Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-08-14
ZUMA'S VOTING CASE.
Mr.. J. G.. Osborne Loses His Tenn
per.
Another Lengthy Letter on the Much
vexed subject---What the Argus
Has 60 say on the subject.
Editor ARaUs:


not in Justice to myself remain silent. 1
will be as brief as possible. As a little
Misunderstanding has arisen between
"Multum in Parvo" and myself must
refresh the readers memory. Iveutured
to suggest that a fair minded cores
poudent" would investigate first and
write Afterwards. "Multum in Parvo
shouts exultingly. That's just what we
didf' But the record shows that he
commenced wiring July 17th; that he has
written at weekly intervals from that
time till nov. By his own statement be
took buggy ride OF good many miles
July 2tth To make inquiries. AS late as
August 5th we find him still investigat'
ing. As a result he abandons the orig
inal charge. and then denies that he ever
made H. This will occur To the reader
as = remarkably fair. minded proceeding
In the same connection we expressed
delight that he had found one republican
he could believe. You are q liar. re-
torts NJ. in T., "Inever said anything such
thing But please tell us why did you
call on Mr.. Richard Clark for iuforms-
ton unless you considered him q credible
personr Why did you quote his states
ment unless you knew people would be-
lieve itG Mr.. Clarks statement. as re-
ported by N In p. exonerates Mr.. Whites
side. (See WEEKLY ARGUs August 2d }
The demand that any election officer OF
this town Is guilty of frauds on the bal.
lot should he prosecuted and punished.
NJ. in Il. calls insolent and impudent.
Doubtless IL looks that way to him aud
his hackers who well understand the diff
ference between newspaper assertion and
judicial proof. and who have plenty of
the drst and very little Of the other
IL might he impudent and also unkind TO
expect them To furnish what they haven't
got But in all civilized countries per-
sons accused Of crime have the privilege
Of meeting the accuser face To face. and
are considered innocent until proven
guilty. but NJ. in =. and his partners do not
care for Justice, they only want TO make
what racket they can in the papers and
on the streets. hoping to influence two or
three votes in this close town. am
glad 10 learn that the variation between
local and railroad time Is so trifling.
bad imagined IL somewhat larger.
threw out the hint mostly for the purpose
of seeing the teapot" boil. l shall not
inquire into the correctness Of the figures.
but as We have il so fine, even to the one
hundredth part Of a second, will M. in T"
kindly 90 before = magistrate ana make
oath To the exact time of closing the polls
NJ that famous election. By so doing he
can forge one link in the chain of evil
dence against those wicked Judges.
Time will not permit 10 follow further
the vagaries of this correspondent only
ask space for a brief statement of. the
facts in the case was not present at the
closing OF the polls. as Subscriber" so
states, my information is derived from
the actors in the drama. The election
board provided themselves with railroad
time as near as they could get it, They
set their watches accordingly. went by
them through the day and closed at one
minute past o'clock. They do not pre-
tend that this was perfectly correct time,
either railroad or local, but il was the
nearest approximation they were able to
make. and they thus fulfilled the letter
and the spirit Of the law. They could
not have held open the polls another
moment, or received another vote with
out violating their oaths as Judges OF cleo
ton. The judges also state positively
that notice Of closing was given at 80.
and the actual closing at 7:0l by the same
watch. an interval of thirty-one minutes.
The judges statement on this point is
just as good as any other mans assertion
10 the contrary and very much better.
Besides. a well known democrat was
present all the time in the room as clerk.
and u there was any crookedness be
knows all about it.
Some reader may ask how IL happens
that there is a discrepancy Of three min
utesl The explanation is easy. IN. in p"
has given IL in part, but with his
usual fairness. has distorted il to suit his
own purpose. Mr.. John McEniry stated
to me personally the s6ne evening that
when be saw the team approaching with
his delayed voters. he Asked Will White.
side how much time they had "kbou,
three minutes, Was the reply. From this
data Mr.. NJ esumaiea that the polls
closed one and half OF two minutes too
soon. And thisl was Che starting point
OF the whole controversy viii White
sides watch haS been referred TO a. being
correct. Mr.. W. does not know whether
II was exactly right or not. Mr.. Mem
iry's mental calculation Of the interval of
time cannot be regarded as strictly &C
curate. Both these uncertainties are the
basis of M. IN P's." elaborate determin-
alton that the polls closed at O'Clock So
minutes and 25 "A seconds. The pre-
sumption is al in favor Of the Judges and
tins presumption cannot be overthrown
by guess work
One word more. / have not noticed,
and do not intend 10 notsye "Multum in
Parvo's' malicious and slanderous as
saults upon me. | believe most readers
will rate them at their real value. /
warn the ARGUS and its correspondent
hereafter 20 utter no Islander againt nv
personal character. j. @. OSBORNE.
The ARGUS considers that il has
treated Mr.. Osborne with the utmost
courtesy In publishing his numerous ar
ticles in regard to the Yuma poll closing
case. and the threat In the last few lines
OF the above correspondence is decidedly
in bad taste and the charge of SANDER
without foundation. in fact The ARGUS
has not itself or knowingly allowed any
matter Of n libelous character 10 enter its
columns against Mr.. Osborne. However,
as the gentleman is evidently losing his
temper. it is probably best to drop the
matter entirely. as we fail to see that be
has introduced any new evidence to
strengthen his case, and the public no
doubt is getting tired Of the long drawn
out controversy. As Mr.. Osborne wrote
us an amiable note last week. thanking
ms for the consideration shown him. we
charitably infer that the irritability dis
played in his last effusion is due 10 the
lsteness of the hour at which 1t was
penned-midnight, he says ]-ED.