Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-05

A legislative committee in Maine, having
after some difficulty obtained possession Of
the original returns upon which Governor
Garcelon and his fellow conspirators conduct
ed their fraudulent canvass is making Sc
ries Of highly interesting discoveries. When
the lawful authorities moved into the State
House, the returns were missing A long
search resulted in finding them hidden on top
OF 9 tall bookcase in Gov. Garcelon's private
Office. With the help of these documents
the testimony of various town officers, and
the confessions of several of the persons en-
ployed in altering figures, forging signatures
and executing other details of the plot, the
committee seems to be collecting materials
for most sensational report.
The plea put forth by the Governor and
Council in excuse for their action was that
the law required them to throw out all tech
nically defective returns, and that there was
no warrant for correcting clerical errors and
informalties by the town records. 1t is
shown however by the returns that such cor
rections we're made whenever they were ne
oeasary to elect a Fusionist. For example,
ia the town of Buckfeld there was a Fusion
majority of 1872. The town clerk and select
mon all acknowledged that in making up the
returns they forgot to fill the blanks for the
MUmth VI Tue lOWu uuO county, anu Wutu inc
document reached Augusta there was moth
ing to show whence it came. The defect was
applied, however, by some person unknown,
and the votes were counted. The same thing
was done with the returns from the Green
back town of Brownfeld. But whenever sim
liar errors were committed in Republican
towns, Gov. Garcelon pronounced the re-
turns fatally defective" In the same way
mistakes in the spelling of name, or the
use of a wrong middle letter, were corrected
after the returns reached Augusta when the
change was necessary to elect a Fusionist,
but the most rigid technical accuracy was ex-
acted in Republican towns. The use of dit
TO marks instead of figures was one of the de-
feGts upon which Republican returns were
Thrown out; but il appears from the testi-
mony that when the same irregularity was
found in the returns from the Fusion town of
Jonesboro, the papers were sent to the town
clerk, and he was instructed to make out
fresh ones. Mistakes in adding up the total
number of votes were held to be fatal when
there was Republican majority but in the
Democratic town of Addison the clerk testi-
fes that he made the blunder of adding to-
gother the votes of two candidates ON the
same ticket, so that the total number of bal
lots appeared to be 46S when it should have
been 300, and he was afterward required to
make new return under threat of losing his
Office if he refused.
But besides these evidences of unfairness
there are disclosures of positive fraud. In
.one case blank return appears to have been
substituted for the paper actually sent. In
lincoln County, Andrew II. G.. Smith, Re-
publcan, was elected by majority of 1863
over Isaac T. Hobson, Democrat. A whole
town was thrown out, but after tabulating
the returns it was found that Smith still had
23 majority. A letter of instructions accom-
panied by a blank return was thereupon sent
from the Office of the Secretary of State TO
the Town Clerk of Somerville, man named
Bowler, and he confesses that he made out a
new return, and signed to it the names of all
the selectmen, none of whom were present
or knew anything of the transaction. In this
fraudulent return the name of the Republi-
can candidate was purposely miswritten, An
drew 4. r. Smith, and his votes were con-
sequsntly thrown out, the tabulation being
changed to correspond. The testimony of
the selectmen who signed the original and
Genuine returns shows that the ballots were
eorrectly cast and counted for Andrew Il. g..
Bmitb, which was the true name of the can
didate the town records show the same
thing and the alterations in the first tabula.
ton are plainly visible. 1t would not be sur
prising if criminal prosecutions of some of
the Fusionist politicians should follow the
Legislative inuuiry