The morning call., 1892-11-09
ONE MANS EXPERIENCE,
Scenes In and Around Booth on Jessie
Street.


Street.
My vote was cast before breakfast.
Thinking that man would have to stand
in line for two or three hours before be
could get into booth under the new
kangaroo system, l determined to be with
the early birds. 1t was scarcely daylight
when L reached my precinct polling place.
the first of the Twenty-ninth District, on
Jessie street, between Third and Fourth.
Halt d, zen men were there ahead of
me. Two of them were election officers.
At $50 o'clock the door was opened and
the crowd, now augmented to about
twenty, trooped into the hut and hung on
the rail while the officers on hand began to
Sort out the election stationery and para
phernalia.
The hour. $40 A. NJ. had arrived for
opening the polls and forty voters were on
hand. But the officers were not ready. A
dispute arose as TO whether the cardboard
piacards should be posted up outside the
hut or in the booths. and the appetite of the
crowd for controversy being whetted by
the issue. everybody joined in the discus
sion.
A dumpy man with a registered lump on
his forehead called for the reading of the
law.
Yes. read the law" chimed in another
voter with a cast in his left eye as he
pushed his way up to the front.
An elderly man with mole on his upper
lip, his official badge of Identification, ex-
claimed in husky voice, 1T will take ten
minutes to read that pesky thing if you
hang IL in the booth, and I'd like you to tell
Us how the deuce we're going TO find time
to work cut ballots and read them rules
too"
His logic was IRE esistible and the officers
compromised the matter by ordering three
OF the cards put up in the booths and four
tackled up outside.
The crowd now began to grow impatient.
The majority were workingmen who had
come early so as to make sure of their vote
and proceed to their shops.
when are you going TO begin?" I'VE
want to go to our work Get a move on
you." coupled with impatient expressions of
contempt for the Australian ballot greeted
the ears of the confused looking Judges.
clerks and inspectors.
''I'm not going to open the polls until all
the election officers are here" replied Mr.
Baldwin, one of the judges
The man with the lump on his forehead
shrleked for the reading of the law
II don't give straw for the law" roared
back Mr.. Baldwin. II have instructions
from Registrar Brown and fm going to fll-
low them
the back OF his neck at this junctuTe put his
fist over the railing and seized the thin
biacs-covered volume containing tue ex-
tracts from the Political Code explaining
the mysteries of the Australian ballot law,
opened 1t and found the section providing
for the selection by the electors present of
election officers 10 fill the places of ab-
sentees.
Mr.. Baldwin did not deign to look at the
authority, but flung the book back on the
table.
The crowd protested, and a little man
with his nose clipped said he would lick
the whole outfit inside the rails If they
would come out into the street.
fellow-voter disclosing fracture In his
left jaw volunteered 10 take the contest off
his hands. A mild-looking man with a wen
on his right cheek offered 10 act as peace
maker He suggested that the business was
new to all hands and the officers ought to be
given show.
began to clamor angrily for the opportunity
to vote. Peace was. however. soon restored
by the appearance OF the missing inspector,
and the police officer present was ordered
to form the fifty voters into line.
The guardian of the peace bundled the
American Sovereigns out into the street,
where they formed not one, but three lines.
There was considerable wraDglng as TO
precedent before the triple line was ranged
into one. When this was done the scrip
tural maxim that the first shall be last and
the last first was Illustrated. In the sbakeup
l found myself near the tail Of the lengthen-
ing line.
One of the first men that reached the rail
stricken from the list by the Election Com
mssioners His name was Charles Eastman
Randall, attorney at law, residing at S731h
Market street. He emerged with red Gre i'm
his blue eyes and struck out for the new
City hall to see Mr.. Smiley.
My first surprise when / stepped behind
the cotton drill curtain was the disparity
between the size of the blanket municipaj
ballot and the stall or booth. l had come
prepared with lightning slip to mark my
ticket mechanically. but threw the clever
device away when / found [ had not room
On the desk to spread my ticket. Then the
candle became obnoxious, and / tried TO
hang 1t up and failed for lack OF peg.
The ins-pad, likewise impelled by the de-
prayty OF inanimate things, insisted on
ottrudlng itself beneath the paper. got
through with one error. / marked two can
dldates Tor one Office low down on one of
the columns. but not caring to give myself
away TO the officers as nincumpoop con-
Guided to decline to avail myself Of the priv
iege OF calling for another ticket and /
became by virtue of my haste and needless
ness genuine n-Partisan, so far as that
particular Office was concerned.
When L emerged from the booth with my
symphony in pink and blue and handed it
TO the inspector / felt glow of conscious
pride that had marked my two tickets in
four and a half minutes without skipping
man or a proposition, and had besides
voted for two candidates for one office.
HENRY GLENyILIE SHAW.