The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1881-01-15
FRAUDULENT REGISTRY LISTS.
Commissioner Bond Gives Some very
Plain Statements in Regard to Them.

United States Commissioner G. Morris Bond has
filed his opinion in the of the United states
against L. A. Pennington, register for the Second
district of Kent county, dsmissing the case. The
accused was charged with having refused to strike
from the registration lists ninety or more names
alleged to have been placed thereon Illegally -
The Commissioner states that this was Penning-
toms first experience register, and that at the
first he appeared to be acting consclentlousiy AT
the request of the United States supervisor ne
struck off, without objection, number OF names
Indicated as improperly on the lists, among them
several which proved to haee been lmprovldently
| removed-one a man who was shown to have been
living in the immediate neighborhood OF the regis
ter-who does not seem from this fact to nave peen
very familiar with the small territory en-
braced in his election district, and who, Tor TINS
and other reasons apparent from the testimony,
| was by no means htted ior the lhPortan' PoSi''on
| which he held.
After the error in striking off the names referred
to- several local politicians, men of the same party
with the register, appear on the scene and warn
Pennington to cease striking names at the request
IF the supervisor "or that he would get himself
into trouble" This warning coming, from so emf
nent a source, seems to have had such an elect
upon the register that afterwards he refused to
strike off any names except where the PROOF was
so overwhelming that even his admirers thought
he would be safe from trouble.
It's hardly necessary to say that the lists were
not very thoroughly revised under this ruling
From the evidence before me L have little doubt
that these ninety names are with few exceptions,
those of persons never legal voters, or who had
not for years been legal voters in Kent county
How these were originally placed upon the regis
try lists or who put them there did not clearly APP
pear in evidence; but the only theory which would
seem to explain their presence is that the former
registers in pursuance of system of fraud, which
experience in those election cases teaches me has
mot been confined to Kent county, entered them as
, voters through the use of illegal transfers.
The Commissioner further says that he has rea-
SON TO believe that such names, so fraudulently
placed upon the lists of voters are but in few IN
stances voted at elections supervised by the gov
= eminent, but edo full service for repeaters at al
state elections and are especially valuable at pri
marios, to which ever ring happens at the time t'
have control of party machinery. BY unscrupu
: lously voting these THOUSANDS of illegal names l
is an easy task to carry the primaries, and IN thu
present condition of politics, thus control the stat
> and municipal government How long the homes
e voters of the dominant party will submit 10 tnl
- remains to be seen. Having therefore arrived a
10 the onnon that almost if not all the ninety name
presented in this case to be stricken OFF were name
~ Mt that time illegally the registry, 1t remain
- to be determined whether such names were to b
90 kent upon such list by the guilty intent of the reg
~ lister This intent is difficult to show, and do nc
think from the evidence before me that it was show
- so clearly as to justify the large expense to u
- government of bringing the matter before tn
~ NJ grand jury -,
VI He then thoroughly reviews the evidence in tn
N case, together with the causes which probably lie
the register to refuse to strike the names objecte
to from the list, and concluding, said: Il sha
therefore with reluctance dismiss the case, expires
~ ing, however, my earnest hope that the next Sc
VI sion of the General Assembly, instead of placing
- premium on ncompetency and fraud by payir
the expenses of derict registers, will devote son
no portion of its time and attention to passing re
~. n istry law which will give less temptation to asu
80 and more carefully guard heinterests OF the leg
VOTER