The morning call., 1890-11-07
A SLOW CANVASS.
ANNOYING Delay in Returning the
City Votes.
Political Gossip From the Victors and the De-
feated - Mayor Elect sanderson's
Policy-Tom Clunie's Threat

All doubt has disappeared. That the State
has gone overwhelmingly Republican nc one
presumes to question. There is much yet TO
be known about the city vote. and much
that cannot be known before the official
canvass takes place. but the returns are now
sufficiently complete TO practically settle the
all-absorbing question, =" VINO are the
elect?"
The official canvass will have the effect
simply of giving definite and corrected ma
iorities. but it is not at all probable that the
Standing of a single candidate will be
changed by the result. If the contest had
been extremely close, as on several occa-
sions in the past, feeling Of uncertainty
might be warranted; but where the majorl-
ties reach into the thousands and the dis
tricts heard from are fairly representative Of
the W hole, no important changes, as rule,
need be looked for.
In the present case all, or nearly all, OF
the recognized Democratic stronghOlds have
leen heard from, and the only difference
that the complete returns are likely to make
will be to increase the already handsome
majurities. In enc or two instances, GER
tain!y not more, the race may be close and
exciting, and possibly beyond definite deter
mnation until a full count is had.
TALK. AND TALK Is CHEAP.
The talk about general recount amounts
to nothing but talk at the present time.
There has been n deal of clamor on this sub
iect since it was first discovered how bum
Cling and Incomplete much OF the ballot
counting was, but there has been a notice
able decrease of such noise as the incoming
returns continue TO pull up the maiorities;
in fact, the decreased talk Of recount has
been inverSely proportionate to the increase
of ma OrltIeS.
As matter Of fact, there is question
about recount. Certainly no one VIII de-
mand it who is on the safe side of the bal
ance sheet. and it would seem like fighting
against fate for candidate to insist upon it
who has from 1000 to 5000 majority sianding
against him. The history OF recouDts i'll
san Francisco would certainly prevent any
enc from undertaking such hopeless task.
1t is a matter Of record that 10 one who
has ever demanded recount In this city has
gained enough votes TO seat him. Only one
Democrat has ever been foolhardy enough to
risk such proceeding. aud the result was
that he increased the majority against him.
LIKELIHOOD OF a RECOUNT.
There " as a sort of informal meeting yes
terday afternoon of TWO or three members
Of the Election Commission, the Registrar
and NJ. a. Dorm, representing the RepubG-
can County Committee, and the chief to- ic
discussed vas the count, aud the likelihood
OF recount. Registrar Smiley expressed
the belief that the errors found IN the bull
letius were Of 70 special importance, even
if numerous, and that upon the offici al
canvass every single tally sheet could be
made to verify itself, if handled by efficient
clerks WIN understood the system Of counting
Mr.. Smiley insists, with more zeal than
ever, that the fault is with the clerks and
not with the system, that the system is
absolute proof ganst error when properly
carried out, aid lor that reason if no other
should be approved
Mayor Poud was Of the impression that
if serious difficulties arose at any time in the
proceedings they might be settled BY stipu-
Iation between the parties concerned.
MI. Dom explained that in his opinion
general recount would be out OF the ques-
ton, because there is no way of reaching
tie tas {. The law makes it the duty of tie
Commissioners to canvass the vote, but it
nowhere gives the power to order a general
recount. Any body may contest an election,
but the expense is so enormous that it would
never be undertaken unless there is some
thing correspondingly enormous to be
gained by 1t.
81 LESS CONFUSION AND ANXIETY.
The probabilities are that the gossip
about general recount viii simmer down
to one or TWO close cases. if indeed it is not
dissipated altogether Dr. O'Donnell still
maintains that he is being counted out, and
declares that he will demand a general re-
count.
There was nothing like the confusion and
anxiety in The Registrars Office yesterday
that there was on Wednesday. A great
many candidates had made an early per-
Sunal canvass of the precincts to aScerta
their own standing, and the results were so
convincing that the count in the central
office had but little attraction for them.
The crowd had reduced itself to the usual
number always anxious to know the results,
and the confusion of the preceding day that
followed the disorderly condition OF the re-
turns had quieted down to a restless waiting
for the clerks to finish the footings.
The ballots from all the precincts had been
received by the Registrar early in the morn
ing, but the last tally sheet did not come il
until about 800 O'Clock in the afternoon.
As soon as it arrived the vault containing
all the returns was securely locked and
sealed, and from now until the affairs OF
this election are entirely at an end will be
watchiully guarded by three sets Of cler ks
and a like corps of policemen
A LITTLE FRICTION.
Two or three times there has been little
friction in the Registrars Office during the
count because the officious representatives
OF the Democratic County Committee were
not satisfied with their party representation
in the work. Jimmy Long, the ever-present
Secretary, has had the most moutbing to do
his constant growl being that his party is
not fairly represented The fact IS, there
were fourteen clerks engaged In the work
yesterday and nine OF them were Democrats.
here had ht4HQ amnlOyPd Wednesday
three clerks designated by the Democratic
County Committee and named Redlcan.
Boland and Troy. They worked up to
O'Clock last night and were then told there
was nothing more to do; that their services
would no longer be needed. They refused
to 90. They said they had been detailed TO
watch the count and were going to remain.
Chief Deputy Jacobs Informed them again
that they were no longer wanted and re-
quested them to leave the room so as not to
interfere with The other clerks.
Still they refused and Jacobs finally
called policeman and ordered the men put
out Troy, one Of the trio, was a candidate
for the Assembly in the Fortieth District
and accused Jacobs of having some spite
against him because he had exposed alleged
ero0kedness in the Office. This alleged
crOokedness was in connection with the
bulletins returned from the Sixth Precinct
of the Fortieth District.
THE FACTS IN The CASE.
III SttuS lIdb lilciO NtiU INV Oulittluo
sent from this precinct, both signed by C.
p Barbee and John Sweeney. One of them
came in about noon OF the 5th, showing that
Laumeister had a majority of 80. 1t went
in with the other bulletins and was counted.
Later the other bulletin came showing that
O'Brien had 4 majority, but, having re-
ceived and counted one bulletin from that
precinct, the second was laid aside and no
further notice taken of it.
While Troy was acting as clerk he called
attention to the second bulletin, and accused
the officer of smotheri3g returns. For This,
he says, Jacobs was down on him, and de-
cided to throw him out of the office. Jacobs
denied all knowledge of these allegations,
asserting that he bad not heard of the sec
ond bulletin, and did not know OF its exist
ence His only reason for dlSmissing the
men was that there was nothing for them
to do, and his reason for having them put out
was because of their impudence and deter
mination to interfere with the work
'FoRTY-Two PRECINCTS UNHEARD FROM.
The Registrars statement made on
Wednesday night that sixty-one precincts