St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-10


others, and Matt Jensen developed a
| good deal of strength.
NINTH WARD DISGRACED.
Most Outrageous Primary Ever
Seen in the City.
The Ninth ward Republican primary
election yesterday afternoon presented
the most disgraceful scenes ever wit
messed in this city. Even nine police
men were unable to preserve order with
drawn clubs. There wero several hun
dred men at the polls at the historic
corner of Jackson and Valley streets
some time prior to the opening of the
polls. The two policemen at the place
saw that they were unable to control
the crowd. and call for assistance was
sent to the Rondo station.
About o'clock. the hour set for COM
mencing to vote, five additional police
men appeared at the top of Merriam
hill in sight of the polling place. Ser
| geant Rose and an assistant were then
engaged in an effort to beat back the
crowd with their clubs, and seeing the
relief shouted several times for them
to come to his assistance. The five
policemen drew their clubs and rushed
into the crowd. For several minutes
there was hard fight with the crowd.
Men were beaten back with policemen'S
clubs, and citizens joined in helping to
choke off and drag away the men, who
fought like tigers to be allowed to vote
Word was sent to the Rondo station
that riot was imminent, and Capt.
Lowell. with the only officer left at the
station besides the driver, went to the
scene in the patrol wagon. There was
comparative order restored by this time,
but the presence of Capt. Lowell, with
nine Officers and the patrol wagon driv-
ing around the crowd, did not serve to
entirely check the disorder. Seven of
the policemen, with drawn clubs, stood
in front OF the door of the storeroom.
where store box was placed for the re-
ception of the ballots, and it required
hard work to keep the crowd from surg
ing into the doorway and obstructing
the passage thereto. It was almost
constantly necessary to be pushing and
driving men along. and to prevent
breaking the long line { voters that
tried 20 pass in review.
Timothy Reardon stood in the door,
way, which had been barred up with
board nailed across it, and beside him
stood the two other judges. Henry Hin
kins and Henry Lawson. Aid. Reardon
directed the officers how to proceed.
and was in constant consultation with
strikers, who went and gave him infor-
nation frequently, and were often
I called for and sent away with whispered
instructions to the outskirts of the
crowd.
Thomas Howard stood at the doorway.
| and whenever friend went to speak
to him he was dragged away by police
| men at the order of Mr.. Reardon.
A number of Republicans declared
they ever saw or heard of at an election,
and went away disgusted. Many Of
them said that MI. R3ardou was deter
! mined to force certain ticket through.
and denounced his course in vigorous
terms.
M. j. Costello tore his hair, and de-
clared that the widest Democratic
primary ever held in the ward was not
"a marker to the scenes of yesterday. He
said he could be quoted as saying that
it was simply the most disgracetul thing
that had ever occurred in the city.
There are three tickets for ward al der
man: Thomas Howard, II. j. Gray and
Sherman E. Day The Howard tickets
first presented were white. and the
ground in front of the polling place
soon became white with ballots that
were thrown away by MIR. Rear don. who
took the tickets and passed to the box
sucn as he wished to deposit, and either
threw Oh the ground or put in his
pocket such as were refused. Shortly
after o'clock it was learned that Mr..
Howard had made a slick move, and
that his tickets had changed color, so
that when they were folded they had
the appearance In size and color of the
Day blue tickets.
Then other tactics were resorted to
to defeat this move of the Howard men.
All those who came up to vote after
that who were not known to the judges
were challenged. They were asked
who they voted for last, and if the
answer was not promptly given they
were told to move on, and their ballots
were rejected. Those who said they
voted for Knute Nelson, and answered
other questions satisfactorily, were al
lowed to vote. But many votes were
thrown out. In some instances where
the questions were apparently an
sweIed correctly the ballots were
thrown away after the men left the
door. One such is John Roman, who
was astonished when told that his ballot
had been thrown away. He said that
he has lived IN the city for years, and
has always voted the Republican ticket.
1t was openly charged that good Re-
publicans of the ward had their votes
| thrown out. There were scores who
wanted to vote. and were refused the
right because they refused to answer
all the questions put to them.
The Howard men challenged votes
and claimed that there was repeating
being done by their opponents. They
challenged man who claimed to be
named Williams. and charged that he is
DR.. FitZsimmons, who had already voted.
His ballot was accepted.
The fighting continued with all its
bitterness until the polls closed, and
even afterwards in the store room while
| counting the ballots.
While seated around the stove warm.
ing up preparatory to counting the vote.
there was a tilt between Mr.. Reardon
and Mr.. Howard. The latter suggested
| to Mr.. Reardon that the judges count
| the ballots as whole the first thing.
|