Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-01
RIERSTEAD'S ANSWER FILED
He Makes General Denial to Allegations Of
Jacobsen.
INTENDS TO Be A COUNTY COMMISSIONER
Declares that IT Mistakes We're Mad
in the Count They Were In
Favor of His Com
Detitor.

Halfdan Jacobsen could not exc much
comfort out of the answer of William L
Kierstead to his complaint contesting Kier-
stead's election to the county commissioner
ship of the Fourth district, which was filed
yesterday in the county court. For in 1t
Klerstead admits that he claims that he was
elected to the office, and admits that he in
tends to enter upon it. Furthermore, he
says that when he gets in he intends to
stay in. and he does not intend to allow
Jacobsen or any one else to usurp the office
by force or fraud or in any other way. In
the meanwhile he states that he is willing
for Jacobsen to go ahead with the contest, as
he wants the matter settled, and inciden-
tally wants Jacobsen to pay over the costs of
the action.
Jacobsen began the contest several days
ago, chiefly at the instigation of his I'M
prejudiced friends, who want to get him
into the Office even mere than he wants to
get there himself. In his complaint he
made no allegations of fraud, but said that
in twenty-four out of the twenty-five pre-
cincts in the three wards, the Third, Eighth
and Ninth, represented in the district, there
we're mistakes made in the count, which, IL
rectified, would elect him instead of Kier-
stead. In the other precinct, the Sixth OF
the Eighth ward, it was alleged that no
electors voted, although the returns show
that Kierstead received III ballots and
Jacobsen eighty-four.
In general, Jacobssn's claim to the office
amounts to nothing more than the bare
statement that in each Of the precincts ten
or fifteen votes were counted by mistake
which should have been counted for him
self. On this basis he calculates that he
was elected by a vote of 2,305 to 1,97T, in
stead of being defeated by a vote of 2,2l5
to 2,154.
Jacobsen has so far made no attempt to
show that in any of the precincts mistakes
were made. He simply makes the bare
statement that the judges and clerks Of
election are so hurried in their work that
they frequently make mistakes. He does
not see that such mistakes are likely to
be made in favor of one candidate as well
as of another. He has, however, still an
other reason for believing that there was
something wrong about his defeat. He does
not see how it was that the entire repub-
lican ticket was elected with the exception
Of himself. This makes him pause and
think that there is something rotten in Den
mark.
In his answer Kierstead denies in general
that there were any more votes counted for
him than there were cast for him, and
denies that more votes were cast for Jacob
sen than were counted. He says that If any
mistakes were made in the count by the
judges and clerks of election Jacobsen got
the benefit of the mistakes. The allegation
that no electors voted in the Sixth precinct
Of the Eighth ward is dubbed a falsehood.
This allegation was made on the ground
that the judges and clerks had not been
legally sworn in, and that therefore all votes
cast in the precinct were Illegal and should
be thrown out.
Kierstead has received a certificate of
election from the county clerk and his filed
with the county judge an official bond for
$15, 900.