The Portland daily press., 1898-03-22
DEERlNG.
Judge Strout Decides That Mr.. True
Was Elected Alderman.

Mr.. True Contested tho Seat From
Ward One to Which Mr.. John j. Frye
Had Been Declared Elected-The
Ruling of the Court.
The matter of the election of alderman
in Deering ward !, was this morning be-
fore Judge Strout. in the Supreme Judi
oial court, in the shape of bill in equity
brought by Frank e. True Vs. John j.
Frye. Scott Wilson, ESQ.,, appeared for
Mr.. True and f. " Matthews, Esq, for
Mr.. Frye.
| Mr.. Matthews made statement to the
court as follows:
Mr.. John j. Frye of Ward L. Deering
has always been, and is now, a Republi-
can. He was nominated for Ward Alder
man by citizens movement, and his
nomination WAS Subseq uently indorsed
| by the Democratic caucus. The warden
declared him elected by q vote of 81 to 80
over Frank Z. True. the regular Repub-
! lican nominee. There were 1877 ballots
deposited in the box, but six were marked
| detective by the warden, and one other
indicated no choice for ward alderman.
| OF the SIX marked defective three had
Irue's name, but were not properly
marked with an x; one was marked II"
over Frye's column; one was intended for
| True; and one was entirely unmarked
excepting upon the question of aHnexa-
| ton. Among the ballots which the
of 81 for Frye and SO for True, were 4,
properly marked, on which the Frye
sticker was pasted covering True's name;
| one upon which the name %. j. Eye
was written in at the left of True's name
erased; one on which "John Frye" was
written under True erased; one for John
| T. Frye" written under True's name
erased; and one with two stickers for
| Frye, one covering and one under Irue's
| name, all properly marked. These eight
votes were evidently intended for Frye,
and were SO counted by the arden.
| These eight, together with the four
| marked defective, show that IS voters
out of che 1877 ballots thrown clearly in
tended to vote for Frye; but under the
secret ballot law the intention of the yo-
ter does not avail. The exact method is
prescribed and whoever fails therein
loses his vote. 1t is these eight votes
which Mr.. True asks the court to pass
upon. MIR. Frye, as soon as he learned
that his seat was to be contested, ex-
pressed himself as anxious to have the
matter right, however 1t resulted; conEe-
oath of office. He expresses himself as
better satisfied to retire. knowing that he
is the real choice of his fellow citizens,
than he would to hold the Office under
other circumstances,
City Clerk Jones was called by Mr.. Will
son. He produced the ballots and they
were submitted to the court and inspected
by him in the presence Of counsel.
Judge Strout found that out of the 81
ballots counted for Mr.. Frye seven were
not voted properly and accordingly were
thrown out, thus giving the election to
Mr. True by vote of SO to "a. Judge
Strout's exact decree is as follows:
This cause came ON for hearing this 21st
day of March. 1898, upon bill and proofs
and was argued by counsel. The parties
agreed to submit to the decision of the
sitting justice and waive all right of ap-
peal.
l find from tho evidence. that upon four
ballots a sticker with the name of John
J. Frye printed thereon was placed over
the name of Frank e. True, candidate
for Alderman. I rule that these votes
cannot be counted for either True or Frye;
the sticker at most being only an erasure
of Trues name with no name inserted in
the blank hereunder.
There were also one vote for ]. j. Frye
and one for John Frye and one for John
T. Frye. If these votes should be counted
for John j. Frye it would not change the
result.
Upon counting the votes for aldermen
according to law, find that Frank e.
True received eighty mine (S9) votes and
John j. Frye eighty -four (s4) votes, and
that Frank e. True was duly elected
alderman for the municipal year 1888,
and is entitled by law to hold that office.
1t is thereupon ordered, adjudged and
decreed that the bill be sustained and that
Frank e. True. the petitioner, was at the
annual meeting in March, 1898, duly
elected alderman of Deering for the
municipal year 1898, and is entitled. to
hold that office; and that said John ].
Frye shall yield UP to said True said office
and all papers, records and property con.
nected Herewith or belonging the eto.
The parties agree that no costs shall be
awarded and in accordance Herewith
none are awarded.
Yesterday forenoon the years old son
of George Foster of Pearl street, was run
ming alone in the street at Woodford's
corner, he met with an accident which
resulted in the breaking of mis- left arm.
The lad was in the car tracks in front
Of an approaching electric. The motor
man succeeded in stopping the car in
time to prevent running over the boy,
but in attempting to crozs the tracks to
the sidewalk, he run into loaded hay
rack, passing at the time. The 10y was
knocked down by the hay rack and one
of the wheels of the rack went over his
arm, breaking it. City Marshal Brown
was near at the time and took the lad
in his team and carried him homs,
where suro ical aid was secured and the