c.
Lindsey's in same house where election
was held. l went to my home, Mcdaniel
went to his. Ny house 30 to 75 yds. from
polls; McDaniel's $50 to 200. Polls closed
during that time; not closed at any other
time of the day. Clerk and judges were
there when was gone. Cannot say
whether the judges absented themselves
during the election. At close of the polls
the ballOt-bOx was left in the room, or
taken by one of the judges for supper.
Commenced counting q hour after sup
per. The box was locked. Clarridge had
key, after the count the box was left with
A. c. Lindsey. 1 never had key for bal
lot-box. Next morning at 10 O'Clock I
took possession of ballot-boX. Ballots
were taken out after election and count
ell, by one of hejudges, J. NJ. Noble and
myself; did not take them off the string.
l was not present all the time. J. NJ. No
Bile was present and Sheffelberger. This
was done i'll my room at Madison Mills,
several days after election. Object of
opening was to see how names were SPELL
ed. Box was kept in room l occupy as
grocery, in corner where postoffice is
kept Box was locked; 1 did not have
key; key that opened box was in c.. g.
LeaveIPs possession; j. NJ. Noble opened
box Monday. Don't know when he got
key. Counting was done on the counter;
number of persons present. When through
ballots were placed in box and locked, and
L returned it to corner. Can't tell how
long it remained in room. Moved Post
office and box to another part of room. 1t
remained there till this morning. Neither
Cook or Smith were present when votes
were counted. Room was locked at nights.
DO not know whether the box was opened
before l gotit. Heard it was, by A. G.
Lindsey and 3. II. Vance. Vance lives
15 to miles from polls.
J. NJ. Noble testified-Was one of the
judges of election in Madison township.
We supposed, under the old law, Sam1
VanPelt was elected. Acted without be-
for dinner, about p hour. G. G. Leavell
furnished key to open box. After count
ing, ballots were put back in box; they
were strung; Mr.. Clarridge had the key;
box was left in house where election was
held; Fl. S. Crow, DR.. j. S. Clark and
Shefelbarger assisted in the recount. I
opened box and called the names; tickets
were not taken off the string, and none
were put on; l strung ballots part of time
at election; at recount could see no indi-
cation of disturbance don't know wheth-
er ballots had been taken out before;
Smith-req quested me to look over ballots.
Mr.. Fulton testi1ed-Live in Madison
township; was at election; was there in
evening; took Noble e's-place and strung
ballots; strung all after l commenced;
left them on table after election.
A. c. Lindsey testiffed-Election held
at my house; was at count part of time
at close; tickets. were put in box, and left
on table; stayed till next day; maybe
day or two; Mr.. Mcdaniel or Crow took
box away to Crows grocery; Mr. Vance
came day or two after election, and he
and J. Vaughn looked over the ballots;
box was on table unlocked; did not take
any ballots off are putOn, or change them,
and put them back in box; did not see
box after; Vaughn supported Cook and
worked for him; 1 worked for Smith
don't know about Vance.
Mr.. Vance testified-Looked over tick
cts with Lindsey and Vaughn; we slid
for Sheriff; no change; ballots put back
in box; didn't count.
DR.. Clark testified-Helped recount at
Crows; we slipped tickets on string; it
was too short and 1 tied string; Grow
and tailed; no change; put back in
box; Crow called Shefelberger when he
stepped aside to wait on customers.
Madison township ballot box produced
and opened by II. S. Crow. Ballots count
ed, showing for James F. Cook 151 votes :;
OsWell Smith 1877; j. F. Cook 2; James
Cook 1 ;. Os. Smith 1 ; o. Smith !; one bal
lot counted for Cook claimed to be James
F. Crok.
VIM. Gordon testified-Live in Wash
ington; am township and corporation
clerk; have ba1ot-boXes of last election; !;
took them next morning after election;
didn' t stay up till the counting was fin
ished; Chas. Bell and S. B. Yeoman,
clerks of election in Western Precinct: ::
Geo. P. Barnes and Hinton Wells Wooden,
clerks in Eastern Precinct. Judges of E.
PrecInct-John Miser, Peter Wendell and
Darius Waters. Judges in w. Precinct
NJ. Draper, Jacob Dahl and VIM. Burnett.
| [ received box of w. precinct from NJ.
Draper; box of E. precinct from John
Miser. Been in my custody since; no
one else to my knowledge; not been open
to my knowledge; ;iaesszEZz1zS 0I1eiiG1on when
received, so far as / know; kept them at
my house; If anything had been done I
would have known it; kept the box in
| the back bedroom of house, on the floor,
! in corner; don't think any one could
have got in there without my knowing !;
| clerks office with B. Hess, undertaken !;
took box from E. precinct up to clerk 5
office; box remained there till evening,
| then took it down home and put it in the
back bedroom. The w. preciI1ct box
took home in the evening and put in the
| same place; my family-wife and girl )
| wears old. Has house been left alone at
| any time?] Wife may have stepped out
| but not without locking house; [ was
called to Circleville two or three times
since election; wife was away one after
| noon, at Holland, last month before
Thanksgiving was at tCircleville, while
she was at Holland; returned that even
ing; house has not been left alone at any
other time that 1 know of; [ left home
then in the morning. Don't know wheth-
er house was locked while gone; have
not looked in boxes-only in one this
morning, to see if tally-sheet was there
it was not; is in clerks office; did no
look at boxes particularly, to see if they
had been removed while l was at Circle
Vile; don't sleep in room where bOXe!
were kept; little girl does; passeC
through the room three times a day
KEYS to ballot-boXes were put in draw
er, in an envelope, and kept there; NJ
one knew they were there but myself
envelope was not sealed; keys are no
alike.
John Miser testified-One of-the judge
of election i'll eastern precinct; lived il
western precinct; was not an elector ii
: precinct where [ acted as judge; was on
of township trustees: [ voted; Jaco
! Dahl was not an elector of w. precinct
Barnes lived in E. precinct, and acted a
: clerk in W. precinct; ballot box of W pre-
cinct locked up and left in Mayors Offic
) till morning after election; turned it owe
r to Gordon.
=. NJ. Barclay testified-The box was o
{. table in the morning, where it was left
2 did not see anything different; don
5 know whether l locked the office, Q
t Mlser; two keys-back and front door
don't remember whether key was in bac
door or not; think l was first in the othC
Y in morning after election; think ballo
: boxes were locked; about 10 a. NJ. whe
S taken away by Miser.
+ NJ. Draper testified-Township trust'
T. and judge of late election; 1 strung ba
d lots at count and put them in box whe