St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-22
THE SPHINX COUNTY WAR.
Both Sides Well Satisfied with the BE
sult-Ashton's View Of
the Case.
Especial Correspondence to GiObel

The wandering books and papers are back
/ in their places; the hole that was battered
into the side Of the county building By the
ambitious party that made the raid is plas-
tered up; the county officers are on routine
duty, aud undlsturbed blackuess again
broOds over the three frame buildings that
constitute the capitol of Sphinx county At
Ashton Frequently called New Ashton) the
Gag flying in the frosty air signifies the salts
faction at the result. The grim smiles that
tighten up the countenanees of the late far
mer warriors OF the county, and the hearty
hand shAkings among them As they meet in
this lively berg, testify to the general unani-
nifty Of sentiment on the subject
As the vindietiveness Of feeling
has subsidized enough so that in
telligible and not entirely biased information
OF the facts that brought about the trouble
can be obtained, brief statement of the
same may be Of interest to the readers of the
GLOBE On the organization Of the county
10 1873, Old Ashton was made the county
seat by the board of county commissioners.
Since then two elections have been held for
the relocation Of the county seat, in Nov.
1850, and Nov. 1884.
The county seat war was caused by a dis
pute over the vote that was cast In 1850. In
that year four towns entered the contest. Old
Ashton to hold her own, aud Frankfort,
Redheld aud Ashton TO try their strength.
243 votes were cast; Old Ashton receiving
IL, Frankfort "a, RedHeld 90 and Ashton g.
no town receiving the majority necessary to
effect a So -
four years ago has never been questioned
until since the election Of 1884. At the re-
cent election 2, s24 votes were cast, 955 for
Frankfort, 1856 for Redaeld, and 743 for
Ashton. Again no aspirant obtaining
enough to take the mantle Of government
from Old Ashton The last campaign was
extremely bitter. Personalities were freely
INDUCED in, and after the election the charge
was made Of ballot box stuffing and repeat-
ing On the 18th Of November last there
was gathering Of citizens from all parts of
the county to witness the official canvassing
OF the election returns. II was on that day
that the poll bo1ks Of the election of 1850
we're pulled from their musty places and the
discovery made, or pretended to be made,
that the vote OF that election had never been
correctly counted, that Redheld had received
l53 OF the 243 votes, and had been in fact
the county seat since that time. No record
| of the vote was found on the books OF the
county clerk. The poll books alone appeared
to be the only evidence bearing in the case.
The mat,er-Of-eoursed emeanor OF the Red
held adberents was noticeable, and the aston
ishment Of every one else was great. Sew
eral old settlers were present. and their ire
was unbounded. SIT didn't matter how the
books showed now" they said, ''they
knew how those books summed up once, and
they knew that no town had a
majority Of the votes'e 1t was Redield
against the field. The stauneh claims of the
former we're met by the promise that the adj
verse end of the dance would be kept up in
good shape If it was intended seriously 10 lay
claim for the county seat or the election OF
1880 A lively dance was made OF It, as has
become well known. A prominent feature
OF the situation was that none of the county
offices recognized the claims of Redheld, at
least not openly, hence II was impossible to
get the records removed to the latter place
by any show OF authority. The following dav
petition was presented TO the county board,
calling for an investigation of the alleged
mutilation Of the records, in pursuance of
which committee was appointed and a
hearing set for the 9th of Deeem Der, TO take
such testimony as would be volunteered, the
intention being upon obtaining sufficient
evidence to commence an action for the pun
| ish ment of the culprits. Meanwhile enough
Of the voters OF 1850 made affidavits stating
how they voted at that time, To cut the num-
Der for Reddeld below the majority mark,
and several important papers bearing
on the subject were unearthed. Al
together 1t seemed to be a clear
case Of tampering with the records, and there
was a general eOmplacency Of feeling over
the sure prospect Of laying out the aggressive
town. But It was preparation before the
hare was caught.
On the eve Of the investigation the situa-
/ ton underwent a sudden and mysterious
transformation, upon which light was soon
shed by letter from the mayor OF Redfeld
to the register Of deeds, announcing that the
records OF the county had been.discovered p
in the city hall of Redfeld, that the property
was carefully in charge OF the city authorities
and requesting the register Of deeds TO pro-
coed TO that city and resume the duties Of his
/ Office. The register went not, but majority
Of the board Of commissioners did, headed
by the deputy sheriff, who was provided with
a search warrant.
1t Is needless to say that the books were
not obtained from the crowd of armed men
by whom they were guarded. On the
morning of the second day after
that, the now famous "Spink county
mob' made its visitation upon Redfeld.
The party demanding the restoration Of the
records was made up from the best of the
citizens Of the county, many Of the largest
property owners were there and not the least
vehement among them were men who had
worked earnestly in tue interest of Redfeld
/ during the late c4mDaign. But the ener
getic managers at Redield again had a check
mate In readiness in the shape of an iniune-
| ton from the Judge Of the circuit court tenn
| porarily restraining the removal of the books.
It was a critical moment The besieging
party believed that the injunction could have
been obtained only by the most reckless mis-
/ representation, aud upon the first impulse
there was a general demand to charge upon
the town aud rescue the books at all hazards
But cooler judgment prevailed and the crowd
dispersedto await the course Of the iniunc-
ton.
| No further approach by armed men was
made against Redheld. The excitement,
however, was intense for full week, and
the threatening and censure usual at such
times were not lacking on either side.
The pOssessors Of the books realized the
temper that had been raised and called
Justify for military protection. The judges,
upon hearing the evideEee, dissolved the in
junction promptly and issued an order for
the return OF the records to old Ashton. The
militia arrived for the defense of Redfeld in
| time to escort the records out of the city.
Report sayeth that no Red6eld man was
visible at this stage of the proceedings By
| The cnnrt.sr Of q u Prinr tho t.