The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-07-12


government and have not at any time"
FowLER's DISCREPANCIES.
Nathaniel Fowler testified:-"I was
member of the Election and Registry
Boards of 1885, don't know of any par
| ticular reason why I abbreviated names
on the registry book when l recorded
them; it was not done for the purpose of
fraud; was not there oil registration
day; went home between ten and eleven
O'Clock to see my sick mother and to get
! cup OF coffee; / did not leays the second
registry day; was the judge Of election;
] did not take all the ballots that day, for
went after the City Marshal to have
| him fix the box; the only ballots put
in the box were put in properly
although the dial did not work tor a
while; when went away left Rsiddy in
charge of the box; have heard of joker
ballots, but have never seen one: l re-
fused to count the ten loose ballots in the
| box because they made more than the
number on the poll book. When threw
them away, / did not know whom the votes
were cast for: did not withhold infor-
| nation from the watchers. Reiddy and
Reen during the day had a fight aud hit
each other; the trouble was not caused bv
anything connected with the election;
did not know the law required me to sign
| certificate at the noon recess; did not
conspire with anyone to vote illegal bal
lots"
Cross-examined by the Prosecutor,
Fowler said he had on two other occasions
acted as an election officer. Witness said
he did not remember McBride's voting.
II never knew Reiddy before Election
Day, and have never seen him since"
said witness. 81 signed the returns
How did you happen to give one can
didate for Governor ten votes more than
there were ballots2" asked Mr.. Winfield.
II don't know, unless they were written
| in after the certificate was signed"
why did you sign the returns in
| blank?"
II don't know"
"To help rascality, l suppose" COM
| mented the Prosecutor. M
II object" said Senator Hudspeth. '.the
presumption of honesty is stronger than
that of rascality on the part of these
men."
do you work for the Board of Works?"
| enquired the Prosecutor.
"Yes, SIR"
81 object" shouted Judged Daily.
"Oh, let him go on" exclaimed Senator
Hudspeth "A man has got to either
work for living or be a thief. and there
| Is nothing about working for this city
that we need be ashamed Of"
Policeman Nugent was next called. He
testified that he knew Reiddy, but had
not seen him since that election
REEN's FOLLY.
William Reen. the last of the defend
ants, testified that he was Clerk of the
Registry and Election Board. The only
reason why he did not number the votes
was because of a mistake on his part.
"Reen, you had been drinking that
| day." said Judge Daily.
'Oh yes," replied Reen. as if that was
matter of course.
"You drank great deal, didn't youa'
"No, not much, only when I got a
| chance"
"Were there any Republican watchers
at the polls election daYF
eyes sir"
when they asked for information, did
you give it to them2"
81 did not"
"Why?"
"It was none of their business; 1 was
| under oath and responsible"
Witness further testified that he had
| never seen joker ballot and didn't know
they were voted at the election.
He did not record any names until the
Judge called them out and the Inspector
said all right. When shown the names
| of James Mcbride, Richard Corbliss and
others by the Prosecutor. Reen said he
did not enter them until the Judges
| called them out. These names were the
ones the Prosecutor claimed were fraudu-
lent and Jordan and Fowler swore that
they had no recollection of them. Reen
said he could not account for the fact that
the ballots, tally and returns did not
agree. Reen is employed by the Street
and W ater Board.
ToDAY's PROCEEDINGS.
The proceedings in the trial of Fowler,
Jordan and Reen opened today by Fore
man Tburston, who requested that Jor-
dan take the stand again. In reply to
questions of the Foreman, Jordan said
he did not remember taking the
oath of Office as an inspector and he
fO rt he hot
Thomas Reiddy's name was signed twice
to the returns and was in two different
handwritings. The defense called a num-
ber of witnesses, who swore that the repu-
tation of Jordan and Fowler for honesty
was good. One of these witnesses was
Otto Lawrence.
Mr.. Winfield, on cross-examination,
Grand Jury that indicted these men,
believer"
''Yes, SIR" was the answer, to the
| chagrin of the lawyers of the defense.
This closed the case for the defense,
and Senator Hudspeth renewed the mo-
tion for the Court to direct
ground that t the. Conspiracy c had had
| not been proved. The Court over-ruled
the motion and Judge Daily began sum-
| moning up. He asked the Jury not to
| permit public opinion to influence their
| verdict and to decide the case by the evil
dence that had been submitted. He al
| mitted that irregularities had taken place
| by the members of the Board, but en-
| phasized the fact that the election Of
| ficers were not Indicted for violation
of the election laws, but were indicted
| for conspiracy. The lawyer carefully re-
viewed the evidence produced by the
| Prosecutor, and claimed that the irregu-
| larities committed by the election officers
| had been committed through ignorance
and negligence, and not because of de-
Sire to DerDetuate q fraud. The discrep-
! ancies between the poll and registry books
| were described by Judge DAILY as simply
clerical errors that any person might
| make innocenuly.
WTNFIELD'S TERRIBLE ARRANGEMENT.
Prosecutor Winfield said:--"The de-
| fense in this case is based upon careless
ness. ignorance and malfeasRnce 10 office,
all of which are admitted as crimes for
which the men could have been indicted
for malteasance. The quest ion now is,
| were they guilty of conspiracy"
The Prosecutor said it could
| not be expected that the State could
| produce the agreement of the conspiracy
| and that the only way the conspiracy
could be proved was by the overt acts of
the defendants "He Is q traitor to his
country and there is no punishment that
| can be provided sufficient for him
who attempts to undermine the
foundations of the government said
the Prosecutor. He claimed the prepara-.
tion of the registry book and The poll
book were preiiminaries to the cousum-
nation OF the crime. He referred to the