Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-22
GRANTTIE PETITION
CITY COMMITTEE WILL RECOUNT
VOTES CAST FOR COMMISSIONER
LARGE MAJORITY FAVOR this COURSE
IL VIII lie Put I'm Execution To-
Ntghf-Messrs. Munford and Haw-
H"s represented by Counsel
Subject Debated mt Length.

subject Debated at Length.
Ihe city Democratic Committee me
In the Powhatan Club last night. and b
vote Of 20 to 6 decided to grant tn
potlton Of Mr.. O. A. Hawkins for re
count Of the votes cast In the recent pri
mary for the Office of Commissioner o
| Revenue.
The committee was called together b,
Chairman Wallace, and the nature o
the business TO be transacted resulted IL
tuli attendance every member being il
his seat when the body was called [,
order at r. NJ.
Inc club and its approaches wer,
thFonged with prominent politicians, anc
the llveliest interest was shown In tn,
proceedings, though they were conducted
! behind closed doors.
Before considering Mr.. Hawkins's de-
mand for a recount, the committee de.
| cided to fill two vacancies in the Clay
Ward delegation, so that the very i'm
portant question might be considered by
full committee Messrs. w. j. Kim
brough and w. G. Hill. two OF the gen.
tlemen who were elected to the commit
tee at the primary, and who will be
members of the committee that will take
hold of the party affairs next July,
were elected TO MI the vacancies.
OPENED FOR ARGUMENT.
The paper filed with the chairman OF
the committee by the contestant Mr..
Hawkins. and which was published Sun
day morning, was then read This pre-
cipltated lively discussion, and led to
many suggestions. one of which was that
another primary should be held. Finally
a motion, offered by Mr.. Gordon, to
allow Mr.. Hawkins, the contestant, and
Messrs. r.. b. Munford and f.. NJ. Noble
the contestees, thirty minutes each. I'm
which to present their arguments for
or against a recount was adopted by a
large majority.
Colonel Munford. who was waiting in
the readingroom Of the club appeared
accompanied by Messrs. III. NJ. Smith, Jr.,
and b. B. Munford, his counsel, and
few minutes later Mr.. Hawkins and his
counsel, Mr.. L. O. Wendenburg came in,
having been notified Of the committees
action. Mr.. Noble, having been notified
by phone, was also present
.
Mr. Wendenburg opened the case of
Mr.. Hawkins, his argument being an
elaboration of the reasons presented by
Mr.. Awkins in his petition. The first
ground taken was that the petition OF
Mr.. Hawkins not having been answered
by Mr.. Munford IL should be accepted by
the committee as true. Mr. Munford, he
said, having publicly stated that he did
not object to a recount. made his task
as counsel for Mr.. Hawkins so much the
easier. He eulOgized the present Commits
sioner, and said that he was quite sure
he would not accept the position for a
single day unless he were fairly and
squarely elected by the ballots which had
been sealed in the trunk by the commit
tee. He argued further that the law
had made primaries legal in order to
defeat deceit and fraud. The Democratic
party, he said, had always been proud OF
its primaries and Jealous that none Of
its families could complain; and, there
fore. had laid down rules and regula-
tons for their conduct. and If these had
been carried out properly there would be
no room for casting discredit upon them:
but, he argued these rules and regula-
tions had been violated; ballots had been
distributed over the city, contrary to the
plan, and a great many irregularities |
had been tolerated by the judges-sO |
many in fact, that great many people |
We're not satisfied as TO whether the re-
suit had or had not been correctly re- |
ported. If the ballots were recounted, he |
IL could only entail a little |
work on a few gentlemen, and ii mattered |
lot where the office went, those same |
gentlemen would have the consciousness
# duty well performed. No harm could
)e done by a recount, he said, because
he ballots were there 10 speak for
themselves.
PRESENTS COL. MUNFORD'S SIDE
Mr.. Smith, for Colonel Munford, con-
ended that Mr.. Hawkins had failed 10
make out his case; that the irregularities
md errors alleged were trivial, aad that
10 good ground for a recount existed.
He said that Mr.. Munford had been
lisquOted i'm the newspaper interviews
eferred to by Mr. Wendenburg, for he
ad never departed from the ground that
e would be willing to cede recount II
he grounds were within the law.
In combating the plea that 1Sl votes
ad been unaccounted for i'm the COM
lissionership fight, Mr.. Smith read the
blowing statement to show that the
anne discrepancies existed in the other
DnteStS.