El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-02-05
j. R. HARPER STILL JUDGE.
The Jury Bring in Verdict This Noon
in His Favor.

The contest over the county Judge,
between L. H. Davis and j. r. Harper,
continued to occupy the district court
yesterday afternoon and this morning.
Mr.. Dean began with an argument for
the contestant L. H. Davis, a synopsis
of which is as follows:
You can not by parole evidence vary
or contradict the p ain and certain term
of a ballot or any other written instru-
ment. There was no evidence to sup
port the contention of Mr.. Harper that
the votes cast for J. q. Harper were in
tended for J. r. Harper. Mr.. Dean
held that the weight OF authority sup
ported the proposition of Mr.. Davis:
that the plain and unambiguous ballot
must be counted for the person for
whom it was cast: that the testimony
clearly showed that in addition to the
face of the ballot ]. H. Harper had
lived longer in Ell Paso, had been in
business and was better acquainted in
Ell Paso and was more popular than j.
tion of Harper in this case
that the middle initial could not be
noticed, was not well taken for the rea-
son that both ]. r. Harper and J. II.
Harper had the same first initial, j.
Therefore the middle initial in this
particular instance was the only dis
tinguishing characteristic of the
tiles from Maine to California hold that
ballot must be counted for whom it
was cast, that the intentions of the
voter can not be inquired into: that
there were $50 votes cast in Ell Paso
county at the last election for j. 81.
Harper and there was no evidence that
any of those ballots were cast by mis-
take. On the contrary there is evil
dence which clearly showed that many
of those ballots were Intentionally cast
for J. H. Harper: that to entitle j. K.
Harper to verdict it was incum bent
on him to show that there were a
sufficient mum ber of these $50 ballots
actually intended for him to have over
come Davis majority over him.
Mr.. Patterson in reply for j. r. Har
per, said that the case was based on
the inten tion of the people, and that If
the people intended to vote for j. r.
Harper, and the substitution of an II
for an r was uniutentional, that the
Jury should consider all of the votes
cast for Harper, no matter what the
initial was, should be counted for j. X.
Harper; that the substitution of an h
for an K as detailed by Mr.. Dean was
a low trick. fraud practiced upon the
| voters, and the intention OF the voters
ought not to be set aside because of the
| fraud practiced upon them.
Mr. Patterson said that counsel for
contestant had acknowledged that he
| had intentionally practlced such
fraud in order to defeat the wishes OF
the people, and then the counsel for
contestee proceeded to "burn up" able
counsel on the other side until the
broiling process became SO warm that
counsel for contestant appealed to the
| court for protection. Mr.. Patterson
called attention to the fact that the
evidence showed that j. Il. Harper
was the only Harper who was cnndi-
date for the office of county judge and
said that those who voted for j. H.
Harper believed they were voting for
the men who had been declared elect
| ed according to the returns from the
different precincts.
The Judge in his charge virtually
left it with the jury that they should
determine as best they could from the
evidence what was the intention of the
| voters, as between the two opponents.
The charge was very brief. At p. m.
the jury not having agreed, were dis
charged for the night. This morning,
Judge Buckler gave the jury to under
stand that they would be held together
until they had agreed upon verdict.
and that the price of their meals would
be taken out of their scrip. The jury
took about fifty ballots, and finally
Just before noon, brought in verdict
for j. r. Harper. 1t is surmised thai
the jury thought they were trying Mr..
Dean. The vote as finally counted il
court J. r. Harper. l, 10: J. II. Har
J per, $50; l.. H. Davis, ,534; Harper, 10
G Harper, l: j. Harper, l; G. G. Smith
?; Harris, /.
. The contestant will take the case VI
to the fourth court of appeals, and Mr.
Dean thought this noon that deciSi or
would be arrived at in thirty days.
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