Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-03-19
INTIMIDATION.


INTIMIDATION.
1t appears that many of the voters who
cast their votes in favor of the sitting men,
Der were inundated and coerced into doing
so. The testimony of Albert Church [pp.
224, 227l shows that the railroad hands who
voted for Washburn, at Crookston, told him
that they were compelled "to vote the way
their boss, the railroad company, told them
to-" = = "they had to vote the ticket
of their own boss.'' They were led up in
body to the polls [p. 226] by their foreman,
Jacobus, and he gave them the tickets they
were to vote. Many of these men were
Democrats, [p. 224] and would prob
ably have voted the Democratic
ticket if they had been free from the coer-
cion of the railroad company. In Minneap-
oils this
SYSTEM OF COERCION AND INTIMIDATION
was carried out systematically. The testi-
mony shows that the employers of labor in
that city united to raise money to buy votes
for Washburn [page 23l circular was is
sued by the chairman of the Republican
county committee, urging business men to
lay aside their business and devote one day
at the polls [page 1861; large numbers Of
employers of labor, including many who
usually took no part in such work, were at
the polls working for Washburn Up. 10Gl;
the workmen were sent for and brought to
the polls by their employers and ballots
were there placed in their hands, folded, and
voted by the employees without being opened
[p. 1OS the employer or his foreman follow
ing them to the polls to see that they deposited
them [p. 81; many of the employees de-
clared that they believed they would lose
their means of subsistence if they did not
vote for Washburn p. 1l0l; the employees
of the North Star Wooden mill
WE'RE BROUGHT TO THE POLLS IN SQUADS
by the son of the proprietor, Philip Gibson;
when FREUD of contestant tried to give
these men ballots, Gibson jumped between
them and tried to force the canvasser away,
declaring that he had brought the men there
himself, and that most of the workmen
voted as their employers wanted them to Tp.
96I. The foreman of this mill told one of
the workmen Ip. 81 that an employee of the
mill had, OF previous election, voted in op-
position to his wishes, and that he would
take the same man to the polls the next day,
to wit, to the Congressional election in cues
ton, and if he did not vote as he wanted him
to he would discharge him. When Witness
es were called by contestant from among the
employees of this mill to testify in this case
the said foreman followed them to the no.
tary's Office and remained there while they
were testifying Up. 9Sl. "The workmen in
the Minneapolis Harvester works who were
known to be Washburn men were carried to
the polls and returned; while those who
could not be induced to vote for
Washburn were not allowed to
60, unless by losing their days
work, and probably their situations, Tp. 9S.
In one case, a witness, workman in a fur
niture shop, swears that he was suspended
from work the day afber election because he
had voted for Donnelly, and because it was
reported to his employer that he had ex-
pressed the belief that if Donnelly was
elected the workmen would get better wages;
ten days after election he was finally dis
charged, [see PIP. 1912. 1t appears that
''the vote CT the city was very light. =
large number of workmen did not vote at
all. They were afraid of losing their Jobs if
they voted for Donnelly, and they would not
vote for Washburn, [p. 113.P'
NUMBERED BALLOTS.
In seven precincts of Minneapolis the
judges of election placed number on the
back of each ballot to correspond with the
number of the voter on the poll-list. Let
us consider the purpose of this numbering of
the ballots:
At the session Of the legislature of Minn.-
sofa, in January and February, 1873, a
special law had been enacted, providing tha.
In cities containing more than Il, 900 inhab-
itants the ballots should be numbered. This
law applied, and was intended to apply, only
to the cities of st. Paul and Minneapolis,
were the workingmen was very numerous,
and where alone the required population ex-
listed. It was felt by many that the provis-
ion of law was oppressive and unconstitu-
tional, and at the spring election in Saint
Paul, held Immediately after the law was
passed, party offered to vote without -haE-
ing his ballot numbered; he was refused,
and he brought an action at once in the dis
trict court of Ramsey county, in which Saint
Paul is situated, to test the validity of the
act. The court decided, [see Brisbin vs..
Cleary ct al, printed test, p. "a that the
act was unconstitutional, inasmuch as the
constitution of Minnesota, sec. 6, Art. VII,
provides that GALL elections shall bs by bal
lott" that the ballot implies secrecy, and that
this law requires every man "to vote, in
effect, ticket with his name indorsed on it;''
and in case of a contest the ballots are to be
made public. "This law" says the court,
furnishes the means of ascertaining exactly
how every elector voted; that is its achaowk-
edged purpose"
WEIGHT OF THE DECISION.
This decision of the district court of RAM
sey county was the unanimous decision of
Continued on Second Pace