The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-06-05


from the First precinct of the
Seventh district; the same day numbers
2S8-144 from the Fourth precinct of the
Fourth ward, Hoboken. A number of
ballots were removed from the boxes at
Trenton also to be photographed.
ONLY A LITTLE WHILE.
DR.. Gordon, the foreman of the Grand
Jury, when asked him about the mat
ter, said that the ballots were only once
in the custody of the Grand Jury and
that was for about one minute and half.
''There was discussion going on. " said
the foreman, "and / asked Mr.. Sharp to
withdraw from the room until it was
over The bags containing the boxes,
which had in them the precinct votes.
was open, but all the boxes were sealed.
That is all there is in it,"
QUEER ABOUT SHARP.
A lawyer who is deeply interested in
the result Of the, election fraud contests
was next seen. He said:-"Sharp did not
know just what ballots he had before the
Grand Jury. Each time he was there
and the Grand Jury inspected the
ballots Sharp was requested to
leave the Grand Jury room. He
was before them five or six times andl pro-
duced five or six boxes each time. After
the Grand Jury inspected the boxes it
was learned that as many as thirty bal
lots were mutilated and torn to pieces.
Sharp should not have let them out of
his sight, and should have remained with
them when the ballots were in the Grand
Jury room. If told to go out he should
have taken them with him.
"The Grand Jury might be as much in
terested in mutilating the ballots as in
an effort to save them. The affair is an
unfortunate one, for the court at the
trials may instruct the jury that the bal
lots should be in as good condition when
they left the Grand Jury room as when
taken there. The Grand Jurymen have
six ballots in their possession now and
four or five were taken by the Senate In
vestigating Committee to be photo
graphed but these have probably been re-
turned. The matter is so much muddled
now that Sharp knows no more about
the ballots than a man who never saw
them.
by this result the State is placed in
very bad position, for the burden of proof
is on it, to show that the sworn statement
of the legally elected officers is false, and
to do this each ballor must be accounted
for
"The State will be compelled to prove
that the ballots are now in the same con-
dition as when produced before the Senate
Investigating Committee, or, perhaps.
when received by the officer legally
appointed to receive ballot box returns"
''Dr. Gordon was again asked about the
ballots, and he showed me one in his
pocket book, for which he said he had
given w. S. Sharp receipt. He did not
say why he wanted the ballot. but said
others were in the possession of other
Grand Jurymen."
MR.. WINFIELD DIsPLEASED.
District Attorney Winfield is much dis
pleased at the present state of the election
cases but refuses to be interviewed. He
would not deny, however, that by the
fact of the ballots having been out of
Sharp's custody certain precincts might
be effected. He pretended not to know
that nearly all the precincts were in the
same position"
J. T. Altemus told me that he was be-
fore the Grand Jury every time that
Sharp produced the ballots and that
Sharp only left them with the Grand
Jury for two minutes.
1.-THE Grand jury" he said, .on that
occasion asked us to step outside as they
wanted to consult, and we did So"
PROMPTED BY RING INFLUENCE.
Shrewd politicians told me that in their
opinion this unhappy work of the Grand
Jury was beyond any doubt the direct
result of the ring behind the election off,
GERS, and that the sharp trick was done
for no other purpose than to keep the
election officers from jail Even should
they be convicted, it is said, there is more
than sufficient ground to have the YER
dict set aside by a higher court and
new trial ordered. A gentleman deep In
the confidence of the Prosecutor assured
me positively that the Grand jury
had been carefully instructed how to con-
duct the investigation, and particularly
told not for moment to have the ballots
before them without the presence Of
Sergeant-at-Arms Sharp. The Pros
ecutor declined to say anything
on the subject, but DR.. Gordon declared
the Grand Jury had no instructions. 1t
is well known that Sharp at least had
and his leaving the ballots alone
in the jury room can only be
considered, to put it mildly, un-
pardonably careless. II the election
rascals escape the punishment they de-
serve, the poor citizens of the county can
only solace themselves with the knowl-
edge that the Grand Jury did it. The
Grand Jury swore to do its duty honestly
and faithfully.