National Republican., 1884-11-05
THE IsEPEATER.
The Methods lie Employs in Order TO
Get I'm His Work.

enabled to make his villainous occupation
pay. There is dim idea that the repeat
ing is done by men who have no resi-
dcnce, and who If cited to appear before
the election com nissionors would DO al
once exposed. Such, however, does moi
happon to be the fact
Those who know, say repeating is Q
systematic game, generally practiced In
presidential years, because then the ro-
wards for 1t are greater. and. in conse'
qnenoe of confusion, tho liability to de-
lection reduced, and that tho repeater, a.
developed in most Of tho large cities Of
the republic is by education and inclina.
tion more or less fitted Tor his work.
A gentleman who was formerly con.
nected with election matters Ia this city,
aud who SIS yet considered an expert In
registration, in conversation with repre-.
sentative of the Bulletin recently, dc.
scribed the manner In which he knew the
generality Of ropeaters carried on their
operations.
Tine gangs Of repeaters," he said. "are
generally organized for gain and not in
tho Interest of tho candidates of any
particular party. There is a heal III
each gang. which is divided into several
smaller gangs, the heads of which arc
II known to one another. These men
consist of the class known among decent
people as bummers, vagrants, and OK
convicts. Tho state prison has no terrJrd
for them, aud whisky aud crime has
generally bunted Whatever sentiments
OF honor they NAV once have possessed.
They are provided with little
money, and aro instructed some
mouths before the election to en-
gage rooms in various low board
ing houses and saloons throughout
the city. They do this by staying night
or two week in each place. and by
giving different names with which thoy
have already been provided. Sometimes
the head OF the gang makes his arrange
ments directly with the lodging or
boarding house keeper to have q certain
number OF men registered from his es
adjustments. In these cases not even n
dummy voter is provided. The boarding
house keeper merely puts in lot OF
beds, hunts up some old baggage to bo
exhibited to seekers after tho phantom
voters, and memories the names with
which he is provided. Any person calling
for man registered at such place is at
onco informed that he has lived there for
years
Tho repeaters are generally told to
distribute themselves about the city, and
get on the register as many times as they
have acquired residences, a d also whore
ever they can make arrangements with
the owner of some house to DO registered
from his place. This registration is done
during the sitting Of tho precinct boards
Of registration. A gang of twenty re-
peaters, under such circumstances, are
calculated to be good for about 200 votes.
If any of them should be detected before
election and cited to appear, the head of
the gang is notified. He considers the
risk, and If the case Is plain tho repeater
is ordered to 90 to the city hall and
swear to his Identification. Ifthe case is
risky he keeps away, and the name being
stricken of by the election board the
vote is lost.
''Another gang is also employed by the
chief of the repeaters to ascertain tho
names, wherever the can, Of all persons
who are or intend to be absent from tho
city on election day. These names are
reported to the head Of the gang, and
measures are taken on election morning
to ascertain If the person really IL absent
If he is the name is voted. Sometimes
the owner of the name returns. Then he
makes tho astonishing discovery that he
rarely occur. as the repeaters are gener-
ally careful not to take as much risk rs
this involves. Similar measures are taken
as to the dead. The head Of the repeaters
keeps list of oil persous who die, and II
their names are not cancelled on the regis
ter they are voted. The same may be
said of persons who are sick on election
day. In all these cases, however, care is
taken that no name of well-known or
prominent man is picked up. as then de-
lection at the polls would be certain.
II estimate that in presidential year,
when the reward for repeating is greatest,
fully 1000 fraudulent votes can be cast in
this city. The repeaters discover very
soon where the sack is, or which candi-
date or party is likely to pay the highest
price for votes, and they generally take
measures to open negotiations In that
quarter"
This same gentleman had not vory
high opinion Of the methods that are
usually taken by politicians to discover
false registration or to root out traudu-
lent voters.
"rhore is an easy plan to find these
fellows" he said, "but it would require
some money to carry 1t out. If desired to
lind them | would engage room some
where, or series of rooms, where there
was plenty of wall space. Around the
walls l would erect series of black boards
upon which l would have drawn a dia-
gram Of each precinct Of this city. Every
diagram would show the sizes of the
houses in it and their character in brief,
with the street number. At each number
there would be a nail or hook stuck into
the wall.
"'rhen would employ q number of
clerks to go over all the precinct registers,
transcribing each name upon cards in
triplicate. Two cards would preserve
for the useof canvassers, and tho third l
would stick on the nail in the wall where
it belonged. After all the precinct regis
tors had been gone over and the cards
stuck up, would then survey the field.
These diagrams would show at o glance
all the facts necessary to know
"A bunch of cards on particular nail
would show at once the presence of lOdg-
inghouses and groggerles, from which
large numbers of men were registered
These would have watched, and if their
character was such as to excite suspicion.
would arrest the proprietor and compel
him to produce all the men he claimed to
lodge in his house. Failing to clear him
self would jug the whole household.
"ln other cases whore the suspicion
was not SO we'll grounded would cite the
voters to appear, and all who did not show
up at the registration Office should bo
stricken from the roll. The repeater
would probably appear once, but not the
/icond time, and hence you would dis
cover tho falso names and wipe them out.
81 think this plan in the hands Of a
vigorous man, determined 10 do his duty,
with fhfl tinn If fba Haaant nnli l.
ticians Of Oorh the leading political
parties who desired fair vote, and with
a public opinion strong enalgh to sustain
tho movement, would entirely purge the
register of all persons not entitled to
vote. At present the right Of man to
register is guarded with the most scrupu-
lous care on oil sides; it appears to be
nobOdy's business to look after the inter
ests of the $4,000 or $1,000 real citizens of
this city who are robbed of their rights
evory year by tho gang of repeaters who