Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-05-13
CURTIN'S CLAIM.
The Contest Called Up In the House
at Last.
DULY ELECTED TO CONGRESS-.
BELTzHoovER's SPEECH IN BEHALF OF THE
Ex.GovERSoR-ILLEGAL VOTES.
Special to the Philadeiphfa Times.


WAsHINGToN, May s.
Mr.. Springer succeeded in bringing 9
the Curtin. Y ocum election case before
the House to-day, and Mr.. Beltzhoover,
of Pennsylvania, representing the ma
jority of the committee, made speech
two hours and half long. in which he
reviewed the legal aspects OF the case in
manner so exhaustive that Mr.. Spring
er, in speaking of it afterwards, said he
would be willing TO rest the case there
without further argument. Mr.. Beltz
hoover spoke with great earnestness, and
he materially strengthened his position
as one of the best lawyers in the House.
lie was listened to with marked atten.
ton, and although his speech was a
cold, legal argument, confined to the
facts of the case, his address was more
than usually entertaining. When he
had finished he was congratulated very
warmly.
cURTIS's CASE.
The testimony in this case covers
forty.two hundred printed pages, Mr..
Beltzhoover said, and invokes questions
of law, the consideration of the new
Constitution of Pennsylvania and its ap-
plication to elections. These legal ques.
tions have never received the decision
of the Supreme Court of the State and
therefore must be argued as original.
At the general election in 1878 there
were two candidates for Congress in the
Twentiath district. Curtin was the
nominee of the Democrats and Yocum
of the Greenback party. The Republi.
cans made no nominations. In the
years 1874 and 1876 this district went
Democratic by upwards of five thousand
majority. In the election for Governor
in 1878 the Democratic candidate had q
majority over the combined Republican
and Green back vote. In the last elec.
ton the result showed an apparent ma.
jority OF seventy-three for Yocum out OF
a vote of thirty thousand. Curtin con.
tested the seat on the ground that
Yocum's friends had ignored the regis.
try law. This law requires all voters to
be registered sixty days before election,
and any person neglecting this duty
must file his affidavit and that of anoth.
er citizen of the precinct attesting his
qualifications to vote. These affidavits
must hBpreserved by the election board
and returned with the other election
papers and filed in the Office of the
Prothonotary for examination. All vot.
ers whose names are not on the registry
list whose affidavits are not found in
the Prothonotary' Office are held to be
prima facie illegal votes. A large pro
portion of the testimony taken in the
case related to this subject of non.reg.
istry voters.
ILLEGAL VOTERS.
First, there were between one and
two thousand persons voting at this
election whose names were not found
in the Prothonotary's Office and who
were therefore prima facie illegal voters.
Second, there were three hundred and
eighty.two persons who voted at the
election who were not registered, but
who are shown not TO have made the
affidavits required by Law. Third, there
were ninety persons who voted at said
election for Yocum who were not regis
istered and who are shown not to have
made affidayits. These ninety votes
being in excess of Yocums majority and
clearly illegal destroy his prima facie
right to the seat. Mr. Beltzhoover next
cited the laws of Pennsylvania relating
to this subject. They are embraced in
the Constitution OF 1873 and the statute
OF 1874. The State has had four Con.
stitutions-those of 1776, 1889, 1888 and
1873. The provisions of these earlier
Constitutions were found to be utterly
inadequate to secure fair elections and
the demands arose for new Constitu.
ton. In the Constitutional Convention
Of 1873 this subject was fully considered.
The new constitution added numerous
qualifications to the right TO vote and
provided rigid restrictions against fraud
and illegal voting. There II no device
or precaution against fraud in elections
which ordinary ingenuity can suggest
which the trainers of the CONSTITUTION
have not fixed therein. The Legislature
Of IA passed The present Law. This Law
il based upon previous acts and IL, in
fact, supplemental 10 them. This case
turns upon the fourth section of the
act of 1874. Section three provides
that no person shall be permitted to
vote whose name Is not on the list, un-