The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-11
THE ELECTION CONTEST CASE.

The Utah county election contest was
decided yesterday unanimously in favor
of the Democratic member retaining his
seat. 1t will be remembered that Re
publicans charged election frauds in
Utah county last fall, and notice of
contest was filed for three seats in the
egislature-those of Messrs. Smoot,
Larsen and Lennon. a special com
missioner was appointed to take the
evidence at Provo, and during the time
that the evidence was being taken the
Republican press was loud in its claims
of Democratic fraud and vileness in
conducting elections, and the crime
against the ballot in this case was
declared to be appalling. In due
time the evidence taken. in the case
was forwarded to the legislature, and
referred to the committee on elections,
which went through the evidence. Such
was the state of the evidence that the
majority of the committee in their re-
port recommended that the contest in
the case Of Messrs. Smoot and Larsen
be dismissed, but that Lennon be IN
seated in favor of Bringhurst, Republi-
can. This. of itself. was a mighty
shrinking in that volume of fraud
charged upon the Democrats of Utah
county. Two-thirds of the fume and
froth of Republican charges of fraud
were voluntarily blown away by "a
committee, the majority of which was
Republican This, of itself, was
mighty falling down of Republicans;
but the end of their humiliation was
not yet.
The majority of the committee re-
commended that Hyrum Lennon
Oemoorat) be unseated in favor of J.
z. Bringhurst Republican,. Against
this the Democratic minority brought
in an able report. presenting such a
view of the case that if men had any
respect for fairness in elections, and
regard for reason, the Democrat could
not possibly be unseated in favor of
the Republican. This report was
so well supplemented by the
able presentation of the case
by Representatives Mansfield of
Wayne and Smoot of Provo and others,
that yesterday the whole case went to
pieces and was decided by rejecting the
majority report by vote that was
unanimous save five Notes.-The Re
publican members of the election COM
mfttee voting to sustain it. 1t was
then decided by a unanimous vote to
dismiss the case of contest for the
seat of Mr.. Lennon, and thus ended
this Republican fiasco of contesting
seats in the legislature. They certain
ly have had full opportunity to prove
their case A Republican committee
on elections on the evidence presented
recommended the dismissal of two
out of the three cases. They
doubtless would. have dismissed
the other but for the fear
Of humiliation to the Republican party.
A Republican house, however, decided
against the remaining case. The Demo-
Gratis only argued the case, but they
did that effectually, so effectually, in
fact, that a Republican house had to
decide against Republican charges of
fraud.
What now becomes of these mendaci-
Gus Republican charges of election
frauds in Utah county? What of the
malicious inunendoes against the late
Utah commission? How fiat and hol-
low now sounds this paragraph from
the editorial columns of the Salt Lake
Tribune while the evidence in these
cases was being taken at Provo:
The developments of fraud and ir-
Irregularities at the Utah county cleo
ton, as drawn out by the testimony,
the taking of which was concluded at
Provo yesterday, are appalling; they
show rotten state of affairs such as
could not possibly exist under amy
other circumstances than that such
an odorous body as the Utah commits
sion should have the ultimate say.
There is am air-sniffing top-loftiness
in that which seems to say we alone
are the good, the pure, the honestl But
the wind-bag charges OF fraud were
pricl1ed by Democratic argument and
even a Republican legislature had to
decree the escapement of the gas.