The Portland daily press., 1886-03-12
THE couNT-ouT.
A Statement from the Hon. George
WaIker-The Text of the Letter He
Wrote to the TabuIatcr.

To the Editor Of the Press:
At the time of our State election, Septem-
Der, 1879, l was Mayor of the city of Port
land. The next day after election the Mayor
and Aldermen made to the Secretary of State
return of the result of the votes. In that
return the scattering votes were grouped and
returned as scattering persons voted for
not named Some time in January follow
ing the Hon. Joseph A. Locke desired of the
Mayor and Aldermen a certificate showing
the distribution of the 50 votes returned as
scattering to the several persons named in
the ballot We did so. Mr.. Locke and |
agreed as to the nature of the certificate, that
it was explanatory merely.
A few days later Capt. Chase called on
me and informed me that one of his asso-
ciates, John B. Foster did not understand
the effect or purpose of the certificate,
whether it was to be taken as return or as
explanatory of our September return, and
asked me to give him a letter to Foster as to
the legal effect of the certificate given Mr.
Locke. ] did deliver to Chase for Foster a
letter, of which the following is copy as
near as l can ascertain:
men touching the return of the votes Is in
the nature of a deposition Its purpose is
not to correct the record of the election re-
suit, for it is not competent for that purpose I;
there is no statute authority for it; nor is it
a corrected return. We have no statute
authority for correcting the record of the
city of Portland nor is it a corrected return
of the votes to the Secretary of State, be-
cause the return can only be corrected by the
record, and the record cannot be corrected
at all .
The above is the only letter l ever wrote,
touching in any way, directly or indirectly,
the count-out of 1880. No opinion was called
for or given except as to the validity of the
certificate given Locke. How then is the
count out at Augusta endorsed?
| am induced to give the above copy and
explanation because Capt. Chase, since his
return from Washington, the Mecca of his
political fortunes, is reported through the
PRESS to have stated that | am a candidate
for his office, and that he has left the origi-
nal letter, of which the above is copy, with
the Senate finance committee at Washington.
| am not a candidate and never have been
for the office so recently made vacant by the
master mariner. 1t is absolutely cruel in
him to set me up for an Office unsolicited,
and then leave an incendiaIy letter of mine
in the very threshold of my official honors
for my ruin. That little letter of so humble
an origin, has had an active life. 1t has
done heap of work. Chase has used it
through five campaigns And Fogg and Swan
have used it when they were in this vicinity,
and it has at last drifted away on the sea of
events to final resting place in the bosom
of the Senate finance committee at Washing
ton, where l trust it will have suitable Sc
pulchral honors; and 1 would suggest as a
suitable inscription for its memorial tablet,
''requiescat in pGce" l hope my personal
friends, but political opponents, Messrs.
Hale, and Frye. and Reed, and Dingley, will
see to the above GEO. WALKER.
Portland, March II, 1886.