The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-08-31

/ "NeN
general reputation Of mass Of peo-
pie, necessarily unknown personally to
the witness or witnesses, as sufficient To
establish for whom any or all OF them
voted, as a candidate for any Office.
Butiiit were shown beyond contro.
versy that the colored voters are all
Republicans, and proved conClusiyely
that they cast their ballots for Nathan
Gof, the contestee, what is there In all
this evidence TO establish the fact that
they did not have the right to 80 cast
them, or for whom they pleased, under
the constitution and statutes OF this
country and OF this State,
Judge Edwin Maxwellot this commit
tee, kindly furnished the law that COM
pletely oyerthroWs the position Of the
majority, as followsl
"When q vote has been received at an
election by tue officers who have COM
piled with the law in its reception, the
law will presume that the vote is legal,
And this presumption is not rebutted by
proof OF suspicious circumstances. y
American and English Encyclopedia Of tau,
page 42S, ,vol. @, and authorities there cited.
HProot OF facts which would have
placed the burden oi showing the legal
ity OF the vote, upon the voter, II he had
been challenged at the polls, will not be
sufficient to require evidence TO sustain
the vote In the contest. st.n-Note 2, 10 The
proceedings, Gooding vs. Wilson, 4h Cong.
=, u, COSsr, page 10.
Going 10 the fact that a few people Of
the same name as small number who
voted In West Virginia, were registered
at pocahontas, Virginia, isthe following:
"Proof that q person who lives in the
precinct and has the same name as one
Of the names on the poll list, Is q minor,
Is not sufficient 10 require proof OF legal
| lity, without further evidence that there
It's no such person in the precinct, who
was illegal yoter."-Same Note. Letcher Is.
Moore lE Cong, Election Gases, 740.
Preof 10 a6undent that two Colored
men in this locality and at PoCahontas
and everywhere frequently have the
same name. Thus II any law were
needed, Is this law complete and con.
vlncing? And this was lhe law tefore
Judge Maxwell produced 1t, this was the
law long before 1t was put In this book,
"The American and English Encyclo-
pedia Of Law" -,
COMMON SENSE.
But no authority, no principle, no
precedent is needed here. The charge
here is non n.residence in tho State OF
West Virginia. Who makes itP The
contestant, A. B. Fleming. Who de.
tends 2 The contestee, Nathan GOT. What
has the contestant to do? To prove the
charge affirmatively. What burden Is
upon the Contestee until this Ia done?
None.
Looking at this evidence, which is Of.
iered for the purpose Of proving nom
residence OF large number OF voters,
It is easy 10 see that 1t Ia not affirmative
evidence at all. On the contrary It Is
evidence on behalf OF the contestee. 1t
shows more than he would be compelled
to prove were nothing offered on behalf
OF the contestant, namely, that these
parties did reside in the State Of West
Virginia. Nathan Gofi Is not compelled
10 prove so much, until A. B, Fleming
proves that they did not reside out oil the
State, at some time during the year pre-.
ceding the 9th day Of November, 1883.
Suppose that a plaintiff sues for ten
thousand dollars. Does 1t prove the
issue on his behalf 10 admit that the de.
fendant Is entitled to IN Offset Of
one hundred dollarsP 1t would be
Just as absurd TO claim that
Fleming sustains the issue on his
part, when he charges non.residenCe,
by showing that he whose vote he as.
sails was not out OF the State, but in II;
equally true whether this Is for day, or
a month or year. When the contestant
proves, as he does, that great numbers
Of men worked by the blazing fires Of
coke ovens and In the bowels Of the
earth for mining and manufacturing
companies in Mercer aud Mcdowell
counties, In this State Of West Virginia,
men who peopled the hills and thronged
It's valleys, and barred their breasts in
honest toll, and sang songs Of melody,
he is proving their residence aud not
their non.residence.
THINK OF ri
Think Of this-cbarging non.residence
and proving residence 10 sustain III
This mass Of proof is as silent as the
grave about tens of thousands OF men
whose ballots fell on the day Of election,
as the snow falls, white and slow, and
and the law assumes purity In all these.
That vote Is good where there Is no
proof that he who cast 1t either had or
had not the right TO do so Is 1t to be
held that that one Is bad where the only
proof Is that he who cast II had the right
TO do so2 To prove short residence,
and nothing else, can not place q voter
In q worse situation than 10 prove moth.
ing
So, to repeat somewhat, when the con-
testant, Fleming, proves that men who
voted In Mercer and Mcdowell counties
at the last election worked Tor mining
and manufacturing companies In these
counties, either one month or else dur.
ing the year next preceding the election,
and proving nothing else, he 10 sustain-
ing the issue ON behalf Of the ConteBtee,
Gofi, and this Is merely Offering rebuttal
where there Is no need Of rebuttal.
The theory OF the contestant and his
counsel, 10 not misunderstood hero. That
theory isthat II Is TO be assumed that
| Wnen tnebe men, WnUse IlBut W HUte 10
assailed, we're mot working for mining
and manufacturing companies In West
Virginia, they were out oil the State.
The proof is taken very Cunningly to
sustain this theory. No pay rolls before
November 1887, and after November,
1883, are introduced Ia evidence, al.
though these mining and manufacturing
companies, with one exception, began
operations some. years ago. To assume
90 much as that any voter isinlgratofy,
when there is no proof to show that he
was away, ID totally tnwarranted, ior
while some men Ia these localities
moved about, many are shown not 70
IhAya done 80, aud the deduction that
any one 10 migratory 10 moro unWartant'
cd than that he ID mot, lot the men who
moved about may bU Accounted for %
among those who did not vote.
PROVES NOTHING.
The iailure 10 assess some oitheBe peo'
pie, warrants no assumption, for there
are 10000 white men In the State who
were not assessed. The TACT that out o.