Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-04-28

bets, because of the manifest frauds. 1t
was stated last night however, that
they had concluded there was no rem
edy, and the bets would be paid.
There was a good deal of talk Of
contest between Davis and Henning, but
efforts were at once made TO prevent
this and it is understood they were sue
cessful. The inference is that any close
scrutiny of the poll books and ballots
would mean no end of trouble.
The Slick manner in which the ring
magnates made Sam Boyce believe they
were wild him, when they were really
against him. is the admiration of all
who love slick work. Sam was thrown
good and hard and the ring people say
he will never recover from the injuries
received.
An explanation of the discrepancy
between the vote for Sheriff and that
of Circuit Clerk is that many non-resi-
dents and minors simply voted for
Sheriff, scratching the rest of the ticket.
There is no explanation, however. as to
lllC OiSSl CJdINN vi LsNO HuHult GU vi SO
between the total vote reported as cast
and the total for Sheriff. That phase
of the result has looked funny all along.
In Madison, for instance. the total vote
reported was 1,202, but the total for
Sheriff is but 1850. Where did the odd
50 votes go?
The early returns received by the Ex-
ecutive Committee at the City Hall,
Saturday night. showed that the total
vote of the county was 6,516. The to-
tai vote cast for Sheriff was $3.50, or
1871 less than the total vote, and there
were more votes cast for the Office of
Sheriff than for any other Office. 1t is
fair to presume that every one who cast
a ballot voted for a candidate for Sher-
if. and many voted for Sheriff and for
nothing else. The discrepancy between
the vote for Sheriff in Madison district
alone was %, and in several others it
is large AS the total vote for Sheriff is
larger than the total vote for any other
office, the "eXplanation" can not be
made that some voters scratched all the
Sheriff candidates and voted for minor
offices. The Intelligencer glories in the
large total vote, but it nowhere prints
the exact number cast. nor does it print
table of the total vote by districts,'
but it does say that ION some Of the bal
lots two names were left for Sheriff,
and, of course, these ballots were not
counted for anybody" from which we
are TO infer that 157 voters were so
careless in voting as to leave two or
more names of candidates for the most
important office on the ballots they cast.
The explanation is exceedingly lame,
to say the least Did 80 voters out OF
/ POP, or four and one-half per cent.
/ make such a mistake? 1t does not APP
pear reasonable, and few people will
believe it, Another explanation was
made by Republican yesterday. thus:
"The difference between the total vote
and the vote for Sheriff represents ring
ballots, which were not needed, and
were not reported because the plurality
for Richards was already so large as to
excite comment. and to add $50 more to
it. making his lead 700, instead OF 542,
would have endangered serious trouble
from the other candidates. They were
beaten badly enough as it was, and l
think some Richards votes were sup
pressed in a few Of the late precincts"
Wonder which explanation is the cor
rect one?
81 have read about election frauds in
Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia and
New York" said a Republican yester-
day. "but never expected to see them
here in Wheeling. l am satisfied the
Republican ring in this county can give
the Chicago artists points Why, they
could have polled another thousand
votes, Saturday, and they would have
done so. too, had Moffat and Travis
been little stronger. Tom Moffat
would not have been allowed to win,
had he had $500 straight and honest
Republican votes on his side, and the
same with Travis. They simply spent
their money and time in tucking against
inevitable defeat"