The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-28
HARPER TRIAL CLOSES.
Continued from Fifth Page.

Continued from Fifth Page.
ballots that first went to the stove, and
if what remained had been counted the
return might have been then made out
with sufficient accuracy. But that was
tarthest from Mr.. Harper's mind, and SO
soon as Mr.. Guptill goes from the ward
room he burns another batch of several
hundred votes. No recounting now,
nobody can look over the ballots or de-
tect the falsity of the count. The ire IN
that stove has carried up in the smoke
which came from the burning ballots all
the fears Harper may have had of detec-
Son and punishment for his crime Had
he kept the ballots, had he even preserved
what he had when Mr.. Guptill talked
with him, the true facts would have been
sufficiently shown, and he knew 1t, an
because he knew it, because he saw that
if a member of the opposite party was
admitted to count the votes MS fraud
would be at once detected, he hurried 20
the stove with the ballots as soon as ne
had finished his false count. LIS such con-
duct consistent with innocence? is such
performance the act of a man who is
trying to do right? have not lived many
years, and do not claim a large expert
ence, but am prepared to say here ana
now that the burning of ballots by the
person who has counted them all alone,
or by anybody else for that matter, was
up to the sixth day of the present year
thing unheard of and unknown in the
State of Maine. | care not whether the
law requires their preservation or not,
/ know an honest man would keep them
to be the living vouchers of his integrity,
and the surest proof that his count had
been right. And if the circumstances
had been such as to give him exclusive
control of them, the reason OF Keeping
them would be invested with ten fold
He burned the ballots gem
in haste, and after a protest had
reached him, when he knew, listen gen
tlemen, when he knew
Vote Was Already Questioned,
burned the ballots thrown by but one
political party, only, keeping those OF
the other, and did it to hide his fraud.
The ingenuity of the counsel fails when
he reaches this fact. 1t stands like a
swo-edged sword in this case, cutting in
any direction from which you approach
it. There is one reasonable explanation
and only one The ballots were burned
because he did not dare to preserve them
and allow other eyes than his own to
behold them. After all the theories
they may present, after all the argument
they can bring, this is the spectre which
follows Thomas r. Harper from begin
ming to end in this case. Do what he
can, it will not down. Its hand
waves torch which makes the deed
done as clear as monday.
And when you retire to deliberate,
answer in but one way this question if
you cam Why, gentlemen, in heavens
name tell me, why did he burn those
ballots on that memorable March night?
There is another significant straw which
l would not have you forget which will
refer to before leaving the ward room
with you. He telephoned for the police
patrol wagon to take him and his I'M
burned ballots to the city hall. A tit
ting car for him to ride in. Never since it
was first used in this city has it been
honored with more appropriate load.
This was singular circumstance, but
striking fact is the statement he made in
the presence of an officer when the wagon
was going to the station is the point
want to make, when he said that there
was mistake in the count and that
there were hundred ballots he could
not account for. He knew this then, and
Mr.. Guptill had told him about rumor
a few moments before, he had refused to
heed it; what escape is there from the
conclusion that he knew it long before.
Deliberately, defiantly, that man there
faslifed the Mayors vote in the Ward 1
last March, and never even toon the
trouble to count the votes which had
been cast regarding the ward lines If
there was ever a case where mans act
disclosed his intent that case is before
the Jury now. He counted the votes
twice. he told Guptill. Bah! who be-
lieves that asinine statement to be true.
I sometimes think that we do not give
nearly as much credit to the motives of
the prosecuting officer as is fairly his
due. From our system of government
and our division into parties, we assume
that the man elected by the votes of the
people carries with him his party ties.
But, however much a partisan he may
have been before the election, after it is
over, and the will of the people has been
ascertained, if he is an honest man and
worthy of his position, he is
A Partisan No Longer.
Before the election he represented one
party. after it he represents what makes
and is greater than them all, and that is
The people, No longer the candidate of
D party, he becomes the counsel for the
state, no further the advocate of par
ocular law OF sets of laws, he becomes
JuG Q6l6uucI VI UuClu dils Ccds1llB 10 rep
resent a man OF set OF men he becomes
5he executive officer of the people 1t is
in that spirit and with that purpose I
stand before you now. I care nothing for
this respondents position in life, or his
pedigree. pay no heed to his political
Ties; this case stands in my mind as if he
had acknowledged no adherence to either
political party. A bove our politics is
5ur citizenship, beyond our prejudices is
our manhood 1t is enough for me that
he has committed an offence which
strikes at the very heart of our method
Of expressing the popular will. The mind
.evolts from the picture of brutal MUIR
Ter; we turn in horror from the story of
4 forcible violation of child or
honor; we are enraged at the
theft of our possessions, we frown upon
of the laws of chastity. But
IN any and all of these cases, it is some
alone who directly suffers and
we indirectly as mem bers of the same
social body. But when this man Harper
committed his offence on the first of last