Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-10-13

stead with an indeHbie pencil, an
we're told by the election officers 4
| precincts at which the ballots wei
| found to be in this condition thd
The booths were supplied with per
and ink only. that none of the
we're supplied with pencils, that non
Of the ballots when examined b
them in ascertaining the results
their precincts had an indelible per
ell mark on them. 1t was clear ais
that all these changes were mad
with the same pencil, and in th
same handwriting, although tn
changes purported to have bee
made in five different precincts. The
were told by these officers that
precincts at which as many as 80 o(
80 OF such changes appeared the.
knew that Orchards name lad no
neen scratched off more ,ban fouI
or i've times. All these statements
! were made to the committee by wit
nesses duly sworn.
Every effort was made by the DEM
ocratic majority of this committed
TO avoid the production to them of
| Brohard's evidence. Under great
pressure they consented to allow the
witnesses to examine the ballots.
but no sooner had the committed
heard these election officers testify
that the changes from Brohard tot
Dent, made with an indelible pencil
on the Republican tickets, had been
placed there by somebody since they
hrst counted them, and no sooner|
did they hear these witnesses detail
the characteristics of the several
tickets which enabled them to know
the facts to which they testified
| than the Democratic contingent on
the committee sprang to their feet,
reversed their ruling and refused to
permit the witnesses to see any more
Of the ballots. This excited reversal
and refusal came when only the
fourth ballot had been seen by the
witnesses. But that is not all. AT
this point they adjourned sine die,
refused to take any more testimony,
hurried away from the scene of this
crime, and reported in favor of the
seating of Dent, which report was
finally adopted, and thereby the !
Democratic party accepted the bene-
fit of crime against the laws which |
they dared not look upon because of
its hideousness and blackness.
Afterwards grand jury of the
county of Taylor, composed of both
Democrats and Republicans, made
full and careful Investigation of thel
matter, and made report. That re-
port contains these words:
Sat a circuit court held for the(
county of Taylor, at the court house
thereof, on the 18th day of April,
1899, we, the undersigned grand jur-
srs for the term of 1899 of the cir
cult court of Taylor county, have
fully and carefully examined into
the alleged election frauds at the /
election held in November, 1898, and
herewith submit all the testimony
taken therein to the judge of our
circuit court.
THE testimony taken before the
committee of the house of delegates
was read in full by the secretary of the
grand jury. II Was found to be the
unanimous opinion Of this grand Jury
that there had been a felony committed
upon THE BALLOTS OF PRECINCTS
NO. / AND 5 OF GRAFTON DIS
IKICT, NO. 2 OF kNOr1SVlLLE
.J.u.....l, IND NO. 2 AND NO. 3 OF
CUUH4 l.D. +. i3'STRICr."
FAVOR ,ount5, Mrs this felony
was committed. is the nope of the
Democratic leader in this state.
Much has been said by the Demo-
cratic managers about the case OF
Senator Kidd of the Fourth senator
ial district. In that district 1926 [
votes were cast. and in the five,
counties Kidd had III majority ON
the face of the returns. Among
these counties was Wood with total
vote OF about $500, but in which
there were $50 votes rejected. under
the peculiar provisions of our elec-
ton law, for one irregularity or ans
other This was SIX PER CENT. of
the total vote-an enormous and un1
usual amount of rejected ballotsgy
Some of these ballots were notl
counted because only one elections
clerk had signed his name on the
back instead Of both Of them WoodlI