Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-05-04


/ dorsement ard approval Of that particular
/ fraud. Your attempts 20 refuJe what you
/ affect 20 regard as caiumaious accusations
/ Of corruption. is couched n what was ap-
| parently meant 20 be terms OF c.rcumsiau-
/ tial gravity and righteous Indignation. but
| let ne assure you. my dear boy, that your
| denial Of the charges OF nefarious no. 10
\ say criminal. work on the part of the ring
! the allegations OF which are almost wholly
/ made by members Of the political organi-
! cation TO which you belong. and OF which
! he Intelligencer claims 10 be the organ.
/ and your assurances that the said election
/ was altogether a holy and righteous thing
/ are az once laughable and exasperat.ng-
/ laughab.e from The extreme transparency
/ Of your discourse, and exasperat.ng from
! the fact that you endeavor 10 deny or
/ cover up what practically everyone knows
/ 10 be true. In other words, your effort OF
| Saturday morning adds insult 20 injury
and Is 50 regarded by The grea, majority
y OF the honest and reputable republicans Of
! Ohio county II you nope. by that sort OF
! literary effort. TO hood-wink. deceive and
! ds.ude The four or five thousand men whose
/ preferences were nega,ived and whose
/ choice was reversed and annulled by the
4 hundreds upon hundreds of fraudulent
votes po.led on the 18th of April, le, me
/ say 10 YOU. In all candor. tina; you are
wasting your time. insulting your readers
| and occupying Otherwise valuable space
10 worse than no purpose.
! After half a column Of very general gen
eralit.es. during which you dwell upon The
as,ouishment OF the Democracy a. the size
! OF the Republican vote, etc, you launch
J out upon copious contradiction of the
allegations against the ring. and attempt
20 deny ;he widespread belief in and dis
I gust az the methods used 10 "elec," the
! ring favorites over the honest sentiment Of
Ohio couny Republicans. In The course Of
/ your effor; you say
AS 20 the first charge the percentage
Z or Illegal votes was not great Ter than a. tho
I average election in when a heavy vote is
/ pOlled, perhaps not as great
The devil il wasn't George? Think
. moment, And after thinking a moment
is tina; your deliberate estimate and judg
men, as 20 the honesty OF Ohio county gen
eral elections? Nice opinion you have of
I the people OF your adopted county and
/ city, 10 be sure, The percentage OF lie
/ gal voters" "a general elections in Ohio
/ county. for twenty years past. has GER
,ainly not been one-;enJh OF one per cent.
/ A. the Republican primary, on the tes;i-
/ mony Of Republicans themselves, the per-
/ ceu-age of illegal voters was certainly
/ eight or ten per cent. Almost daily. since
/ the primary. instances Of gross fraud have
! come 70 light, ard so palpable and IN
blushing and universal were the methods
( OF carrying out a previously concocted
/ scheme 70 ''e!ec:" certain men that the out
( rage has been theme for general DIS
( cuss!on among reputable Republicans,
/ who have depiored lie facts while char
/ acterizing the election as containing more
/ barefacsd fraud than all past elections in
/ The history OF the county combined Your
/ twaddle about the increased vote coming
| from Democrats who will supper; the Re
! publican ticket in November = the veriest
! bosh. dece!ves no one for an instant. and
! generally is a weak and transparent effort
/ % bolster up a cause which csnno; he sue
I cessfuily defended or intelligently ex
\ planned Ths, Democrats voted al the Re
I publican primary in large numbers is true;
bu- they did f; from different motives set
/ down by you as the Injelligercer's polit-
I professional dust-raiser Of The ring. Some
Of those Democrats vo,ed for fun. ard be-
cause anybody could vote; some voted in
response 20 the earnest solicitations of
/ Republican friends anxious 20 see certain
! candidates chosen. while others, and by
/ far the largest number, voted for valuable
| considerations of one sort and another;
/ while the number who vo;ed because they
| intend 10 support the Republican ticket in
| November is 80 small as 10 be unworthy
| OF consideration. When you guess that
, those men will vote the same way in No
vember." you leave the domain of fact for
an incursion INFO the realms Of fancy and
the confines of fiction. and are so under
STOOD.
This is no: a pleasing situation for the
Democratic leaders 20 contemplate. and so
they seek TO console themselves and 10
| rally VIVA, is left Of heir party by mis-
! representing The real facts"
! You must have a very poor and exceed
ingly erroneous idea of the Intelligence of
| Your readers. e.se you would not indite
/ tina, scr; Of thing over your initials. Dem
ocratic leaders are not concerned about
/ the Republican primaries. nor the number
/ OF votes there cast. The primary election
a
/ nor The loss Of a second OF sleep. and no
| one knows this better than &c. \. D"
! Anxiety has been caused. but in a very
| dineren, quarter. the best proof Of which
! is The letter in Saturdays In;elligencer-a
| letter which amounts to a slap in the face
/ following a kick in the rear.
"As 20 the third charge il is vague. II
| there was repeating Il must have been
H.. s..1 q tot Ia IL
strange that such things could have oc-
! Cured in a city like Wheeling. without any
ore knowing about l. a the time
Vague" is il? on the contrary. i; is
| very definite. Names of repeaters have
| been freely passed around. Candidates
| know them: election officers know them;
workers al the polls know them. and the
, poll books will disclose them. Conduct
ed very qu.etly?" Not al all. on the con-
| ;rary. IL was open and above-board.
Strange that such things could have oc-
curred?" BY no means. But il would
have been passing strange If they had no,
| occurred, after all the preparations made.
NO one knew about i;?" Seriously.
| George. you are too funny; but you are
| ,rif.ng with a grave and important mat
! ter. and your efforts a buffoonery are not
! reiished by a good many people.
The citizen who will make such a charge
| and fail 10 make II good. is unworthy OF
| belief"
| Indeed. How about the men who have
every reason to surmise that the charge Is
| true. and yet try to hide il? How about
| the men who so laid plans as to make il
possible TO flood the ballot boxes with
bogus votes? What Of the men who know
ingly permitted this work to be carried
OUT? How about the men who carried il
! au.a And fnalIN how ahon. The candi-