Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-10-21
Shall Forgery Be Endorsed?


Shall fraud and force at the polls and the
forging of election returns be the methods Of
insuring success at Ohio elections? This is
the issue before the voters of Ohionow. The
Democratic party maintains the affirmative
of the proposition, the Republican party de-
clares in the negative At last falls election
the Democrats in Cincinnati and Columbus
perpetrated the most outrageous crimes
against the purity of the ballot. By stufing
ballot boxes, forging election returns and
debating to Democratic judges decisions that
the work of crime could not be undone which
were subserviently rendered, the Cincinnati
band of criminals succeeded in securing seats
in the halls of legislation for the benefciaries
of these crimes. Investigation proved that
the crimes had been committed, that the DEM
ocratic candidates for representatives and
senator's from Hamilton county had been de-
feated by the vote of the electors and the
Republican candidates elected
Following the principles of law and justicI
the benefciaries of crime would be ousted
from their stolen seats and the men honestly
elected were seated. Every possible obstacle
was thrown in the way of the onward march
of justice by the attorneys and representa-
tives of the organized band of Cincinnati,
who claimed to be the Democratic party, but
were but portion of it at that time. Dem
ocratic senators deserted their posts of duty
in the senate chamber and fled to other states
to prevent the consummation of justice, but
in vain. Time passed. The scoundrels who
perpetrated these foul crimes against the
elective franchise were prosecuted. Nine Of
them have been convicted and sent to the
penitentiary. More are to follow.
1t seemed impossible that the Democratic
party as body could uphold these crimes
and denounce the Republican officers who
were instrumental in undoing the work of
the criminals and seating the men honestly
elected. Yet it has done so. 1t has COM
mitted itself to the cause of crime, has con-
demned those who rooted out and punished
crime by depriving it of the fruition of evil
interests. The campaign of the Democratic
party has been opened by John F. FoIlett,
the recognized attorney for the leaders in the
unlawful attempts to realize the fruits Uf
these crimes, ard in sounding the keynote of
the party for this campaign, he declared
against and denounced those who have ex-
posed, defeated and punished the criminals,
and declared that in doing so they had COM
mitted an outrage, fractured the constitu-
ton and done other horrible things too nu-
merous to mention
He placed the Democratic party unequivo-
cably on the side of the forgers and ballot
box suffers and committed it to their de-
fense. The party had already committed it
self to this position by the denomination
of Martin D. Follett, one of the Democratic
supreme judges who had decided that the
work of the forgers should prevail The
issue is clearly made The Republican party
willingly accepts it and stands as the de-
fender of law and justice, of purity at the
ballot box, of an honest election and a fair
count, of the honest recording of the fair
count of the honest ballot, and calls to its
ranks all honest men of all parties and be-
seeches them to aid in rebuking crimes
against the election franchise and TO make
impossible for all time the subversion of the
will of the people of free government to the
criminal manipulations of organized despera-
does.
Honest Democrats cannot vote with their
party this year without aiding it onward to
ruin and destruction. The criminals must
be repudiated and driven from the control of
the Democratic party, or it is irretrievably
and forever lost. They can be choked off by
the overwhelming defeat of the party this
year. Democrats, aid us in purifying the po-
liticaI atmosphere of Ohio, by voting the Re
publican ticket, condemning forgers and
sending them to the penitentiary, and by so
doing you will aid your party to escape from
its criminal associations, which now con-
troll it.
Here is an issue paramount to all others.
The criminals must be rebuked and their
work repudiated, or free government is at
an end, and the forger can take the reins Of
government and drive whittier his evil pas
sions suggest. Elsewhere we give succinct
history of the crimes in Cincinnati and Co
lumbus.
xro,, NVho nasarva