The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-10-22
Britt and Rogers the Second
Ward Registrars.
ROGERS WAS BOUND OVER
Britt Was Allowed to go Away
a Free Man.
THE LOST REGISTRATION BOOK
Those Who Heard the Evidence Con-
sidered Britt the GuiItier Man of
the Two in Negiectng
Official Duties.

nl%lSJ lINOiQlttkti l1.e S<ASAeb@AA9N|NA -
crowd of spectators in the Mayors
court Yesterday morning, as George W.
Britt walked out of the room.
George Rogers, the negro registrar
in the second division of the Second
ward. and who. claiming to have lost
the original registration book, had just
been On trial for criminal negligence
an the discharge OF ais duties. Though
the evidence against Rogers had bNen
strong and conclusive, that against
Britt, as incidentally brought out i'll
the inyes tigation, had been even more
80 And when the negro was oound
over in d bond or $50 for his appearance
at the next term Of court, and no one
stepped forward to swear out a war
rant, indignation burned in the hearts
of many who had stood around and
listened to the evidence. More than
one was heard to say, Il believe Britt
stole that registration book himself.
The negro is the more honorable man
of the two" And yet there was not one
of them who dared become responsible
for a warrant for his arrest, though
Mayor Russ detained him in the court
room for half an hour that it might be
done.
Britt is a man of some fifty years of
age. He has a thin, struggling beard,
watery gray eyes, and a lean and hum
gry look ON his sharp face. As he sat
In the witness box yesterday, with his
overcoa,t buttoned up around his miser-
able form, and giving, in a querulous,
soprano voice, his version of the d1sap-
pearance of the registration book, he
was as mean a looking man as ever step
ped in two shoes or defied the law.
He began by saying that he was one
of the registrars for the second divis-
ion of the Second ward, but that he
didn't know what party he was suppos-
ed to represent. He said he was chair
man and had charge of the book, but
had let Rogers have the book, on either
last Monday or Tuesday a week ago,
and had never seen it since. He said
he asked Rogers about the book, and
he told him it was ait home locked up
in his trunk. He said Rogers told him
laber-on Monday morning-that he
put it up on a shelf and went out of
his shop to get some money changed,
and when he came book the book was
gone. The witness claimed that he had
not, discovered the fraud until Sunday,
and then he thought it was a mistake
and he had Rogers's book, and he went
TO see Rogers about it, and Rogers ac-
knowledged that it was lost, and asked
him to go to the barber shop with
hmm in order that he might explain the
matter and prove by the boy, Charles
Young, who was in the office, that he
had put the book on a shelf and it had
been stolen.
when we got to the office we asked
n Il n
he knew nothing about it. Rogers
then got excited, and wanted me 10 go
to his shop and he would explain the
whole matter and prove it by those in
the shop. When we reached the shop
nobody seemed to know anything
about it, and when / further insisted
on a satisfactory explanation, he told
me il would step out back of the shop
he would settle it to my satisfaction"
On REORGANIZATION by the Mayor,
Britt said he knew that he was custo-
dian of the book, but he let Rogers
have it because he had previously let
Capt. Watts have it. Britt said that he
didn't register single name on the
last Saturday. and he didn't help them
tally up the result of the registration,
and that when the book was given him
cluded. it was wrapped up in q paper,
and he didn't examine it until Sunday.
He said he left the place of registration
soon after the registration began, and
did not return until about noon. Then
he left Immediately to find a man who
was incorrectly registered, and did
not return again until about time the
registration closed, and then Rogers
u IrN0ly mn IN a
and handed it TO him tied up.
At this point Mayor Russ said that
even on Britt's own testimony he was
equally as guilty as Rogers and he
rave notice that he would include him
in the warrant. Attorney Devereux
objected, saving that he was not there
to defend Britt, but that he didn't
want the Rogers matter to be COM
plicated with anything else. City At
torney, j. N. Holding agreed with Mr..
Devereux and advised the Mayor that
this could not be done and that sep
arate warrant for Britt would be nee
essary and saying that he hoped some
one would swear out such a warrant
the Mayor proceeded with the testi-
mony in the Rogers case.
Can't. J. T. Watts, the Democratic
registrar. next took the stand and
after examining the spurious book
said it was the one that he and
Rogers had used on last Saturday.
but not the original registration book.
He went on to say that after the first
DAVIS registration he had found it inn
practicable to keep list Of the voters
as they were registered, and so he
went to Britt and asked permission to
copy Britt's book. Britt refused to al
low this, saying that he would have
to ask Clerk Young about 1t. Nothing
more was said about the matter until
Mr.. Watts went to Britt's house
and found Rogers at work on Britt's
book. Then Britt told him (Watts)
that he might use the book too after
Rogers got through with it. The first
he knew of the disappearance of the
book, he said, was Saturday when he
suspected something wrong. by finding
a voters name scratched. He asked
p1~orarS aho1,t n INIT did not nrat an ax-