The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-18
The Attorneys for the Defendants Bit
terIy Denounce Witness Perkins,
And They Will Endeavor to Prove that He
Did All of the Mischief-A Motion for
the Discharge of the Prisoners.

trial OF the tally conspiracy Gaze, Distrcs
Attorney Sellers addressed the jury in outlining
the facts the prosecution proposed to present
There was an increase of public interest in the
proceedings, as shown in q larger crowd OF spec
tators than on the preceding day. Among them
was the usual quota of politicians, but far the
the attendance has not been SO great as at the
former trial. In the beginning of his speech
Mr.. Sellers told the jurors, aftcr reading to
them the Indictment that Congress regulates
and controls the election of its own members.
In doing this it could have made specific
regulations to the conduct OF cleo
tons, but it did not, and here,
the laws in other States were adopted for this
purpose, the laws Of Indiana prevail There
laws make it the duty of election inspectors to
keep and guard election papers. 1t is unlawful
for anyone to advise, procure assist them in
neelecting failing to perform that duty. In
the election of Congressman the statutes of the
United States make il unlawful for two more
persons to combine to prevent the carrying out
of these laws. hence an offense against the
United States committed. In this case the
government maintained that the persons on trial
in furtherance of violation of these laws, did
conspire to commit certain act, and that their
purpose was actually accomplished. The legal
questions pertaining thereto have been settled
a matter of controversy.
Following this the district attorney sketched
the incidents that led up to the canvass of the
votes cast at the November election in 1886,
when congressional candidates of the Seventh
district voted for. He dwelt especially on
the interception of election inspectors who were
going to the county clerks Office to return to
that officer the record books of ballots, tally
sheets and oll-books, as required by law.
Each inspector had with him the outside
duplicate tally -sheet and poll-book of his pre-
cinct. from which the canvass of votes was to
be made on the subsequent day. On the way to
the clerks Office certain inspectors were
intercepted by a person sent out by Mr.. Coy to
tell them not to deliver the papers to the
clerk, but to Coy. On the following Thursday,
Nov 4, the inspectors met at the courthouse
q canvassing board. There were eighty more.
A large number of these inspectors were the
political friends of Coy who chairman of
the central committee of one of the political
parties. The morning the board met Coy was
present and active in procuring the election of
w. F. A. Bernhamer, another of the defend
ants, it's chairman Bernhamer would thus
have the power to pass the suficiency of the
returns. his decision being subjected only to q
reversal by majority of the board
Relating the incidents of the canvass that have
d
mentioned that two or three Of the in
spectors came without their returns, as they had,
under mistaken notion of the law. given them
into the custody of fellow election officer of
opposite politics. Mr.. Landers one of these
inspectors, and on his motion the tally sheet in
the sealed bag was sent for and used in the
vass One of the defendants suggested if these
bags were to be sent for, and the tally sheets in
them used, how could a count be made on the
tally-sheets 5, that had been, or were to be:
changed. This the first intimation of
wrong, and Mr.. Spaan then drafted
resolution, which Captain McHugh
introduced, combining the canvass to the outside
or duplicate tally sheets. Span appeared on
the board as al attorney of one of the defend
ants, and in a measure acted as the legal adviser
of the board From this he detailed the meet
ing of Perkins and Coy about noon of that day.
when the latter said: 'sThe criminal judge Is
behind. Can't You get Hiseys papers and help
II is not often. MI Sellers said, that con-
spiracy can be established. for conspirators do
not herald their schemes or make them q matter
of record. but here is a fact proving
that one existed How Inspector Allen Hisey's
tally sheet was then changed by Perkins, and
afterwards INSPECTOR Stephen Matters
shown. After that he rehearsed the incident
of Mattler becoming frightened and changing
his sheet again to it's riehtful figures, of Per-
kins procuring or having procured the acid with
Grand Hotel and of Inspector Lorez Schmidt |
leaving his papers in the hands of John E. Sulli-
van or George Budd it was immaterial which
one. for Budd got them and returned them to
Schmidt about 8 o'clock He also referred to
the change in Inspector Counseman's papers,
which had been presented in :he morn
ing and laid aside because the |
judges had not signed the certificate
Counselman took the papers and kept |
them until an early hour next morning. whom
they came in with tallies changed and still uu-
signed by the judges The paper was then can |
vassed and its figures as they were forged
counted In conclusion Mr.. Sellers said this |
was serious crime, committed for personal |
advantage. 1t a crime against free gov |
eminent and one that sought to destroy. its
very foundations. Ii infamous crime. |
for an infamous purpose, as it not only destroyed
the freedom of the ballot but left no restraint |
men who had the wicked object of befouling |
all election laws.
Judge McNutt in stating the case for the de- |
Tense, said the first question for the jury to
slider would be whether crime had been COM |
mitted. The prosecution has set forth crime |
with which the defendants are not charged, and |
of which the United States courts could take no |
cognizance 1t is not the crime of mutlating |
tally-sheerS which is to be presented, but |
whether the defendants procured and advised
certain election officers to part with their re-
turns. He did not think it fair for the prosecu-
not on trial for committing them. The
mutilation of the sheets 10 wholly separated
from the one at issue. The mutilated sheets
can only serve as mere link In
the chain of evidence. How remote
it is will appear hereafter. If there was con-
spiracy, and its object was to mutlate the tally
sheets to affect the count on criminal
judge, offense had been committed against
the United States. There were ten charged
with this conspiracy. bat only three are on trial,
but the mere fact that the others are not to be
tried does not take the evidence applying to
them out of the He believed it was set
forth that the transactions occurred the
Sd of November. but very little evidence could
be adduced to show the existence of a conspira-
cy on that day AS to Coy's presence at the can
vassing board, that was all right. He was there
as chairman Of the Democratic county com
mittee, as was the chairman of
the Republican central committee
They were there in the discharge of their duty
to watch the count in the interest of their re-
spective parties. Ii their duty to see that
no wrong was done He regarded Bernhamer's
election chairman of the board as an ex-
preston of confidence in him by the eighty or
ninetv inspectors who composed il, and that
fact should not be urged against the young
man. In accounting for Spans presence he
said that the inspectors of the political party
having a majority in the board were inexpsri-