The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-12


The defense rested It's case yesterday
afternoon in the trial of George Golfer
on the charge of having as election judge
made false returns of the votes cast In
the second precinct of the Fourth ward
last November, and the case viii go to
the jury today after the counsel have
! made their closing addresses. There was
nothing particularly sensational yester-
day in the testimony, although Henry
Johns and Attorney w. H. Mcdonald in
dulged in some pointed personal repartee.
| Most of the evidence introduced by the
defense was in the nature of an attempt
| to upset the evidence Of s. Lee Davis,
whose testimony the defense apps AIRED
! to think the most damaging of any of
the witnesses.
When court opened the defense moved
| to strike out all ballots admitted in evil
dence that were not numbered, but the
| motion was denied by Judge Lewis. Then
Assistant County Attorney Zolman re-
called Henry Johns, who was a candi
| date for representative last November.
Mr.. Johns testified to having held nu-
| merous conversations with Golfer one or
two weeks before election. He did not
remember where the conversations had
taken place, but believed that he had
only met Golfer on the street. Witness
knew Golfer to have been bitterly op
posed to Arosin and had said that Arosin
would not carry his (Colter's) precinct.
The defendant had also been inter- sted
in the election of FIiler Horton.
| On cross-eXamination by Mr.. McDon-
| aid the witness stated that the converse
lions to which he refererd might have
taken place prior to the appointment Of
Golfer as judge.
81 have known good deal Of Coler in
years past" he told Mr.. Zollman. ST
| have known of past miscounts of ballots
| In one case it was in my favor of p vot 8
and Golfer openly Dragged about 1t. That
was when 1 was a candidate against
| Hearn."
On re-cross-examinati the witness
said: Golfer stated this, and on a re-
count lost twenty-one votes In the pre-
! cinct. had known this to be fact, but
had not reported it to the authorities
1 made no objection to the apo ntment
| of Golfer as Judge
Fred w. Boyer, who followed Mr.
Johns, testified that he had a conve sa-
| ton with Golfer in which the latter had
| said he would go to Canada in case of a
recount In the second precinct Of the
Fourth ward. On the part of the witness
| the conversation had been in joking
way.
At the opening of the afternoon SEES
| sion w. f. Hunt stated the defendant S
case to the jury and then Assistant City
Clerk McCrea produced the tally sheets
| and returns from the ballot box which
were offered and received in evidence
| John Ross, recalled, testified that he
| assisted in making up the returns. In
| doing so he had received the results for
| each candidate from S. Lee Davis. The
| latter had taken the results from the
tally sheets The witness put down the
| figures as he (Ross) called them He
believed that Davis called IA vot for
Horton, although the tally sheet only
| showed ia A recount on the Johns
\ O'Connor vote was requested by Wood
| ford and was made without any chico
! ton from Golfer.
Il was present when the votes ere
called testified Albert " Friend, a
| Democratic challenger. 81 was subpoe-
naed by the state to appear here, but
was not called / was interested In the
! election of WAGNER and O'Conner There
was no question of my being inside the
| railing to watch the count. In counting
they divided the votes between Golfer
and Davis, counting each nominee and
calling the result Davis som 4tmes
! called to Golfer, and the latter added the
totals and then announced the result to
the clerks. The Republican nominees
were counted first in all cases. 1 was
there when the Arosin-Miesen vote was
concluded. The Irish Wagner vote was
! counted five times and we found nothing
| wrong with Golfers count"
On croSS-eXamination the witness said
! Golfer had announced ia votes for Hor-
ton and S. for Stryker. He was posi-
Df AI,s.
| respectively were called for Miesen and
Arosin. The count by Golfer of the Horton
| vote the witness knew positively to have
| been correct
1.-THE vote for sheriff was counted be-
fore the vote for county treasurer
said Frederick Webb, who had been a
Republican challenger. The Wagner
Irish vote was counted five times and I
watched Golfer while the count was be-
ing made. The Horton vote, as announced
by Golfer, was ia for Horton and
SIS for Stryker. I have heard that Mr.
Johns made threats against the defend
ant. Ross and Davis warked on the state
ballots and Golfer did not assist He was
making report for the newspapers while
Ross and Davis were making up the re-
turns"
| Cross-examined. Mr.. Webb said that
Davis had counted forty-seven votes for
WAGNER, when he only had forty-two in
| his hand.
j. N. Nelson, recalled, testified that if
any agreement in regard to the count
| such as testified by Mr. Davis, had been
made the witness was sure he must have
! oeVrheard 1T, as the room was so small
and the clerks were always waiting for
| the judges to announce the totals.
George Golfer, the defendant, was the
next witness called. 81 have served as
| judge or clerk of election seven times in
ho Soid
sisted me in counting the blue ballots
When the boxes were opened we counted
| all the blue ballots to see if they agreed
with poll list. Someone asked for rhe
lrish-W Wagner vote and then for the
| Horton-Stryker vote. All these first
counts were preliminary. I took part and
| Davis took the rest of the ballots We
counted the Republican vote first Some
| times he would call the result of his bal
! lots to the clerks. l put my totals In
figures on slip and went on counting
the next man, and then when Davis COM
] pieted a count he would call it to me and
4 L would announce the sum OF both totals
Arosln's vote was counted first 1 put
my total down and passed it to Davis.
] VINO put down his total and called the
1 result to the clerks. I did not agree or
make any proposition to give Arosin the
balance Of the votes. 1 did not make any
intentional mistake, and never made the
statements to johns that he testified to.
| In regard to the Berer conversation. 7
was only joking. The errors In the count
! two years ago were not mine"
James Woodfork was recalled and testi-
| fed that the Arosin vote was counted
first. Davis had announced the vote and
result to the clerks for Arosin and Golfer
called the Miesen vote This Concluded
the testimony for the defense
| f. 8. Webb was recalled, and stated
| that he was not there during anv reoonn+