Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-07
STIR IN THE FOURTH DISTRICT.

A. w. COrker to Contest the Election of
Magistrate WOOdhOuse on the Ground
Of"Fraud, megality and Non COmpli-
ance with the Law"
The election for Magistrate in the
Fourth district will be contested by
Augustus W. Corker, who was defeated
by W. Ii. Woodhouse by about 343 votes.
Mr.. Corkerwas asked by News reporter
yesterday Cd what grounds he pro-
posed to make the contest. He
replied: Il have employed Mr..
W. Fl. Clifton, who will probably be as
sisted, if necessary, by other counsel TO
look after the matter, and letter was
mailed to Gov. Mcdaniel yesterday, CIV
ing a statement of the case, notifying him
of my intention to make the contest and
requesting him to withhold the commits
sion OF WOOdhouse until the questions in
YOlVed could be passed upon. A telegram
was also sent to the Governor the same
day giving notice of the contest, the mail
ing of the letter, and stating the
grounds of the contest, which are
fraud. illegality and noncompliance with
the law. The election was one of the
most shamefully conducted ever held in
this county, and many negroes stood
around the polls for hours and repeated
their votes. This can and will be proven.
In the next place, large number of per-
sons voted who are not registered. l con-
tend that no one has right to vote for
Magistrate any more than he has for the
highest county officer unless he is regis
tered. claim that the party voting should
live in the district for which the Magis-
trate is chosen. Why does the law require
the Magistrate to be resident of the dis
trict if it does not intend that the citizens
who elect him shall also be residents of
the districts The law requires that the
polls shall be kept open continuously on
the day of election from I O'Clock IN the
morning until O'Clock in the afternoon.
At the election in the Fourth district
the polls were closed about 1890 O'Clock
and kept closed until a few minutes be-
fore O'Clock, during which time the
manager of the election refused to reopen
the poll, although numbers of legal
voters came during the recess to vote
and reluctantly returned to their work
without having an opportunity to do so.
When the polls were closed after II
O'Clock less than 800 ballots had been ast,
hut when 1t was re-opened about 2o'clock
the numbering of the ballots was in the
neighbOrhOOd of 600. Now will any sane
man pretend to say that the closing of
the polls was not illegal, and that there
was no fraud in the numbering OF the bal.
lots during the moon recessP l returned
to the poll while it was closed and asked
the presiding manager why it was not
open. He replied that it was closed with
the consent of all the candidates. All
the candidates?' 1 exclaimed, why there
are but two candidates for Magistrate
WoOdhoVsa and myself-and / protest
against the authority of any one presum-
ing TO close it, These are some of the
grounds upon which the contest is based
and the questions involved such as the
qualification of voters, their residence
and so forth for Magisterial elections may
as well be settled now ag at any other
time. ! tell you, am not going to be de-
feated except by a full and fair vote and
an honest cOunt.n