The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-10-17


spring election of 1878 was as follows:
Republican ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. / 2l5
Democratic ,0A
IOtal 259
At the congressional election, November
5, 1878, the vote in these seven precincts
was as follows:
Washburn .......................2,28 2
Donnelly ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 522
IOtaI OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. ,SO4
Thus while the vote in the fall was but
54o more than it was in the spring, the Re-
publican majority was ten times great:
republican majority spring of 1878... Ill
Republican majority fall Of 1873 100
The total vote Of the city in 1876 at the
presidential election was 7,841 If now we
add u per cent for the increase of popu-
lation the total vote in 1878 should have
peen 9,o66
Instead of that it was ...................6,59 2
A falling off Of 964
In round numbers the vote cast in 1878
was 81 per cent less than the actual vote of
the city. L is conceded that the canvass
of 1878 was one of the most vigorous ever
made in the city p. 1O6-O; but while it
brought out the full Republican VOTE near
~ 5000 Democrats failed to vote; or if
any considerable part of them voted for
Washburn, then an equal number of
Republicans must have refused to vote for
him. There can be no question that
large part of these men were the employees,
who feared to vote for Donnelly lest they
should lose their places.
1t cannot be claimed that Mr.. Washburn
increased the Republican vote of the city
from 355 to $780, and the Republican vote
of the seven precincts from Ill to 1850 be-
cause of his personal popularity; because
it is in evidence that he was not popular
(see PIP. Ill, 27O. A comparison of his vote
in the district outside of Minneapolis with
the vote cast for Hayes in 1876, proves
that he very unpopular. The vote
stands follows:
Hayes, 1910 .......... .................. l9'ol5
Washburn, 1873 ............... ......... IA ,65S
Washburn ran behind Hayes -. 4,915
But, if from Washburn's vote there be
deducted the railroad, bribed and illegal
vote of POLK and Kittson county,, $50 in
all, he will be found to have run behind
Hayes in the district outside of Minneap
oils, 5270 votes, in total vote of 1858
On the contrary, Mr.. Donnelly's vote
compares favorably with the total vote for
Tilden and Cooper, in the district exclusive
of Minneapolis, thus
Tilden and Cooper ............... 16,126
Donnelly vote ...............1o,926
Add for votes of "Polk and
kittson county" ............... 500
-16. PSI
Domelly runs ahead of
Tilden and Cooper .......... 155
Now asked to believe that while
Mr.. Washburn fell behind Hayes vote out
side of Minneapolis $40 votes that he
ran ahead of Hayes in Minneapolis 3105
votes! And this, notwithstanding the fact
that the populatio of Minneapolis consists
largely of workingmen, who had placed
Mr.. Donnelly in nomination as their candi-
date for congress, and among whom it
appears, Mr. Washburn had no friends
And, notwithstanding the further fact,
that Minneapolis may be regarded as de-
batable ground, politically. In 1876 the
Democratic candidate for congress, Me
Nair, carried the city by about 500 ma
jority and the county by over 1000 ma
jority In April, 1876 the Democrats and
workingmen elected a Democratic mayor
in Minneapolis by 356 majority, and carried
the wards embracing the territory now
embraced in the seven wards where the
ballots were numbered by 525 majority
The vote stood therein
Republicans ................. ......... S47
Democratic majority ............. 525
The testimony produces the conviction
that Mr.. Donnelly was sweeping the dis
trict outside of Minneapolis and carrying
all before him; that he popular in
Minneapolis especially among the work
ingnlen, and that the workngmen const-
tuted majority of the total population.
That in this emergency the sitting mem
Der and his friends formed a conspiracy
to arrest the tide of defeat by bribery and
intimidation; and that their last intrench-
ment was the seven precincts where, in
effect, they make the workingmen vote
viva voce for Washburn take the
chances of starvation. And it is a singu-
lar and suspicious circumstance that the
vote of two of these seven precincts, two
precincts where Washburn claims 7o6 ma
jority,
WE'RE NOT RETURNED UNTIL EIGHT
DAYS AFTER THE ELECTION,
although they should have been returned
on the morning after the election; and
then when they were returned one of the
two precincts is claimed for Washburn by
4S3 majority, while one of the clerks of
the election therein produced the original
tally sheet of the election, showing but rs
majority for Washburn in that precinct
instead of 4S3. (See p. 275) And when the
counsel for Washburn, in the performance
of his professional duty. subpoenaed the
officers in charge of the ballot boxes to
produce the ballots of these precincts,
knowing, a lawyer that that was the
best and therefore the proper legal evil
dence of the actual vote cast, and when
the officers stood ready to have the votes
counted, the contestee held his counsel
back, and permitted the ballot boxes to be
returned unopened Was this done because
he preferred to risk the throwing out of
FOG of his majority rather than have the
secrets of those ballot boxes, where the
votes had been numbered, revealed to the
public eye? What powerful motive could
have constrained him to such a course?
We have therefore reached the conclu-
sion that the votes cast in the seven pre-
cncts where the ballots were numbered
should be deducted, not alone because they
were SO numbered, but because such num-
bering corruptly DONE with intent
to intmidate the workingmen residing in
those precincts; and because it was part of
general conspiracy of the friends and
supporters of Mr.. Washburn to prevent a
free and untrammeled expression of the
preference of the voters.
SUPPLEM ENTAIL RETURNS.
1t will be seen that in the foregoing re-
port we have not rejected the vote of any
county because it was unorganized; neither
have we rejected the vote of any precinct
because of the numbering of the ballots per
Sc, but because such numbering was one of |
the incidents of a system of fraud and in |
timidation; neither have we rejected the |
votes of any counties for mere informali-
ties on the face of the returns; but only
for those gross irregularities which We're
manifestly incompatible with legal can
vass of the votes.
The following table summarizes the re
suits of Investigations in this case:
SUMMARY.
The total vote returned for
William D. Washburn was. 2O942
This includes the supplemental
returns from Hennepin county.
Add to this the votes cast, but
not returned for him, in the
counties of Stearns and Nor
rison, viz, Stearns, Ill., Nor
rison 6S--total. 212 |