Daily Kennebec journal., 1880-01-01

republican tosn in the class. s:aovs repab-
lican majority of about 90
The democratic candidate, .. Y. Bradbury,
presented an affidavit, taken without notice
to his opponent no q knows when or where,
signed by two fnsioa 1klecfmen Of that town.
Who had also signcsl the offcial return. stat
ing that the vote was not declared in open
town meeting, and that they signed the return
in blank at the meeting and it was hlled IN
Afterwards. This testimony was taken with
no cross-examinafion. and none of the safe
guards which the courts Of Law or the inter-
ests of truth demand. the party affected vas
not confronted with the witnesses. the evil
denee stood uncorroborated. it direct
lv contradicted the express recitals of the re-
turn which these same atlantis had officially
signed. and yet the Governor and Council &C
cept the affidavit ofthe selectmen as true. and
reject their official return as false, in order to
| issue the certificate Of election to . man who
was never elected.
| Sticking for the constitution, they over
ride the return to which the constitution con-
| fines them, and base their certificate on a Sc
cret and erparfe affidavit which the constitu-
tfon abhors-
THE NEWCASTLE DISTRICT.
The four towns of Alma. Newcastle, Noble
boro' and Somerville, together elect one rep
resentarive. By the popular vote in that dis
4 tricf Edward X. Hail. the republican candi-
date for representative. had 535 votes. and the
democratic candidate 326 votes, divided be-
tween James W. Clark J. W. Clark and
James W. Clarke, leaving Edward X. Hall
clear majority of 200 over all Others The
vote Of Newcastle was returned by demo-
cratic town clerk as 23S for +. X. Hall though
every ballot was east for Edward X. Hall,
while the democratic vote was returned as 64
for James W. Clark, though it is known that
| the actual ballots were cast some for James
W Clarke. spelled with an ''e,'' some for
James W. Clark. spelled without an ''e,"
some for J. W. Clark. and some for James
Clark. The record of the town showed the
votes as actually cast: the return did not.
The statute of ls7. C. 2l2. provides as fol-
| lows:
1.-The Governor and Council may receive
testimony on oath to prove that the return
from anv town does not agree with the record
/ of the vote of such town, in the number of
votes. or the names Of the persons voted for,
and the return when found to be err
roneous may be corrected by the record"
This law stands on the statute book unre-
pealed bv the legislature, unreversed by the
court. binding. mandatory on every depart
ment of the government as on every citizen
of the State. Designed to prevent the thwart-
ing of the popular will expressed at the
ballot box. it il submitted that it is not re-
pugnant to. but that it seizes upon and exc
cutes the very spirit Of, the constitution. BY
| it in the case before us all errors in the re-
turns would have been corrected. But the
Governor and Council usurp the province of
the Supreme Court and strike down as un-
constitutional the law that stands in their
G. I'LL A. 1xnI
lots that were cast for Edward X. Hall, and
to count for James W. Clark the ballots that
were distributed among three or four differ
ent names. The returns themselves show
that Alma and Newcastle cast their democrat
ic vote. aggregating l29, for James w. Clark
spelled without an ''e," and NObleb0rO
and Somerville cast their democratic
vote. aggregating 1877, for James W. Clarke,
spelled with an ''e''. The vote would then
stand by the retnrns alone, Edward X. Hall
297, f. X. Hall 23S. James w. Clark l29,
James w. Clarke 1877. and Edward X. Hall,
republican. would still be elected. Having
in the Ashland district before referred to, de-
cided that John Burnham and John Burnam,
idem sonans. were different persons, in order
to defeat republican in that district. they
now decide that James W. Clarke and James
w. Clark are the same person, in order to
elect a democratic representative in this dis
trict. They consistent in this. that though by
opposite means, they accomplish in both the
same end, namely the reversal of the pop
ular will and the the counting in of demo-
cratic candidates.
THE ExErER-GARLAND DISTRICT.
| In the class composed of these two towns
the votes were returned as follows;
Garland, George s. Hill. rep. had 2ll
Francis w. Hill, fusion. had ia
Exeter, G. s. Hill. rep. had 1872
F. W. Hill, fusion, had 22O
On the vote as actually cast. George S.
Hill had decided majority, and not ballot
was thrown in either town for either G. s.
Hill or +. W. Hill. Again refusing correc-
ton. and violating the plain letter of the
statute Of 1877. the Governor and Council
counted the candidates as four different per-
sons. and sent the summons to F. W. Hill as
having the largest number of votes
Their wanton disregard Of law reached this
remarkable result, that a certificate Of cleo
ton was issued to a mythical F. W. Hill. for
ichom not one man IN the rhoie district had
rofed and was taken away from the post Office
and will be presented to the legislature, by
Francis W. Hill. the defeated candidate. He
called himself two persons in order to get his
certificate from the Governor: he reduced
himself to one in order to get the same GER
tificate from the postmaster.
The GoULDsBORO' DISTRICT.
This district is composed of several towns
and plantations and elected Oliver P. Brap
don, republican, as representative. Every
town except Gouldsboro' returned its repub-
lican vote as cast for Oliver p. Braglon. In
the Gouldsooro' return the finished middle
letter p. had a line dropping down from il
like the last loop of letter B., thus-P
Tie letter was evidently intended for a p
and was left as a p, by the clerk and to avoid
the possibility of mistake, the downward
mark had been partially erased 50 that il end
ed some little distance above the line.
Yet in spite Of this evident intention
and Of the formation Of the letter itself the
Governor and Council DENYING to 2O7 voters
even the poor benefit of doubt. removed the
entire republican vote of the town from Mr.
Braglons column. disfranchised 2O7 citizens
and counted in democrat who was never
elected.
The WEsToN-HOpGDOy D1srRIcr.
This district composed of several towns
and plantations in Aroostook county. elected
Frank c. Nickerson. republican. for represen-
fative. But the town of Weston returned 43
I yofps fpy EpauE N;cIa~.o-