The record-union., 1896-02-21
A BATCH OF INDICTMENTS.
Five of the Eight First Precinct EleC-
ton Officers Arrested.
The Other Three Are Absent-0 Officer
Rutherford and George Dowdger
Also Indicted.

| Sheriff Johnson did land Office busi-
ness yesterday afternoon. He had a
great many unwilling visitors, and
though they all smiled and cracked a
joke or two, it was quite apparent that
they were not in very amiable moods.
These visitors were citizens whom the
Grand Jury had indicted and friends
who had come to give bail for them.
The indictments were returned in
Judge Catlin's court in the forenoon,
and were ten in number. After they
had been recorded by the Clerk war
rants were made out and placed in the
hands of Sheriff Johnson, and that Off
cial sent out his deputies to bring in the
indicted parties.
All the members of the election board
in the First Precinct of the First
conniving at fraudulent balloting on the
9th of November last, at the city cleo
tion. The members of the board were:
Inspectors-Frank Gregory and Jas.
r. Brown.
Judges-George Anderson and George
Wagner
Clerks-George I. Brady and George
French.
Ballot CIerks-I. J. Simmons and B. L.
Taylor
The Grand Jury claims to have proof
that more ballots were cast ait that poll
ing place than there were voters in the
precinct; that there were several in
stances of men voting more than once,
and that the names of men both among
''the quick and the dead" were voted
over and over. Nothing has transpired
to indicate in whose interest these al
legged fraudulent ballots were cast
| Beside indicting these election officers
the Grand Jury presented two other in
dictments. One was against a young
lad named Dowdger, who is alleged to
have spattered shot upon Japanese
several months ago south of the city.
He says he shot at some birds, but that
his gun was of the scattering kind and
some of the shot tickled the Jap.
Officer w. P. Rutherford was also in
dicted. He is accused of having COM
mitted perjury in swearing in the Police
Court that he saw George Sprout in this
city one morning while the latter was
serving a term in the Yolo jail. The
next day Rutherford corrected his
statement, saying that he must have
made a mistake in the day. This does
not, however, appear to have been salts
factory to the Grand Jury.
The first one arrested of those in
dicted was young Dowdger. He was
brought in by Deputy George Kelly
from where he is employed, at Llewel-
lyn's meat market, Tenth and Q streets.
His employer came along and went bail
for him, and the young man did not
have to go into the jail.
Frank Gregory was the next man to
show up with an officer. Deputy
Schwilk escorted him to the Sheriff's
office, and ex-Cfty Trustee William Nc
Laughlin and Thomas Fox accom-
panied them and gave a bail bond in the
sum of $1,000 each. Gregory went
away smiling.
officer Rutherford came in few
minutes later with Deputy Hunters and
two bondsmen in the persons of M. A.
Howard and Max Hornlein. His bond
was approved and he returned to his
beat.
He had barely departed when Ike
Simmons showed up, having heard that
he was wanted. Jake Zemansky and G.
b. Demartini accompanied Simmons
and qualified in the sum of $4,000 each
as his bondsmen.
George Anderson, the next of the
First Precinct election officers to put in
an appearance, was piloted to the Sher-
ifs office by Deputy Schwilk. n. Ze-
mansky and ]. ]. Simmons were his
bCndsmen.
These latter two also went on the
bonds of James r. Brown and B. L.
Taylor, the only other members of the
election board that could be found in
the city. George French, George Wag-
ner and G. I. Brady, the other three
members, have not been seen here for a
long time and are probably beyond
reach