The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-01-19
BEN .EARNSHANl'S CASE.
Heis Still in Jail in Default of the
$1,000 Bail.
A HISTORY OF His FORMER CRIME
Which Most People had Nearly For
Cotton until his Arrest as q ForGer.
He was Willing to Confess for $500.
An Effort to Secure Reduction of
his Bail.

Ben Earnshaw, of Wetzel county,
whose sensational arrest when attempt
ing to have a forged county order cashed
was chronicled yesterday, remains in
the county Jail, no person having yet
appeared to 90 on his bail bond. No
additional evidence was offered in his
case yesterday. Colonel Arnett, his
counsel, desired to make motion be-
fore Justice Gillespy for a reduction OF
his bail, but Prosecuting Attorney
Howard being out of the city, the JUS
tice refused to take any action IN the
matter before his return.
Hon. G. w. Atkinson returned yes
terdav afternoon from business trip
to Parkersburg An INTELLIGENCEK re-
porter met him last evening and asked
him if he had noted the fate OF his old
friend, Ben Earnshaw.
EYES," said Mr.. Atkinson. sit did
not surprise me after what he did when
he was president of the Wetzel county
court"
In answer to inquiries Mr.. Atkinson
then recalled the historySof the ballot
box outrage of November, 1855. The
OHIO county canvassers had by every
device reduced Mr.. Atkinson's majority
over Pendleton in the district as much
as possible, among other things throw
ing out eleven ballots because Atkin-
CONS name was misspelled, such as
"Atcheson," and counting thirteen on
which Pendleton appeared in every con-
ceivable originality OF spelling2'Pen-
Ion, "Pendtn," and worse.
Still Atkinson was sixteen votes
ahead in the district. It was then, No
vember %, 1888, that three prominent
Wheeling Democrats went down to New
Martinsville. There @. e. Wells met
them. Later Wells sent from Mounds
vile the telegram signed Frank Black,
which Earnshaw testified he know
Wells wrote and which Black testified
he did not send nor authorize to be
sent. It summoned Earnshaw home,
saying his wife was sick. Earnshaw
wont homo and found his wife attend
ing an infare over milo from home.
She was not sick and had not been.
The whole scheme was to gain time and
devise way to falsify the returns.
Before the recount was resumed at
New 8Iartinsville Earnshaw entered
the court house when Nobody else was
there and scratched Atkinson's name
off thirty-two ballots. Every officer OF
election ut Archer Fork and Robin
sons precincts testified that these tick
cts were not scratched when they
counted them, and every Republican
voter in the precincts swore he had
voted for Atkinson.
Said Mr.. Atkinson: eve had straight
information that Earnshaw afterwards
said he did scratch the ballots, and he
offered to swear to it at the last cleo
ton for 500. He said he got big money
for doing it. More, he said he tore
from the string 104 straight Republican
tickets and put in their places 104
straight Democratic ones"
"Why was there never any criminal
prosecution ?" the reporter asked.
"Simply because the U. S. law, pre-
pared by Judge Edmunds, made no
provision for such fraud. It pro-
vided for every sort of crime up to the
count of the ballots and sealing them
in the bags, but as to crimes after that
it was silent.
"When I went to Washington l called
the matter to the attention of the COM
mittee and at the chairman's request
wrote report concerning it. The law
was then so amended, without q dis
senting vote, as to catch ballot box
thieves who operate after, as we'll aH be-
fore, the first count.
"Would not prosecution lie in the
state courts ?"
ayes. Judge Jacob. then on the
bench in Wetzel county, called the
grand jury's attention to it, but that
body simply ignored it."