The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-03-20
The Curtin-Yccum Contest.
From the wilIlamsport q. a b,

out case against Yocum in the great
contest for seat in the XLVI con-
gress, and everything that would re-
dound to the interest of the contestant
has been made public from time to
time, for the purpose of poisoning the
public mind. Mr.. Yocum and his
friends have labored under some diff
Guilty i'm getting the facts, as proved in
the contest, properly before the public,
because Curtin bought out the Centre
Herald and turned it into the Centre
Democrat, to be run in his own inter-
est. All the other papersin the county,
with the exception of the Bellefonte
Republican, are Democratic, and the
editor of that paper, it is alleged, has
been purchased for a consideration by
the friends of Curtin to maintain en-
tire silence as to the merits of the con-
test. This leaves Mr.. Yocum without
an organ in his own county, and ex-
plains why we hear so little about the
contest on his side. That the public
may be kept advised of what is going
on, the GAZETTE AND BULLETIN has
taken some pains to ascertain the
status of the contest, which it submits
as follows:
The forty days allowed Curtin under
the act of congress expired on Febru.
ary 18th. In Centre county about
1000 pages of testimony were taken;
in Clearfield 500; Clinton 900; Union
200; Mitfiin 100; Elk 300. Curtin
kept two commissioners taking testi-
mony in Centre and Clearfield nearly
all the time, and in Centre sometimes
he had three. Those of his counsel
who had charge of the management
of the finances, say that it cost him
during these forty days an average of
$3.50 per day. During these forty days
Curtin had seventeen lawyers actively
engaged, besides number of advisory
counsel and an additional law judge
going from county to county superin-
tending the work. Seven notaries
public were employed and seven clerks.
An average of six persons in each of
the six counties canvassed the various
voting districts in search of fraudulent
voters and irregular election boards.
They were assisted by two detectives;
one of these confined his investigations
to Centre county; the other, Captain
Clark, " workedn Clearfield county.
Besides these, there were a number of
persons in each county serving sub
ppnas. Each commissioner had
sergeant-at-arms, a cashier, a "coach-
err" or preliminary examiner of wit
nesses, and two or more counsel. With
such machinery did Curtin during his
forty days struggle to overcome Mr..
YOcum's majority of 70, and take his
seat in congress to represent district
that two years ago gave Mackey Dem
ocraD majority of 500.
What has he shown? His own
counsel have conceded that they have
clearly proved only u illegal votes
polled for Yocum. They allege, how
ever, that they have successfully at
tackled two election districts, viz: Ben
ner township, in Centre county, that
gave Yocum 13 of majority; and
Woodward township, in Clearfield
county, that gave Yocum 81 of a ma
jority. All the testimony in reference
to these districts has been submitted to
the highest authority at the federal
capital, and that authority has decided
that the poll of these two districts can
not be thrown out. However, to guard
against all possibility, Mr.. Yocum is
calling each individual voter, who
voted for him in these two districts, to
prove his qualifications and for whom
he voted, which will set allquestion as
to regularity at rest. In the former
district, Benner township, Curtin al
legged that the poll should be thrown
out, because the election board was not
sworn, and for the additional reason
that some thirteen fraudulent ballots
bearing YOcum's name had been put
into the ballot box after the polls had
closed on the evening of the election.
A breeze was stirred up, few days
ago, when two members of the election
board of this township-both Demo
crats-came on the witness stand and
produced all the ballots cast at the
election, and also, the Is fraudulent bal
lots placed in the box after the polls
| closed both these Democratic election
officers, whose names are James p.
Roam, clerk, and William Searson,
inspector, swore that the 13 fraudulent
ballots were Curtin tickets, and not one
of them bore Yocum's name; and
further, that there was not a man in
the election room that evening VhO a0as
not q Curtin Democrat!
Mr.. Yocum's counsel have been
taking testimony for the last week and
have already proved within II as many
individual illegal votes as Curtin has
proved during his 40 days. Mr.. Yo-
cum is confident of doubling his re-
turned majority, by proof of individ-
ual fraudulent votes for Curtin.
The contestant, by his counsel and
assistant, has resorted to many things
very unprofessional and unmanly, and
to say the least discreditable to the
'great war governor" and eX-ministeI