Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-04-12

lightly thrown aside, particularly in
the face of the evident purpose OF tho
| Republicans to further Increase their
majority by throwing ous additional
holdover Senators.
| l therefore, after discussing the
| length of time allowed Ter maturing
! the contests and objectirg to any
| greater delay than February 4, which
was inserted IN the paper. took the
paper to the capitol and in fifteen
minutes had the necessary number of
signatures of the Democratic members
OF the House of delegates. The pa
per was then handed to Mr.. Vinson,
and he stated that he would imme-
diately obtain the SIGNATURES OF the
| Republican Senators. The next time
l saw the paper was that evening,
when it was handed to me by George
| w. McClintic, vino had been acting
as counsel for me Republican COM
mittee in the Republican contest
cases. The dates OF hearing the
contest cases had been changed in
| the paper from the 18th day TO Feb
ruary to the 10th day of February, Mr..
| McClintic stating that this much time
was necessary in order to mature the
| contest cases.
The Democrats objected to this delay,
as needed legislation had already been
| delayed too long. We were in the hall
| of the House of Delegates, and there
was a considerable dispute before the
opening of the night session as to this
change in date. Very much to the sur
prise of the Democrats, who supposed
| that the leaders of the Republican
| party were neither aware of the agree
ment nor approved of it, many OF the
! latter appeared to participate in the
| discussion w. M. O. Dawson, chair
man of the Republican State commit
| tee and the secretary of the commit
| tee, A. B. White, of Parkersburg, and
! others appeared as though interested
in the proceedings.
The speaker of the house called the
| house to order and, on motion, it was
adjourned in very few minutes; and
| by arrangement the signers OF the
agreement and those proposing the
same agreed to meet at the Ruffner
Hotel, and did later gather at the room
of Speaker Mckinney. Here were pres
ent Senator Stephen B. Elkins, Con-
| gresham B. B. Dovener, Chairman
| Dawson, and other leaders of the Re-
publican party. All seemed to be fully
| cognizant of the terms of the agree
ment and fully advised as to the differ
ence between the parties having 1t I'M
| der consideration. After some discus
sion the change in time to the 18th OF
| February was agreed upon, and resolu-
| tons carrying out the terms of the
| agreement were spread on the records
of the two houses the following morn
| ing, which was the day of the joint
| convention.
| In short, those dispositions prove the
| following:
| /. That in November, 1898, soon after
the election, the Governor of the State,
| the Secretary of State, who was also
chairman OF the Republican State COM
mittee, and the secretary of the said
committee and others entered into
fraudulent conspiracy, the purpose of
which was TO elect Mr.. Scott United
! States Senator.
2. And that the said conspirators,
aided by the attorney general and State
Senators and others in authority, ac-
! complished their fraudulent purpose by
| fraudulent means.
The questions of law arising on the
! facts OF this case will be briefly no.
| ticed.
1t is urged by the majority Of the
committee that as each house OF the
legislative body was the judge of the
election of its own members its decis-
ion can not be reviewed. This propo-
sition, though often asserted is not
sound law, in the broad way it is as
serted, because there are many cases
to which it does not apply.
1t is a universal rule of the courts
that a judgment obtained by fraud will
| be set aside on timely application of
the party injured if he is not in fault.
One of the old judges put the law down
in this form:
The Jurisdiction of courts of equity
to set aside decree obtained by fraud
| in an original bill filed for that pur-
pose has long been unquestioned.
See Freeman on Judgments, sections
4S6 and 4S9, where the learning on this
subject is collected.
The report of the majority of the
committee states an exception to their
general rule, which, if fairly applied to
the facts, would be decisive against Mr..
Scott The paragraph of that report
referred to is on page S, and concludes
in these words:
In the past the Senate has investi-
gated fraud and corruption in cleo
tions where the proceedings were regu-
lar and the form was lawful, and then
declared there had been no election.
Senators sometimes forget that this
Senate is the judge of the elections,
returns and qualifications" OF its own
members.
There is no need to cite cases to
prove that, under common law. and
| under the constitution of West Vir-
ginia, quoted in the majority report,
| Getzendanner and Pierson, after they
! were elected Senators in 1886,
and after serving as Senator's in jan
uary, 1887, resigned their seats
by accepting Offices of profit under the
| United States, and the State Senate
again elected them to seat in the Sem
ate. These Senators were elected by
the people and lad their seats and re-
signed their seats and never were re-
elected by The people. but were re-