Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-11-09
A PARROT DECISION.

PARROT DECISION.
Henry N. Blake, Benjamin F. Viii
and Louis A. Walker, acting as the sta
board of canvassers refused to count Il
vote of the Tunnel precinct in tn
county. They refused to do SO becaus
william M. Jack had 80 refused and the
do not pretend to give any other reason
They knew that Jack had no right to n
ject the vote of the Tunnel precinct, a
they were in possession Of a certife
COPY Of an order issued out of the dis
trict court in this city. adjudging sucl
rejection to be illegal and void. 1t 1
true that the order was not judicial!
addressed to the state board, but 1t
reached them through Clerk Booth ant
its genuineness was fully established and
not denied. 1t declared a certain act tt
be illegal and void and commanded that
it should not be done and yet the state
board did it. 1t did the very thing that
Judge DeWolfe had judicially declared
to be illegal and void. 1t did the very
thing which it had legal notice not to
do and did it not for any good reason
but for a reason which any man should
be ashamed to give. The board confess
ses in its report that it rejected the
Tunnel vote because the county
c~anvassing board had done SO.
What a sublime reason for men like
Chief Justice Blake and Governor White
to give for the commission of a great
public wrong which disfranchises a
large number Of their fellow citizens
and scatters injustice in all directions
as no act ever did before in our history.
1t Is in reality no reason at all and to
attempt to palm it off as such is an in
suit to public intelligence. 1t is a par
rot decision and it is, therefore, if for no
other reason, entitled to neither consid-
GRAFTON nor respect. TWAS thought that
the state board having adjourned sine
best legal ability in this city says that
1t can be and that 1t can be made to COM
plete its work. 1t is very evident that
the members Of the board thought that
they were playing a very smart trick on
Monday morning last when they rushed
in the front door, locking it behind
hem, left a note on a table stating that
hey had adjourned sine die, and then
Jumped out of a back window and fled in
confusion down an alley. There is moth
ng more certain than that they intended !
o leave the people without a remedy, t
nd by reason Of their extraordinary ex- {
on Monday morning they did !
scape capture by legal process at that /
but there is a day Of reckoning o
ithin the near future and it gives THE v
liner pleasure to say that White, Blake G
nd Walker will be there, and that the K
w which they so artfully lodged will 81
} there too to confront them. Secre- ft
ry Walker, after emerging from the Of
ley, fastened to his desk as d.
ough nothing had happened and began
make out certificates, and he issued a pl
lmber to men who were not elected by ju
Q people of the territory of Montana, Of
t who were defeated by them. Among tel
ose who were not elected by the people as
d to whom he issued certificates of ed
ction. are certain Republican candi- sic
tes for the legislature from this county. cit
d this leads to a consideration of the CHI
mt OF the territorial scribe to issue thu
tiicates Of election to any legislative an
ldidate v though elected. That he the
no such right is as certain as that csc
and two make four. Neither the pre-
sbling Act nor the ordinances of the Ag'
convention confer such a 9th
'er, but ON the contrary it is expressly tur
ed that the then existing election the
Of the territory shall be operative in flc'
particular, and these provide that A
certificates to members-elect of the not
stature shall be issued by the county to c
Ks Of the respective counties. This 1t b
Q law and it was 80 recognized only com
v days ago by Chief Justice Blake 1t 81
that official granted a writ of man coul
directing the clerk of Jefferson But
ty to issue certificates to certain OF
lative members who claimed to be touc
ed in that county. Here seems to be Blak
lfict between Chief Justice Blake the
Board Blake that can't the .
planned upon the principle that -.
did - A., ~ IL
0'"'o anVaSSing for o.
ooo0 no''eenl W 10 skilled III logic with,
Convict Rarnard or A II Cali oont,