The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-01-13

nesses saw more than one such ballot,
and all were positive In their statemen
except Mr. Getcheli who IN reply to
questions by Judge Hopkins said that he
didn't take notes and didn't know as he
should care to commit himself on mat.
ter on which he didn't take notes.
Mr.. Seiders said that at the beginning
Of the examination Town Clerk Donnell
Of Kittery. said there was no need Of
looking for marks in the square in the in
dependent column because there was only
one such ballot and he knew who cast it.
Towards the close of the afternoon
session Mr.. Seiders submitted to the COM
mittee an analysis of the vote and then
Mr.. Heath paid that he too would put In
Ian analysis. 1t differed from that pre-
pared by Mr.. Seiders. MIR. Heath said he
had been surprised to find that on both
sides there had been forty. seven different
kinds Of errors made
Mr.. Seiders then recapitulated the state
ment Of the vote made by Mr.. Marshall
In his opening ad dress. In the course Of
his remarks Mr. Seiders said that his
brother would not question the illegality
OF votes where Staples stickers were
pasted over the name Of MIR. Keefe.
Mr Heat yes. do.
Mr.. Seiders-Not against the decision
Of the court
Mr. Heath expressed the opinion that
the decision did not apply here.
At this stage of the game the ballots
were produced and the work of counting
them was begun, Mr.. Heath explaining
that In his view Of the case, the commit
tee had the right to consider the intent Of
the voter AS revealed by the ballots Fol-
lowing this course, Mr.. Heath said that
the result would be according to his
figures 3l7 for Staples and 800 for Ksefe
We're the ballots to be counted according
to the strict construction of the law,
which 1t was the duty OF the selectmen Of
n town to give, Mr.. Keefe. according to
Mr.. Heath's estimate, would be elected,
having 243 votes to 232 for Mr.. Staples.
This, said Mr.. Heath. is the first court
which has had these ballots before. The
official court was made by officials acting
In purely ministerial capacity. The
committed sitting as court he claimed
had a right to consider the intent Of the
voter as revealed by the ballot. Mr..
Heath's analysis OF the vote showing, as
he claims, a mistakes, includes suoh
ntries as residence omitted," ''sticker
pasted over name" words, representa-
tive to legislature erased" representa-
tive erased pencil line under Keeie, :"
STAPLES sticksr under for senator, !"
"loose Staples sticker folder In" and
many others. There were number of
mis- takes under each Of these heads and
In addition copies were given of many
odd looking characters made in place Of
the cross which the law requires Mr.
Heath thus figures out that in all, under
a strict construction Of the law, l33 de-
fective ballots were thrown in a total Of Il
little over 600 votes for the two candi-
dates. In alluding to the analysis. Mr..
Heath said 1t might be an over strict in
terpretation Of the law.
The examination of the ballots took un-
til we'll into the evening. Then Mr..
Heath opened the case for Mr.. Staples
and called as the first witness Town Clerk
Don nell of Kittery, who told the story of
the loose stickers, claiming that when the
count began the stickers we're on the bal
lots and were rubbed of as the count pro-
gressed. This fact was observed by the
town officers at the time.
As to the .hree ballots which show faint
crosses in the square over the Independent
or Staples column, Mr.. Donnell said that
these crosses were first noticed by Mr..
Horace Mitchell when he was examining
the ballots after the official count. Mr..
Seiders pressed the witness as to tho cir
cumstanoss of this discovery the amount
of light in the room. etc, ami held the
three ballots several feet from the wit
ness to show that the three crosses could
be seen at that distance. The witness said
he WAS very much surprised when Mr.,
Mitchell discovered the crosses. De had
not seen or heard OF them before.
Selectman Walker also testified In be-
half OF MIR. Staples, especially In regard
to the stickers. Then Mr.. Seiders called
John Paul Hay, machinist at the Kit
terry navy yard, who contradicted previous
testimony when he said that he saw loose
stickers when the ballots were first taken
from the ballot box. These stickers were
lying on the ballots during the count.
MR.. HEATH'S ADDR ESS.
A number OF dispositions were read and
then MIR. Heath made his address. In the
beginning he said that he regarded this
as the most important election case he
had ever seen tried out in the Maine lesis
lature. Eight years ago. yielding tp
popular demand, the legislature passed
the Massachusetts, balloo law. Mr.. Heath
said that he had the honor of voting for
that law In the legislature and was
threatened with political annihiiation in
cnnsea uence. In two years, remarkable
change came over the feelings of the
people and the Massachusetts, law was
altered. II was SO altered and purposely
so altered that 1t is SO difficult to vote an
independent ticket under 1t that even a
lawyer must take u copy of the Revised
Statutes and the latest decisions of the