Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-01-30
JUSTICE PREVAILS.
The Thirteeth Senatorial Con-
test Settled in the Senate.
II. c. 0ETzENDANNER SEATED.

Speech by Senator Cole which Proved
Beyond Shadow of Doubt that Mr..
Getzendanner was Legally Elected.
In the Senate report Thursday. the
West Virginian gave the main points
Of the Getzendanner- Shaffer contest,
since then this paper has been able to
secure the speech of Senator Cole.
which went into every detail of the
subject, and which is as follows:
Mr.. President: We are now called
upon to preform very unpleasant
duty, and that is todecide as to which
of these two gentlemen is entitled to
the seat of the r3th Senatorial district.
This is duty that is made obligatory
upon us by law, therefore, we are to
act with fairness to both parties and
decide the matter according to the law
and the evidence as it has been pre-
sented to us.
Mr.. President, we are the jury who
are to pass upon the evidence in the
case, and more, we are the court to
pass. upon all questions of law whose
decision is supreme and from which
there is no appeal, then let us make
no mistake.
!
confess, Mr.. President that the
contestant has not made his case as
clear as le should have done, while on
the other hand, the contestee has fail
ed to furnish us with any proof, what
ever, in support of what he now claims
in the minority report, therefore, we
are to CLEAN the facts from the light
that is now before us.
Mr.. President, Mr. H. c. Getzendan-
ner, the contestant and nominee ofthe
Republican party, comes before us
with 1883 votes legally castas shown
upon the face of the returns. none of
which are contested on objected to by
the contestee.
Mr.. d. w. Shaffer, the contestee
and nominee of the Democratic party,
comes before us with 5,oI3 votes as
shown upon the face OF the returns, So
of which were cast by the National
Democratic party. which gives him
majority of 90 votes, and upon this he
rests hts case.
We, also, have before us the notice
OF contest by the contestant, regularly
sworn to and served upon the contes-
tee as the law directs, to which notice
there is no reply or return notice as
provided by the statute in section four
of chapter six OF the code of West Viz
ginia and we also have the majority
and minority reports of the committee
on elections.
We find, Mr.. President. the follow
ing allegations, or Irregularities setup
in the notice of contest and which we
believe are we'll proved by documen-
tary evidence from the records and the
affidavit of the contestant, which allie
cations have never been denied as pro-
vided for by law in such cases, nor has
there been scintilla of evidence Of
fered by the contestee in behalf of his
pretentions in this matter, the chief
grounds OF which is; that thecontestee
was improperly placed upon the Ma
tional Democratic ticket, because [;
first, the certificate of nomination does
not give the residence ofthe candidate
as provided for by law.
Second, it does not give the resi-
dence nor post Office address Of the
voters signing the certificate as pro-
vided tor by law; and third. the voters
signing the certificates were members
of parties other than the National
Democratic party, all Of which requis-
ties are clearly and emphatically set
forth in section "a Of chapter OF the
code of West Virginia. which law we
are now called upon to vindicate or
turn down as dead letter upon our
statutes.
This, we believe is good law, en-
acted by the Democratic party in 1891,
for the purpose ofpreventing just such
deception and fraud as has been prac-
ticed by the contestee in this case.
Are we to set precedent here today
by declaring this law a nullity and a
dead letter upon the statute books,
that will in the future, as in the past,
thwart the will Of the honest people Of
our State by permitting deception,
fraud and corruption tobe practiced in