The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-13

| with the figures In the columns Mr.. Har-
ris pointed to place on the. sheet where
| there had been erasure made, and asked
| him how it had occurred. The witness re-
| piled that Chairman William c. Martin
| had read off all the figures to him and that
| he had copied them on the sheet instead of
! taking them from each inspector, as is
| usually done, and that a mistake was made
! in calling them on and was corrected on
| the spot.
In answer to a question from Mr. Har-
| ris. he admitted that after the board had left
| another mistake was found in the sheet.
and that he had corrected that one too. This
| one was detected by John Corcoran, ex-
chairman of the county central committee,
| who looked over the sheet when they were
| alone on the night after the board meeting.
| When his attention was called to ii he added
the column again, with the result that Cor
coran's assertion was. found to be true.
| Mr.. Harris then called his attention to
row of totals made in red ink in which one
! Of the totals showed that a figure had been
! changed and the correction made in black
| ink. This was caused, according to Mr..
| Sempe, by COrcoran calling his attention
! to another error and making the correction
AT this point Senator Gilbert asked the
| witness if any errors were found in the re-
turns of any candidate other than Stoner,
whereat Mr.. Semple said there had been
| them ont to the attorneys When asked
| by Mr.. Harris what the figures were which
| had been erased by the correction" the
| witness said he could not remember. but
| that duplicate of the sheet had been made
but not signed by the inspectors, and that
! this was on file at Greenfield and might
| furnish the desired figures.
| During the testimony several tits oc-
| Cured between all the attorneys but in
| which Mr.. Harris took no part, except to
| hdget to show his annoyance at the lack of
| dignity shown. On one occasion when
| Captain Curtis referred to him as 1.-The
eminent counsel" he bowed and said grave
| ly, Thank you"
Neither direct nor cross-examination.
| brought out any other facts from the wit
! ness, and he was excused The preceding
| witness, Hamilton was recalled Before
| he had time to say that he had reconsidered
his determination not to speak of Stoner
giving him money Senator Gilbert said that
! the committee had also decided on some
thing. and that was to ask him TO tell all
| he knew about the matter. He then said
that StOner had given him money at differ
ent times to treat the boys with" At
one time he had given him ST. and at other
about $40. InterrOgatiOns brought out the
fact that Stoner had given him s. after cleo
| ton al different times, and that it had been
| accompanied each time with some such re-
mark as that he had beer, a good friend to
ton of it. He said that Stoner had never
! given him money with which to buy votes,
but merely to treat the boys and try, if
| possible to win their votes through person
! al friendship In answer to a question from
Senator Hugg, Hamilton said ne had known
Stoner for from sixteen to twenty years and
! had been neighbOr to him and stood in the
attitude of a close personal friend. He also
assured Senator Hugg that what little money
he received from Stoner had not Influenced
his own vote for him, but that he worked for
him as neighbor and a good friend.
Two lLLEGAL VOTES.
The Stoner faction at this point again
changed its tack and called in Eli Roback,
who said he lived on School street.
Greenfield, and that he had moved
there about eighteen days before cleo
ton, his brothers house in which
he formerly lived having been torn
down, and necessitating his moving into an
| other precinct, where he now resided. At
torney Huff, as soon as he had admitted
that he had not lived in the precinct long
enough to entitle him to vote, declared that
| his vote was Illegal and that under the
statute he could be compelled TO tell now re
voted This was agreed 10 by the com
mtttee, after some lemur, and Roback said
he voted the Democratic ticket. ON cross
examination, however. he said that he was
| ohly nVlng III ms present nome temporarily
| and expected to move back to his old house
as soon as it could be compi"ted. He was
then excused and his 5rotner was called.
He gave his name as Jcnn L. Roback and
| told the same story as Eli. lie was asked
what ticket he voted and Re said it haG
John l.. Frey was the next witness and
said he lived part of the time in Indian
| He moved his family to this city June Z and
| now lives at 7O5 East Eleventh street, still
| street, Greenfield In the latter place, how
! ever, he has only q part of his goods stored
in one room, the rest of the house being
rented to another party In spite of the
fact that his family and home are in Indian
| apolis. Frey said he voted in Greenfield last
| November Hardly had he made this adj
mission, when Attorney Foley snapped out:
| What ticket did you vOte?'' We'll" re-
| turned Frey, Il don't know as its any ones
| business what ticket voted Yes it is,
snapped back Foley; you have shown by
| your testimony that your vote was an ile-
| sal one, and therefore we have a right TO
compel you to tell how you voted This
| assertion made Captain Curtis wrathy, and
with voice choked with emotion and thun-
| derous with passion he denounced the
| methods pursued by the lawyers for Stoner,
saying that he, as well as the committee,
had listened for hours to the "rankest sort
of stuff in the way of evidence, and that
he was bound to say that the people of
| Madison, Hancock and Rush counties had
| Stoner and that he appealed to the court
| to put a stop to such methods.
This brought Attorney Foley to his feet,
red in the face and /. trembling with anger.
Ee was too excited to do more than blurt
out 1T comes with !ad grace frln yoI.
Captain Curtis, to speak of stuff when you
| nave spent the day practicing the " orst
| kind of pettifoggying Methods
| This aroused Senator Brooks who in dig
| nified terms, but with a glitter in his gray
eyes, said that for himself he was in favor
of Chairman Gilbert insisting on the attor-
neys in the case depOrtng themselves as be-
| came gentlemen, even If the help Of the at
tendants had to be invoked to compel it,
Captain Curtis, in explaining the rights
of the witness to refuse to answer the ques-
ton, said that man might send his family
| to New York, together with all his house
hold goods, and keep them there for a year,
| still retaining his residence in Indianapolis
| by his expressed intention of returning here.
In his own case, he said, he had done eX-
actly such a thing and he detied any man
to dispute his right to have returned here
at any time during that period and cast his
vote as a citizen of indianapolis.
Senator Gilbert then said that a ma iority
of the members of the committee held that
they had no right to compel a man TO tell
how he voted in an election until it had been
| clearly shown that his vote had been IL
! legal and that therefore it was felt that the
| prosecution must prove the iegality of
Frey's vote before they would order him
to tell how he voted In commencing this
that unless 1t was adhered to- the sacred
| right of the voter to keep to himself the
! secret of the ballot box was violated and
| the law creating that right was futile "Of
| what value said he. 'is the law to a voter
| if he is compelled to tell how he voted and
| it afterward develops that he was a legal
| Voter?'
Senator Brooks gave it as his opinion that
| a man had no right to vote i'm his old home
| after he had moved from it to another vot-
| ing precinct, except when he was compelled
| to do so by a combination of circumstances
| and does so with the intention of moving
| back again soon as possible. Tn this par
! ticular case he felt that Frey had moved
! not because he had to. but because he chose
! TO do so and that therefore he was an IL
| legal voter BY this time it was o'clock
! and after a consultation between the lawyers
and senators it was decided to continue the
| case this afternoon and the witnesses were
! told TO report al o'clock The first ques-
ton to be disposed of to-day will be as to
/ whether Frey's vote was illegal or not and
| on that viii depend whether or not he will
be compelled to tell how he voted on election
| day.