The morning call., 1891-07-24
SWITCHED BALLOTS.
Wholesale Fraud at the Glenn
County Election.
Why Co,usa Wants the New Division of the
State Abolished Startling Aft
davits Presented.

There is universe of difference between
what the citizen of average intelligence
knows as the Australian system of voting,
and that which is known throughout Cali
fornia as the CoIusa system. name given
it during the last session of the Legislature.
Under the imported method the elector
knows for whom he casts his ballot and for
whom the ballot will be counted.
Under what was called the Colusa system
by the recent statesmen the elector has a
sort of foggy idea that his ballot is deposited
in the box with strings on it.
1t is on account of the Coinsa system of
voting that Attorney-GeneralH Hart has been
asked TO permit a suit to be brought for the
purpose of testing the consututionality of
the law creating Glenn County and to de.
clare null and void the election by which
the people OF what is now called Glenn
County declared their ind ependence of
COlusa.
ALL ISSUES BURIED BY DIVISION.
For years the people of Colusa turned
their backs upon tariff and tariff reform.
The words Democrat and Republican, pro-
tectionist and free-trader were expunged
from their political vocabulary, and in their
stead appeared divisonist and anti-division-
ist The diYiSionist was defined as an cleo
tor who, from honorable or dishonorable
motives wanted to cut off the northern pGr-
ton Of the county and make of II a county
to be called Glenn. The anti-divisionists
we're opposed to the new county idea be-
cause it not only involved loss Of territory
to old ColuSa. but disturbed long-estab-
llshed financial and political Institutions.
Ii was also opposed, or rumor Is unworthy
OF belief, because the new county line would
pass between the mansion which John Boggs
Il th.. hUrfll
pied by his horses. his sheep and his kline,
and that which divides John Bogss from his
possessions must expect to encounter 0ppo-
sition, for he is a man of whom il has been
said that he. owns half of COluSa.
DIVISION ALWAYS A CAUSE OF STRIFE.
Since the idea of division was born in
COlusa it has been a cause of bitter strife,
alternating Ole friends and neighbors and
turning the county elections into scenes of
diseOrd and violence, at which unDumbered
crimes against the elective franchise have
been committed.
On the last biennial election Eakle, the
Democratic candidate for the Assem- bly,,
espoused the cause of the divisionists and
Campbell, the Republican, fathered the
cause of the "antis." Eakle was declared
elected after one of the most exciting con-
tests ever known in Coiusa, and Campbell
contested his seat on the ground that ffty-
Jour fraudulent votes, enough to turn the
majority, had been counted for Eakle.
The Legislature paid no attention to the
report of its investigating Committee, which
was against Eakle, but gave him the seat.
subsequently he Introduced bill providing
for the creation of Glenn County out Ot the
northern part OF Colusa-
THEY BOTH SENT SACKS"
The divisionists sent up heavy sack"
to help the bill along, and the anti-division-
isis sent up sack" to defeat it. Which
sack was the heavier only the men who
brought IL and the who rapaiUn1 II 90
tell, and there Is not trip-hammer in the
State. let alone Grand Jury, that could
squeeze any information on the subject out
of one or the other.
But the dav after the bill was passed the
iubilant divisionists declared that their OPP
p0nents had wasted $4,000 in fe ting il.
The bill provided that Glenn should not
be created without the consent o ( a majority
OF the citizens residing within its proposed
boundaries, expressed at an election to be
held for the purpose.
The election was held and resulted in a
victory for the divsonists VINO proclaimed
their rapture with bon-fires and anvils and
other gladstone devices that bore a stencil
into the noStrils of the yanQuished.
DETERMINED TO WIPE OUT GLENN.
But vanduiShed is not the best expression
to use in qualifying deeapitated COlusa.
The men OF influence in all that is left of
the county put their heads together and
after many conferences decided that the
northern section Of the county could be re-
covered and the hated name of Glenn wiped
off the map of California. With the assist
ance OF some OF the best lawyers in the
State they drew up a complaint against
Glenn County. in which they called il the
alleged county of Glenn" and said that it
was created in violation Of the County Gov
eminent Act, because, while it provided the
required number of officers for itself it left
Colusa without the number the latter is en-
titled to. The compliments also declared
that the election at which the people OF the
northern part OF ColuSa voted in favor of
creating Glenn was fraudulent null aud
void. In support of the latter declaration
they procured and forwarded to the Attor-
ney-General numerous atfidavits, the last of
which arrived yesterday. One of these
sworn statements is signed by an elector,
who states that out of 200 votes cast at Will
lows, Precinct No. , 100 were switched"
Switching vote, as 1t Is understood in Co
lusa. means the transfer of the electors
ticket which he passes In to the proper
officer at the box to the officers pocket aud
the substitution therefor of another ticket
which Is cast in its stead.
THEY VOTED EARLY AND OFTEN
Another affidavit swears that he voted
| seven times on the day of the creation of
| Glenn County, four times at Willows, Pre-
| cincs 1, and three times at Precinct q
Then comes the affidavit of an unbIushing
| elector, who AYERS that, on that fateful
| day, he destroyed seventeen ballots that
| had been cast against the creation of Glenn,
| and substituted an equal number of votes in
! favor OF the creation Another affiant
| swears that over 100 citizens who went to
| the polls TO vote against the division of the
! county were prevented by what is known
| as the ''elbowing process"
VIII ). Green, the editor Of the Cousa
| Sun, who is s0i0nrning in this city, knows
| nothing about the atfidavits that have been
! sent TO the Attorney General. He charac-
| terizes the proceedings at the recent cleo
| ton as simply outrageous. lie says that
| men who had never been seen in the county
| before came up from Sacramento and voted
| three or four times on certificates of regis
| tration. Two-thirdS of the taxpayers of
| Glenn COu Dty, according to the newspape
| man, were opposed to the division, but they
| were crowded away from the polls. The 100
| foot limit law was a dead letter all day, and
| the divisi0nists thr0Dged around the booth
| so that the actions Of the officers inside
| could not be seen. The division adds heav-
| lily to the burden borne by the taxpayers of
| both COlusa and Glenn counties, and is of
| little advantage to anyone with the ex-
! ception of the office-hoders and office-Seek-
| ers.
The Attorney General is at work upon his
| answer to the petition requesting him 10
| permit suit to be brought to nullify the
| Glenn County election. The result of his
labor will reach the public in few days.
A