The Portland daily press., 1893-04-11

clerk. Up to that time the Argus had
not admitted that any degree OF doubt
existed as to the count, but had claimed
that the figures were free from suspicion.
During the forenoon the disclosure of
Mr.. Russell to the Hon. J. FL. Drummond
became public and Democratic penitence
set in in earnest. For three days the
Democrats had to a man stood by the
Ward One figures, though every one OIL
them suspected that they were wrong,
for three days they had placed all the
obstacles they could in the way of an in
vestigation of those figures, but on Fri
day they actually tumbled over one an
other in their eagerness to wash their
hands of the whole business. The Demo-
cratic lawyers who lad been fighting the
Ward case, and who the day before
utterly refused to accept Judge Walton
suggestion to let the Republicans take
their seats and proceed by quo aoarranto
suddenly discovered that the blanks had
been counted in the councilman vote,
though that fact was just as. evident the
day before, and handed over the certif-
Gates that had been given to the Demo-
cratic candidates. The next morning
the Argus was full of penitence, denounc-
ing the ''would-be perpetrators of the
fraud and calling for their punishment.
Alderman Guptill and the Democratic
councilmen in Ward one caught the peni-
tent spirit also and the former in pub
lie letter declared that his self respect
and sense of public duty would not allow
him by retaining his position to s'seem to
countenance such acts Mr.. Guptill
clearly recognized then and SO did the
Argus and the Democratic lawyers that
to ''accept any benefit that might grow
out of the Ward One count would be a
sacrifice of self respect and violation
of public duty. How did it happen that
gentlemen who for three days looked so
complacently on the suspicion-laden re-
turns from Ward One became so suddenly
penitent? How happened they to be so
ready to surrender the goods which they
had so persistently held on to up to
Thursday night? Simply because the
miscount in Ward One had been mathe-
matically demonstrated, because it was
no longer possible to deny it or ignore it.
And yet all these gentlemen, including
Mayor Ingraham, are now claiming great
credit for this brief period of penitence.
s'Didn't we.'' say they "when it was
proved that the Ward One count was
fraudulent denounce the perpetrators of
the fraud? Didn't Mayor Ingraham
promptly resign his Officer Yes, gen
tlemen, you did; and it is also true that
nothing short of a mathematical demon
stration was sufficient to induce you to
let go the stolen goods? Nothing short
of conviction beyond doubt, by an ex-
animation of the check list, of the mis-
count in Ward One induced Mr.. Ingra-
ham to resign his office, though he had
been believing all the week that the
figures on which his title was based were
| wrong.
CovERY.
The third stage was one of recuperation
and recovery. Saturday morning
found all the Democrats in the deepest
detection. The Argus INDUCED in a
most melancholy wall over the Shame
that had been brought upon the Demo.
cratic party and declared that lit was
highly improbable that Mayor Ingraham
would consent to the use of his name as
| candidate at second election. But
recovery began to set in before night. 1t
| manifested itself first in the Board OF
Aldermen in the shape of refusal to acs
cept the resignation of Aldermen Guptill
and Councilmen Tibbetts and Simp-
son. Later it appeared in the Falmouth
club and the Young Mems Democratic
club, both of which issued appeals to
Mr.. Guptill and Messrs. Simpson, Tib-
belts and Dunn to reconsider their res
| ignations. The first three yielded, and
took their seats, notwithstanding Mr..
Guptill had declared that to do so would
affront his self-respect and would seem
to be an endorsement of the Ward One
! fraud. The Democrats complain now
that the whole party is being blamed for
the act of one man, but it will be seen
that the very first voice raised to induce
a Democratic alderman to do an act
| which he himself said would seem to be
an endorsement of the Ward One in
iquity came from the representative Or
! CARNATIONS Of that party. Next the Ar
gus, the official organ and mouthpiece OF
| the lparty, began to recover. On March
| IL it said sit is now beyond a reasonable
| doubt that fraud upon the electors CT
Ward One was attempted to be. carried
out by the warden of that ward" But
| four days later it had assumed much
more charitable tone toward the warden,
On the eleventh, Warden Harper, it de-
clared was convictedlbeyond reasonable
doubt of fraud, but on the fifteenth il
| thouoht that Warden Harper's denial