The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-12-07

A REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN TELLS EXACTLY
HOW 1T WAS DONE.
From the indianapolis Sentinel
A correspondent of Chicago paper
met Sam Kercheval, of Spencer county,
in the bar room of the Dennison House
the other night. Kercheval is the
chairman of the Republican committee,
and he seems TO have had the unblush-
ing impudence to tell publicly TO the
crowd around the bar how the voters
of his county were debauched at the
recent election. He is described by
the correspondent as reclining with his
arms on the bar and discoursing as fol-
lows:
"Of course it was an expensive cam.
paign-the most expensive the state
has ever known. The price of votes
averaged over S20 each, and in some
cases we had to pay as high as $40
and $50; but we got them, and we
carried the state. In Spencer county
we had great many '1oaters, and it
was an open question whether we or
the democrats could buy them. We
got most of them"
''How could you be sure" the cor
respondent asked, "that vote which
you had paid for would be really de-
livered ?"
"Nothing simpler" said the chair
man of the Spencer county committee.
"If you buy dry goods, you get the
package when you give the money.
We went on the same principle. We
had one man stationed at the polling
place who was able to see the ballot
from the time it left his hands until
the time it went into the box. Now,
suppose foater is secured by work
er. Say you are a worker and this
gentleman is the voter, and this gentle
man here is the guard at the polls.
Now, you agree with this man to pay
him $50 for straight republican vote.
You steer him up to the guard at the
polls and call his attention to the man.
The guard gives him ballot folded
and ready to put into the judge's hands.
The voter takes it, and if he votes as
he has contracted to do, without look
ing at it, or 'monkeying' with it in any
way-and the guard can see whether
he does or not, for he is never more
than three feet away from the ballot
box--then he (the guard) signals back
to you that the man is all right, and
you take him off and give him his
money. He has to trust you that far,
although have seen cases in this
election when the 'foater' would not
trust the worker, but insisted on having
one hand on the money while he put
in the ballot"
SLOW is the money paid afterwards"
"Well down in our part of the
county we took a room which had been
used as gambling-hell. The door
had one of those little openings to it
in the centre from which you could ace
out, but you could not see in. When
a worker had got vote he wrote on a
little piece of bl1e paper the amount
of money to which the voter was en-
titled, and the voter poked his hand
through the hole with that hi. of card
board in it. The paper was taken off
by young man inside, examined and
verified, and, if it was all right, the
money-S10, 500 or $50, as the case
might be--was placed in the still open
hand. The man outside saw nothing,
neither did the man inside. 1t - as all
done quietly and effectually, and no.
body was the wiser"
Senator Voorhees,, of Indiana, tells
an Indianapolis Sentinel reporter that
he is confident the republicans spent
100000 to purchase that state. "In
Terre Haute," he says, "the minimum
price paid for votes was $l5," and he
mentioned one place where a man re-
ceived 5000 for his influence.
Mr.. Houston, chairman of the India
ma republican committee, is credited
with the frank admission to the cores
pondent of the Chicago Tribune (rep. }
that it is folly to deny that majority
of voters in Indiana are democrats.
The Portland, Ind, Sun (dem) de-
clares that Jay county, which went re-
publican last week, was "boodle-ized,"
and so openly that 'there was no ex-
cuse for any one being ignorant of
what was going on" The Shiny path
of "boodle," it says, was blazed by the
foot of the floater so plainly that "the
way faring man, though a fool, could
not err therein aud the rustic of green
backs floated out from the treasurer 3
office as distinctly as the 'klink' of
glasses from grog shop. If a
voter addicted to drink had too much
self-respect to sell his vote while sober,
he was properly dosed with whisky
until he had so clouded his intellect as
to vote in the direction where his
whisky came from"
The Hancock Qnd.) Democrat gives
this illustration of the way money wat
used in its county: "The democracy
, Of the first precinct of Center township
made gallant fight on Tuesday last
{ but they come out ffty-six votes be
hind the vote of 1854, owing to tn,
= corrupting influence of money in tn,
3 hands of INSCRIPTIONS republican lead
= ers, who went into the open marke
and bought from eighteen to twent,
: formerly democratic voters in tine pre-
: cinct at a cost of not less than $500
9 furnished by the friends OF monopolies
( The men that sold their votes wear tn
s mark of Cain on their brows, and thei
n names have been properly entered o
), the books of that highly moral party
n One man was blindfolded and led I
= the polls by a petticost politician
9 When he RECEIVERS his eye sight an
f manhood lie will be able 10 appreciat
s the contempt in which be is held b
\ decent people of all parties, -