The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-12-01

chosen by the attorneys who had preceaSa
him. He urged that the proceeding
shonld be governed by the practice act OF
1893. q. in civil actions and that previous
laws had been entirely swept away oy that
one act.
Mr.. Tailman, speaking for the contest
ant, replied that the action before the
court y as not civil action, but speeia'
proceeding, and "a such did not fall under
the act of 1898. Any elector, he SAID, was
empowered by the Law 10 prosecute sach
an action, and it therein differed from the
civil action which must be commenced
and carried on by the immediate parties IN
interest The special provisions oil the
law previous to the act of 1883 governed In
the case at bar, and these provisions had
been followed by the attorneys for Cor
don.
This case was also taken under advise
ment. the court instructing witnesses 10
be in the court Monday morning at 1880.
when he will pass upon the motion. The
Jones' Nickerson case IS also on Mondays
calendar.
Winsor. Bush & Morris, of counsel for
Meyer, are a SO conducting the contest
cases in Kitsap county, and II the writ OF
citation is quashed Of Judge Langley the
same thing may be done Dy Judge Denny,
provided the attorneys tor the contestees
do not waive their right by general ap-
pearance. The papers in the hltsap
county cases are said to be exactly similar
to those in the Meyer case.
The attorneys came to the court room
prepared for hard struggle, and the dis
interested SPECTATORS enjoyed the battle OF
brains. The arguments compelled strictest
attention, and throughout the day large
crowd was present. In the jury box
while Mr.. Burleigh vas speaking dozen
attorneys occupied the chairs. among
them Col. Lewis and John f. HUMPHREYS.
watching the orator drive his points home
with the well-known sledge hammer ges-
ture. stranger standing just outside the
attorneys entrance looked on and made
this comment:
well, I've seen many jury. but l
must say that this one in Seattle Is the
most intelligent ever ran across. By the
way, what makes that lawyer talk so hard
TO the Judge? he hasn't looked at the
Jury for ten minutes Ii he wants to win
his case he'd batter talk TO them"
The ballots questioned by the contest
ants have been locked I'D and sealed In
the vaults in the surveyors office ever
since the probability of a contest arose,
vet there has been some apprehension
among voters that they were not Alto
gether safe. The night the count was
completed a man presented himself at the
courthouse and announced his intention
to guard the ballots, and as the boxes were
not then in the vault, County Auditor
Twichell, not entirely confident as to the
meaning of the visit. sat up with the bal
lots also. notwithstanding he was
almost exhausted by continuous hard
work. The next day the ballots
were locked up and sealed, and Mr..
Twicheil, who alone knows the combina-
ton 10 the big steel door. went off on a
vacation. Nevertheless the "guard" re-
NAMED, and ever since there has been one ,
or more men in the surveyors Office. keep
ing close watch that nothing happens 10
defeat the will of the people. AS fast as
one man becomes fatigued another takes
ms place. and never for a moment has the
watch been out of the room. Yesterday j.
II. Hill was on guard. He passed has time
in a game of solitaire and looked COM
Portable enough. He said he was one OF a
committee from the Western Central La
Dor Union. representing no political faith,
and that he had been detailed for the
work along with several others, most of
them bricklayers by occupation. like him.
self. His companions have been William
Blackman, Peter Murray, Fred Pike, j. c.
Boyle and two or three others.
The election contests in this county call
to mind decision of the New York court
of appeals. summarized in the November
issue of the american Ldwyer, arising
from peculiar state of facts. An election
was held in the town OF Spencer February
10, 1891 Some of the officials believed
that the terms of all the excise commits.
sioners had expired, and all the printed
ballots bore the names of three candidates
for excise commissioner. All of the |
voters except one cast ballots bearing
the three names. As matter of tact, the
term of only one commissioner had