Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-04-01
SOLID FACTS !
The Democratic Frauds III Gin ,innati.
REPORT OF THE HOUSE COM
MITTEE.
Convincing Proof that Not a Single
Democrat in Hamilton County Was
Elected.

the House on Wednesday of last week
After reviewing the resolution unde
which tie committee conducted the in
vestigation of the Hamilton count!
frauds. the report proceeds as follows:
In its efforts to get all the information
possible, the committee inserted notice
il the Commercial Gazette. Enquirer
and Erie Presse, leading Republican
Democratic and German papers in the
city of Cincinnati, asking every person
who knew of lrregularity or fraud il
in election of October l3. 1885, to notify
the chairman of the committee, or fur
niSh names of witnesses whO could give
information upon tie subject. A large
number of letters were also written and
addressed to leading Democrats and Re-
publicans of Cincinnati, asking coopera
tion, and requesting information that
would aid the committee in ascertainlng
the full scope OF the frauds perepetrated
by persons in the interest of either party
at the election in Hamilton county. In
compliance with these requests, the CON-
mittee received valuable information
from prominent members of both politi.
cal parties, who seemed anxious to assist
the committee in getting at the bottom
facts,and thoroughly uncovering and ex-
posing the frauds The nOn-partisan
Committee of One Hundred greatly as.
sisted the committee in its labors by fur
nishing important information through
its officers and members. On the other
hand, officials whose duty it was to as
sist the committee, and officers of elec-
tion in wards and precincts most dis.
gracefully contaminated by fraud, not
only failed to assist, but did all in their
power to prevent the committee from
obtaining the information desired in
many cases, and in this course they
were endorsed and encouraged by large
part of the press, party leaders I'd rep
resentatives of the party III the Interest
of which the frisaeis 3s;ss:4 -5rs4s ;5l- 4sszs.
ted. Another source of serious delay
and trouble to the committee was The
lack of any precedents or decisions fix.
ing and defining the powers of the COM
mittee in compelling the attendance Of
witnesses and the production of papers
The Clerk of the Courts of Hamilton
county. the custodian of the returns Of
the election of members from that coun
ty, refused to produce such returns fol
the use of the committee, and the pro
ceediDgs of the committee and House
in the effort to compel their production
has resulted in clear and full vindica
tion of the House, sustained by COM
plete concurrence of the courts of the
State, to punish delinquent witnes:
for contempt, which will prove of great
benefit, and lessen the cost of investiga
tion in similar cases in the future.
In the prosecution of its inquiry, the
committee carefully examined the depo-
sitions of several hundred witnesses
properly taken before justices of the
peace and Dotaries public, and filed il
the contest cases with tire Clerk OF The
House and referred to the committee
1t then commenced the work of taking
additional testimony, aud has called be
fore it., examined under oath and sub
jected to cross examination, over one
hundred witnesses.
A pertinent fact, early aseertained il
the Investigation, was that the frauds
great as they were. were not general, bu
were confined to a limited and compare
lively small part of the county-in fact
to part of the precincts of less thar
one-third of the wards of the city-anC
that in the balance of the % wards anC
Is townships of Hamilton county, The
election of last October was as fair anC
honest as any held in the State. This is
especially true of what are termed tht
German wards, about which there haC
Geen some newspaper charges of frauds
but in which an examination of Demo
cratic witnesses fails to discover that ;
fraudulent vote was purposely cast o.
counted, or single fraudulent ac
knowingly committed by an elector,
Judge or clerk of election.
The fact that the extraordinary fraud
clearly established by the testimony o
more than 800 witnesses, many of whom
we're election officers or ward committee
men authorized to be present to watcl
the conduct of election officers, and pc
lice officers engaged in the work, weIt
| limited to few wards, is evidence, ,aSid,
from the direct testimony to that effect
that the frauds were the result of or
ganized Encouragement by gang O
reckless men. who hoped TO hold or OBJ
tain power for purposes of plunder. Tht
use of the regular police, and the ap
pointment of over 500 special police
many of them of well-knOwn disreputa
BILE character, who crowded the precinct
in which the frauds were perpetrated
and took active. infamous part in intiln
idating leea voters, assisting .repeaters
and even in putting fraudulent ballot
into the boxes after The close of the polls
shows that the policce commission Wa
identified with gang of corruptionists
Some of the prcinUts of the Fourth
Sixt' Eighth, Eighteenth and Nineteentl
Wards are excellent fields for conspira
tors against an honest election, VIII
have plenty of money, to operate in, an
in parts of these wards the work of vi
Olence, fraud and outrage upon fre
ballot and fair count, and base forger
of returns, are without parallel in th
history of election frauds in any city o
of any State having any respect for tre
popular self government.
Precinct A, Fourth Ward, now known "A
the seven -plus-zer0-equal-nine- precinc
because the sevens in the returns wer
changed to 9s by mounting Os on the to
of them, alter the returns had bee
made out, because in addition to tn
election frauds that number of vote
were found to be necessary, after all th