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

~
H. e. BOEN.
Candidate for Congressman From tn
Seventh District.
But this is not ALL The testimony
reveals the names of only six of the
PARTIES who were bribed by j. V.
Brewer, of st. Cloud, in his canvass of
Todd and Morrison counties, and to
these six men he paid out only $500,
but he testities that he may have
similarly employed hundred parties
and he does not know whe Their he paid
out $50 or $500. In the case of VIM M.
Leyde, another of the agents sent out
by WaShburn, we have the name of
only one Of the men he hired to work
at the polls, Henry Monroe, while it is
in evidence that he canvassed nearly
every town in the county and hired a
number OF men whose names he re-
fused to disclose. We find that at
| Crookston there were 173 illegal votes,
and the testimony shows that 6S of
these were railroad hands who were
! all paid for their votes. The proba-
bility is very great that the larger
part Of the other 1O5 votes were cast
by railroad hands similarly paid for
their votes.
In Minneapolis the whole atmos-
phere was clouded with bribery. The
evidence shows that large sums of
money, many thousands of dollars,
had been spent for corrupt purposes.
A startling revolution in the political
feelings of the voters was accomplish
ed on the eve of the election: and all
the testimony indicates that this was
brought about by bribery and intimi-
dation. There was no attempt on the
part Of the sitting member to account
for this extraordinary revolution, or
to answer the testimony showing
bribery.
1t must not be forgotten that brib-
cry is secret crime: both the parties
to it are equally interested in keeping
it secret; and when detected both are
ready to give ingenious explanations
of it. If they have acknowledged to
third parties the receipt of the bride,
they are ready to declare, when called
to the witness stand. that they were
in favor of the bride giver before the
money was offered; or that they voted
for his opponent; or that the money
was paid by some one else, some
nameless party, for some other pur-
pose.
Under these circumstances when it
is shown that in an election over 800
cases of bribery and attempted brib-
cry are proven, the presumption is not
violent that for every case that was,
by accident, or the indiscretion of the
parties, brought to the light, the re
were others that were never revealed.
The records of the contested cleo
tion cases of Congress will be searched
in vain for parallel to this case 1t
shows that the people of this Congress
sional district were debauched to the
last degree; the witnesses in many
cases, defend the practice Of buying
| up voters to foregO their principles !:
the parties who received the brides in
| many instances bOasted to their
neighbors of the money they have re-
ceived, and seemed to be proud of the
high price for which they had sold
themselves: and the sitting member
did not think it at all necessary to call
witnesses to deny or explain away this
overwhelming mass of corruption.
Nothing could testify more strongly
to the degeneracy Of the age and the
depths to which popular suffrage has
fallen than the revelations made in
| this extraordinary case.
1t is clearly established principle
| of law, both in England and the
United States, that bribery commit
ted by the sitting member or Shy any
agent Of the sitting member, with or
without the knowledge or direction of
his principal, renders the election
void" (See FELTON, VS.. Easthorpe,
Rogers Law and Practice of Elections,
22D.
In England bribery is an ofense of so
heinous a character. and SO utterly SUBJ
versive of the freedom of elections, that,
when proved to have been committed
though in one instance only, and though a
la S.. II. $50; Coventry, Peckwell /, 81: Maine
freedom Of election is violated by ex-
ternal violence, by which the electors are
constrained, or by bribery by which their
will is corrupted; and. in all cases, where
these ways from the exercise of their
rights, the election will be void without
reference to the number of votes affected
thereby. (Cushing's Par. Law, p. IS. 1871
The same doctrine was affirmed by
the House of Representatives in the
recent case of Platt VS.. Goode, second
Congressional district, Virginia. (See
Contested Elect, 1S71-'76, page 654).
The report, adopted bv the House,
declares:
These bribed votes should not be count
ed. The record furnishes no method for
their elimination Their acceptance can
only lie avoided by applying the rule of
law, SO we'll known and of such general
adoption that it need scarcely be reDeated
here, that when illegal and fraudulent
votes have been proven. and the poll can
not be Purged with reasonable certainty,
the whole vote must be rejected.
But your committee do not think t
necessary to rest the decision of this
case upon this principle of law. al
though they believe that the evidence
shows conclusively not only that
Or. berry was committed in multitnde
OF Instances. but that a great number
OF these cases were traced home to the
sitting member. They are of the
opinion that the evidence shows that
the contestant had majority of the
legal votes cast and returned.
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