The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-05
THE BOOKS ARE CLOSED.
A Lively Day Around the Windows Of
the Registrars.

QuGL6Q anu bIOAknL a G0AQ
Into the County Treasury.
The unregistered voters and their
friends. who were trying to place their
names on the list, held the boards at the
court house between 9 o'clock and ?
O'Clock p. m, yesterday, and for time
the corridors presented the lveliest scene
that has been witnessed there in some
years.
The registrars and those who wanted
to register were ready to begin business
at the earliest moment, and they sue
ceeded with earnest efforts in keeping it
up to the last.
The clink of the silver on Capt. Nc
Gowan's desk began to grow louder as the
day advanced, and the piles of United
States paper currency began to grow high
er and higher, as each delinquent secured
his receipt and FASTENED to the registFa-
ton window. All the morning the tax
payers stood in queue fashion, the line
blocking the front door of the court
house, and extending from Capt. Nc
Gowan's window, where the dollars were
paid, IN semi-circle around to the door of
the tax receivers Office.
PAYING THE TAXES.
The registration system has proven a
gold mine TO the county treasury. Mem
bers of party executive committees inter
ested in seeing the voting power of their
friends the stronger, were ready to pay
back taxes and get the voters name Oh
the list. Many a voter who had never
voted before, and many voter who had
not voted in years, as he had been unable
to pay taxes, was wedged into
line yesterday, and as the lines dim
inished so the campaign funds
ury of the county has been enriched to
the extent of several thousand dollars
since the hard work began, and about
$500 went into the Golfers between the
registration hours yesterday. 1t is said
that never has the county tax collector
taken in so much money on any one regis
tration as has been paid in on this.
Thus it kept up during the morning,
all hands battling TO get the largest num-
Der of voters on the books. Obstruction
lists men who had registered or couldn't
register, were placed in the line TO the
tax collectors window, and up they
marched in slow procession. In this way
several voters were delayed, and this,
perhaps, was the cause of many not being
able to register in time.
SEVERAL SCRAPS PROMISED.
Both sides kept up the scrapping,
though no serious difficulty occurred any
where in the corridors. An Old Fort
politician of the professional type jumped
a Tammanyite on account ofasOme report
the former charged had been circulated,
and for a time, it looked as if there
might be a row, but matters were soon
quoted, and things for a while took a Sc
rene hue.
Then a Citizen Club man and a Tam.
many representative had some hot words
which promised a second scrap. This,
too, failed to materialize, but things
looked serious again just before the
window closed. A little more and the
regis trars would have been mobbed.
They stood it bravely until 9 O'Clock
however, and the window went down in
hurry.
1t was an interesting sight to watch the
window from Judge Ferrill's private
office. All nationalities and colors were
presented in mosaic to the eyes of the
registrars, and 1t was the worst kind of
lottery to figure out who was entitled
to first recognition.
This mans taxes have been paid"
one committeeman said. Here's the re-
ceipts. ;"
His records not clear" one of the
registrars said, after a glance over the
book, and that settled him.
IL took a man with the cleanest kind of
record and no suspicion of indebtedness
to the county to get his name on the
book in those closing minutes Judge
ferrin had an eye on his regulator, which
mad Just been corrected with the Wash
ington observatory.
Half a minute more" said Judge Fer
rill, and the commotion increased. Sc
veral tax receipts few from behind over
the heads of those next the window and
landed on the registrars table. In spite
OF protests from outsiders, one or two
such names went on the books, and
several of those next to the window were
shut out as O'Clock had arrived.
TAXES PAID, BUT NO VOTES.
There was a shout in the corridor as
the window went down 1t was hard to
tell which shout was the louder
'Tammanys WONT" was one cry.
Citizens Clubs all right" was an
other, and both seemed equally as san
guine
Fully IS or 100 would-be voters were
standing in the corridors TO see their last
ray of hope fade away as the window went
down before their eyes. Their dollars
had crossed the tax collectors counter
and had found their way safely into that
repository from which few dollars return
to those who paid them there. vet their
names were not recorded on the registra-
ton book Others who still stood in line
waiting their turn at the tax collectors
window congratulated themselves, per-
haps, If they were paying their own
money condoling, fit were being paid for
them, that they could rest easy on the
poll tax question for the next two years.
NEARLY 5000 NAMES
As predicted by the MoRNING News
the registration went near 5000, but did
not quite reach that figure.
On the count after the books closed
there were just 4, 96S names enrolled, of
whom 1922 were white and ,O46 colored.
The registration is about $50 in all short
OF what it was two years ago During
yesterday there We're just $50 voters reg
istered, $50 white, and 20 colored This
meant hard work for the registrars. They
had just five hours and they Registered
just one voter for each "a minutes, which
Is good time considering that the record
OF each had to be carefully looked into.
Judges MacDonen and Ferrill were
present when the lists closed They were
both agreed that the registration had
been perfectly fair one throughout and
that it would have been impossible to
have IL more so.
The registrars will probably take day
Of to-day and go fishing Their next
work will be TO make copies of the list
for publication. The lists will be pub
lished June IA and by June "A will be
posted at the court house, city exchange.
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