Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-02-17
THE FINAL SCENE.
The Will of the People Formally Rat.
q. flied by Congress.
COUNTING OF THE ELECTORAL
,-,, ----' VOTE.

o'clock, Wednesday, February 9th, and
as the hour of noon approached, made
! necessary arrangements for the impor-
taht event of the day. In the House but
i little attention was paid to the matter
under consideration (the Legislative and
|. judicial Appropriation bi!D, and the
noise and confusion in the galleries.
made the transaction of business very
difficult At ten minutes before ~ reg
ular business was suspended, and Mr..
Singleton Immediately offered resolu-
ton extending the privileges of the floor
to ladies not able to secure seats in the
galleries. which was adopted. Quite a
large number of prominent men occupi-
ed seats on the floOr of the House, Secre-
tary Evarts and Attorney Gen. Devens,
ex-senator Fenton, Mr.. Rogers, the
Presidents private secretary, and Gen.
w. c. Preston, of Kentucky. Alex. II.
Stephens, in his small carriage, occupied
the usual place, and was not the least
object of interest to those i'll the gale
ries. Immediately previous to the en-
trance of the Senote, Speaker Randall
announced that the three rows of seats
on both sides of the House were reserved
| for Senators. fs la .ya... ..s ...
1t was five minutes after II when the
Sergeant-at- arms of the House announ-
ced-".The Vice President and the SEN
ate of the United States" The senate
rial procession marched slowly up the
| center aisle to the seats assigned them,
the members of the House remaining
standing as it passed. The Senate was
preceded by Sergeant-at-arms Bright !
| Vice President Wheeler and Secretary
Burch were locked arm-and-arm, and
were followed by Senators Hamlin and
Thurman, the tellers on the part of the |
Senate. The mahogany boxes contain |
ing the electoral votes were carried by
the venerable Isaac Bassett, who has
performed this service for more than
quarter of century, and were guarded
by four special policemen. Then follow
ed the body of Senators in pairs.
Vice President Wheeler, as presiding
officer of the convention, occupied the
Speakers chair, Speaker Randall occu-
pying a seat OH his left. Messrs. Ham
lin and Thurman, and Messrs. House
and Crowley took their places at the
clerks desk, with tally sheets before
them, to record the vote of each State as
announced. After the convention had
been called to order by the Vice Presi-
dent, and its object explained, the States
we re called in their alphabetical order.
commencing with Alabama, when the
proceedings of the electoral college of
the respective States were read, togeth-
er with the certificate of the Governor
of each State appended to il. The tell
ers took their turns in the reading of the
documents, Senator Hamlin reading
that of the State of Alabama. The
tellers, except Mr.. Thurman, read only
the Governors certificates; but when his
tnrn came he read through all the pa
pers accompanying the certificate.
After the vote of Georgia was read
(the reading of the certificates in full
being demanded by Mr.. Springer, the
Vice President said: 1t appearing from
the certificates just read that the vote1
of the State of Georgia was cast on a
day other than that fixed for casting
such votes by act of Congress, in pursu-
ance of the Constitution of the United
States, the result of the certificate will
not be recorded until, in the language
of the concurrent resolution under
which this count proceeds, it appears
whether the counting or omitting to i
count such votes will change the result
of the election"
ANNOUNCING THE RESULT
During the reading of the certificates
conversation in the hall was general. As
soon, however, as Senator Thurman rose
to announce the result of the count, ev-
cry voice was hushed, and the deep 81
lence was not broken from that time
until the dissolution of the convention.
Mr.. Thurman said: "The tellers report
that the whole number of electors ap- {;
pointed to vote for President of the Uni :
ted States was 369, of which majority {
is 1856. Were the votes of the electors !
for tie State of Georgia cast on the sec
ond Wednesday of December, 1880,
counted, the result would be: For James
A. Garfield, of the State of Ohio for {
President of the United States, 2 votes;
for Winfield Scott Hancock, of Pennsyl- |
vania, for President of the United States,
I55 votes. If not counted, the result
would be: For James A. Garfield, for /
President of the United States, ,214 votes, {
and for Winfield Scott Hancock, for {
President of the United States, 144 votes. {
In either event, James A. Garfield has {
received majority of the votes of the {
whole number of electors appointed"
Mr.. Thurman made similar statement
in regard to the vote for Vice President, ;
the only change being in the names
THE VICE PRESIDENTS DECLARATION.
Vice President Wheeler at once made
the following declaration:
Wherefore, do delare that James A.
Garfield, of the State of Ohio, having
received a majority of the votes of the
whole number of electors appointed, is
duly elected President of the United
States for four years, commencing on !
the 4th OF March, 1881. And l do fur {
ther declare that Chester A. Arthur, of
the State of New York, having recelv- I;
ed a majority of the whole number of {
electors appointed, is duly elected Vice
President of the United States for four 4;
years, commencing on the 4th day of
March, 1881
The announcement was received with
applause on the Republican side, and in
the galleries. The convention then dis
solved, after being in session one hour
and forty minutes.
Upon the reassembling of the two
houses, in their respective chambers,
the report of the tellers was sub [
mitted and ordered to be spread on the
journal of each house. A concurrent
resolution was offered in the Senate by [