Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-01-08

flimsy and contemplate imaginablel
For instance, the Senator chosen from
his county, George FL. Wakefield, was
refused a certificate because the Clerk,
in making his certificate to the poll
book, made the III, the middle letter
in his name, as many people do, by ma
king two perpendicular lines and hor-
iZOntal line across them, thus, -, and
the learned Governor, who is Doctor
10y profession, and his Council decided
this H was an a. because the tops of
the perpendicular lines were i'm this in
stance, closer together than they were
at the bottom And this they did in
the face of the affidavit of the Clerk
that he intended the letter for an H.
and usually made his HIS in that way.
Portland, paying one-eighth of the tax
of the State, is disfranchised, and this on
the year when the real estate of Maine is
to be valued, because the clerk in one of
the wards, in his returns, entered, "scat-
tering votes" So many, in cases where a
few men not candidates were voted for,
as is common in Ohio, after the certifi-
cate had stated how many votes each
candidate had received.
Pennington was thrown out because
the Governor and his Council came to
the conclusion that it was impossible
for there to be more ballots for all can
didates, than the votes received by any
particular candidate, mystery which
an inspection of the ballots readily ex-
plains.
Skowhegan was thrown out because
the tickets were printed in two columns
instead of one, a matter of which the
law says nothing; and this too although
the Republican candidate had large
majority.
The towns of Lisbon and Webster
were thrown out because the Governor
and his Council had a suspicion that the
names of the select men and Clerk, sign
ing the returns, were all written by the
same hand and this too notwithstand-
ing these selectmen and Clerk have since
appeared and made oath that each sign
ed his own name.
John Burnham was refused certifi-
cate because the silent letter 81 Was
omitted in the certificate, where his
name was spelled Burnam, tho the pro-
nunciation of the name was not in the
least affected by the change in the or
biography, and they issued certificate
to his opponent, Alfred Cushman, whose
name was sometimes spelled Alfred and
sometimes Afford Oh, consistency.
what a jewell
These are not all the cases of rejection,
but they will suffice to show the wicked
ness of these villaiRous wretches who
perpetrated a crime without a single
parallel in the history of our country /;
and a crime which was deliberately plan
ned and adroitly executed, with full
knowledge of its magnitude and perfdy.
And they did it without giving any re
jected member of either House an Op-
portunity to be heard, refusing to make
any correction whatever in any return,
when there is law in this State au-
thoriZing the Governor and his Council
to correct all errors in accordance with
the facts, so as to give to each candidate
the votes that were intended to be cast
for him. This law the GoyeanOr and
Council declared unconstitutional on
theif Own motion, witL,lt taking the
opinion of the Supreme Court on it, as
they were authorized by law in this
State to do.
And strange to say that " lille they re-
jected 81 Republican members of the
Legislature, all of whom were elected
by clear and undssputed majorities, they
did not reject single Democrat or
Greenbacker in the State. 1t i. claimed
by the Republicans, and not yet denied
by anybody, that they met in secret ses-
sion and corrected, and had corrected,
the returLs showing the election of Fu
sion candidates before the returns were
shown to any one.