The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-04-06

DeroQ the monkey ne auQeQ TO LHS ino-
nagerie; he remembered the chandeliers
placed in City Hall and he has never for
gotten for moment the official rum
shop. Is it possible that if he had had
the reduction in the cost of lighting on
his mind he would have TO gotten to
mention that when sorely pressed for
reasons why his fellow citizens should
vote for him?
THE DEMOCRATS AND TIFF FRAUD.
The ''better element" SO called, of the
Democratic party capped the climax last
night by assembling at Reception Hall
and resolving that all honorable men
should go the polls on election day and
glorify by their votes the Hon. Darius H.
Ingraham, for his manly and honorable
course in resigning his Office after it had
been mechanically demonstrated that
he held it by means of fraud perpetrated
by Democratic warden. The Hon. Mr..
Ingraham received his certificate on the
day following election, when the fraud
was suspected by everybody, though the
mathematical demonstration of it had not
then arrived He held on to it until about
midnight on Thursday evening, when,
owing to the statement of City Clerk
Russell that the check list would show
that one hundred votes more had
been declared than had actually
been thrown and that he was going to
exhibit it to the Republicans the next
day he concluded to resign an office
which he could no longer hold without
confessing before all men that he was
ready to accept .an Office founded upon
fraud and miscounting. Mr.. Ingraham's
declination reached the offices of the
PRESS and Argus at midnight on Thurs
day evening, three days after election,
and accompanying it, in the Argus of
Friday morning, and as matter of fact
explaining it, was the statement that the
checklist would be exhibited to the Re-
publicans that day. Mr.. Ingraham has
since publicly admitted that he suspected
the figures from Ward were wrong
from the moment he heard what
they were, but he never made the
slightest effort to determine wheth-
er or not his suspicion was vel
founded. The checklist was in
the office of the city clerk the night of
the election and remained there. The
city clerk would doubtless have ex-
hibited it to him if he had asked to see
it, but he seems to haye avoided asking
for it, though he knew charges of fraud
were publicly made and that the air was
full of rumors discrediting his title. He
waited until the knowledge of his
fraudulent title was absolutely thrust
upon him, and then he hurriedly wrote
letter declining to accept and had it
sent to the newspapers. This is the hon
orable, manly course that the voters of
Portland are appealed to by the Demo-
cratic convention of last night to vindi-
cate and approve.
And while the convention glorified
this manly and honorable course of Mr..
Ingraham, and asked the people of Port
of condemnation of the miscount in
Ward 1, not word of denunciation of.
the ballot clerk who stole the ballots and
lied about the number he had given to
this. The man who had miscounted
the votes was at the convention and was
shaken enthusiastically by the hand by
several of the better element. Indeed
he was quite the hero of the occasion.
The cony ention was not without its
humorous feature. That was furnish
ed by ex-City Engineer Jordan who rose
and offered the following resolution:
Be it resolved, that this convention, indignant
at the false anG malicious ISLANDERS that have
been printed from time to time in the Republi-
can daily papers of Portland since the last mu-
nicipal election. which articles are untruthful
and malicious ISLANDERS upon those voters who
supported the Democratic ticket at the last
election denonnce in the most emphatic and
vigorous manner such printed articles as I'M
truthful and malicious ISLANDERS, and deserving
and meriting the condemnation of all good citi-
zens irrespective OF political Affiliations.
Nobody who was not in towering
rage could ever have put words together
in this way, and so it follows that Mr..
Jordan was in that state of mind. The
resolution hardly deserves to be treated
seriously, though the convention appears
to have treated it SO, out of courtesy no
doubt. The fact is, the statements of
Republican papers relative to the con-
duct of the Democrats of Portland in re-
gard to the fraud in Ward have fallen
short of the truth. That conduct has
been disgraceful in the extreme. Har-
per has been defended and apologized
for Not word of condemna-
ton has been visited on the clerk
who stole the ballots. The three
men who alleged that their ''self re-
spect' and regard for the public inter
est would not allow them to accept GER
tificates tainted by Harper's miscount
were bulldozed within twenty-four
hours into accepting those certificates
by the two most prominent Democatic
concentrations in town-organiZation s