Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1893-04-20
NO ELECTION FOR COUNCIL.
The Recount Monday Deprives
Johnson OF his Seat In
Council.

John F. johnson, 323.
James P. Allen, 329.
That is the vote of the First ward
for Council, as demonstrated by the
re count held before Judge Reed on
Monday.
There WAS quite an interesting
coterie of politicians in the Conrt
room Monday afternoon when Judge
Reed, promptly at two o'clock, began
the re-counting of the First ward votes
| on Council.
The recount was asked for James
P. Allen, who was defeated by John
F. Johnson, by majority of one
upon the face of the returns. Mr..
Allen well knew that there were
majority of the votes in the boxes for
him, If they could be counted. and he
felt in justice to the warm friends he
had In the ward, he should at least
make the matter satisfactory.
Hon. Thomas w. Trenchard ap-
peared for Mr.. Allen, and Prosecutor
William A. Logue represented Mr..
johnson, the encumbent.
When Judge Reed took his place
upon the Bench, Mr.. Logue made
motion to dismiss the petition upon
the ground that the petition did not
clearly set forth any irregularity, and
the encumbent was rot specifically ap-
nf hn ohD ha
upon to defend. He was replied to by
Mr.. Trenchard, and the Court said
that the votes would be recounted,
while the matter of rejected ballots
| should be considered afterward.
The proceedings then began. Coun-
ty Clerk Trenchard kept record for the
Court, while Mr.. Louis Beckhardt
kept a tally sheet for Mr.. johnson and
Mr.. Fl. L, Tyler tailed for Mr..
Allen.
Mr.. Logue counted the votes, while
Mr.. Trenchard looked each one care
fully over. The box of the first pre-
cinct was first taken up. The vote
proceeded without special incident un-
til the 1S1st ballot was drawn from the
box. 1t was for johnson, and Mr..
Trenchard called the attention of the
Court to 1t. The name of the candi-
date for constable had been stricken
off with a lead pencil, and at either
end of the name was a cross mark in
lead pencil. Judge Reed promptly
excluded the ballot as one that might
have been marked for Identification.
Then Mr.. Logue became more than
ever Jealous, and when ballot No. 214
was taken from the envelope, he
handed 1t to the Court.
Mr.. Logue claimed that the ballot
had been marked by scratching the
paper, but the Court was not satisfied,
and was about handing it back, when
Mr.. Logue called attention to the
sticker upon which was printed Mr..
Aliens name. The printer had put
lower case "p" as the middle letter,
instead of capital ''P." Mr.. Allen
said 1t was mistake of the prin-
ter, and that there were several bal
lots of that sort. The Courtgfirst laid
the vote aside and afterward excluded
it. This made the vote the same as In
the first place, excepting each candi-
date had lost ballot, and when the
last vote was counted, Mr.. johnson
had fourteen majority, as announced
on the night of election.
The Second precinct ballot box was
then opened. There had been cast
354 votes, and none were thrown out.
The returns had given Allen 1888 and
johnson 1869. During the counting of
tie second hundred votes, one Allen
vote was overlooked, and this re-
quired the entire vote to be recounted.
Then it was shown that the election
officer had made a mistake and
counted one Allen vote for Johnson,
the correct vote being Allen 1874 and
johnson 1877. This gave Allen a ma
jority of fifteen In that precinct, and
one in the ward.
Then Mr.. Logue wanted to tackle
the rejected ballots, and they were
taken up and passed upon. One Al
len vote in the Second precinct was
thrown out because the voter had
drawn picture upon the ticket.
In the First precinct, three Allen
votes were thrown out because they
were not voted In envelopes. One Al
len vote. was thrown out because it
had been badly mutilated, and one
Allen vote had been thrown out be-
cause it had been marked with a blue
pencil instead of black. Two John
son votes had been thrown out be-
cause of mutilations. Judge Reed
counted one of them and rejected the
other. All of the Allen votes were re-
jected.
If all the votes that had been cast
had been counted Mr.. Allen would