Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17
kENTUcKfbS ELECTION
He Describes sens Of the Methods
EmpIoSed by the
Dsmeerats.


Dsmecrats.
-+A-
Leslie Coombs i.the chairman Of the re-
publican state committee of Kentucky, says
that the better element of what was for
merly the democfatko party in Kentucky
nearly all Of the pest Of the old confederate
element and professional and business in
terests. are in sympathy with the efforts Of
the republicans in that state to bring about
reform In the political; methods and to
secure fair and honest elections.
Describing the methods employed by the
democrats in the recent elections. he said:
When we realised in Kentucky that we
had to make a new fight for the governor
ship. the condition Of the party was most
unfavorable, and 1t was with great difficulty
that we were enabled to maintain an ag-
gressive attitude. In view of the supreme
effort made by the democrats to over
shadow the real issue before the people OF
an honest, fair election flaw, by endeavor-
ing to make an entire party responsible for
the crime Of a single misguided individual
The republicans Of the state. however, sup
ported by the wisdom and courage of
large element which had formerly been the
leading factor in the democratic party, Sc
cured the consent Of Mr.. Yerkes to accept
the gubernatorial nomination. From that
time until the close Of the polls on Novem-
Der the fight was carried on with an ac-
tivity and courage and determination to win
under circumstances most adverse, such as
was never before shown in the state. F'u-
sionS were made with the various elements
that. differing on other questions. were
agreed on the determination to overthrow
Goebelism in Kentucky. Without q single
exception, these fusions were carried out
in good faith and resulted benef1cially.
Some Alleged Frauds.
"Mr. Yerkes received ovations wherever
he spoke all over the state. And his cleo
ton was confidently expected by such
majority as would overwhelm the Goebel
machine. We hoped that the Goebel DEM
ocratic leaders had underestimate the OPP
position to them and that the machine
would break down in places SO that we
would secure a majority that could not be
overcome by fraud. We found, however.
that the defects found in the operation OF
every new machine and which were dis
played last fall in the Goebel machine had
been corrected. Their system this year
was to work eight ten votes in each of
the eighteen hundred precincts in the state.
The fraudulent plurality Of sixteen or
twenty thousand provided In this way was
supposed to be sufficient to procure Mr..
Beckhams election Every election officer
in the state was appointed by county COM
missions, who received their authority
from state commissioners fOyHtS dLu t
ton. 1t was thought this could be done
without attracting such attention as would
expose the plan. The desperate efforts to
elect Rhea to Congress in the third district
broke over the bounds they had set for
themselves and in the counties of Warren
and Logan fraud was resorted to In the
boldest and most shameless manner, some
thing like five hundred ballots being sent
uncounted on trivial technicalities, the
grounds for which had been prepared by
the election officers themselves or by their
confederate. while in Logan county, as
a sample of the method followed, one pre-
cinct reported only etghtyseven republican
votes where over one hundred and forty
had been cast. I'm the ninth district also
the boldest frauds were rife. In Greenup
county one precinct that gave Pugh ma
jority Of one hundred and eighty was
thrown out by the county commissioners
because the election, officers had failed to
sign the certificate in the back of the stub
book, though the returns were made In
regular form in other respects. while in
Elizabethville precinct III Fleming county,
which gave Kehoe the democratic congress
sional candidate, majority of seventy-one,
with exactly the same defect. was counted
Republican Challenger Refused.
"In, the tenth district. In Breathitt coun-
ty, they refused to, allow either republican
challengers or inspectors in the booths in
one precinct, and returned from that pre-
ClHCL u UefuOCIdllC lAdJOilly VI loo, "iiiiC
there are several less than a hundred dem
ocratic residents of, the precinct which is
normally republican. In another precinct
In the same county, upon the attempt of
the republican inspector to forcibly enter
for the purpose of seeing the count. the
sheriff took the ballot box, the clerk the
stubbooks, and ran away. meeting subse-
quently a mile from the voting place and
returning democratic majority fifty or
hundred in excess of the fact In the
a;rb dietr{ In, fbou do
deputy sheriffs Of the democratic election
officers and put arms and badges upon
them for the purpose OF intimidating the
voters. In. Fayette county the delay meth
DDS were employed in two precincts, de-
priving the republicans of between four
and five hundred votes. l have with me
a photograph taken of precinct nineteen, In
lexington, at the close Of the polls, show
ing something like 200 men in line who had
been deprived of the right to vote In this
way. These men were not ragamuffins. but
were respectable looking men, decently
clothed and preserving good order as the
sible to discuss within the limits Of this
conversation the methods employed to de-
feat the intentions of the majority of the
voters.
Party Not Discouraged.
1.-The republican party and It's allies in
Kentucky are not discouraged. AS long as
the wrongs exist which are now influencing
the political results IN that state, so long
will we fight to remedy them. The better
element of what was formerly the demo-
cratic party Is heartily with us in this de-
termination. Nearly all that is best of the
old confederate element, of the clergy, of
the bar, of the professional and of the his
mess interests are allied with the republi-
can party now, no difference what their
former utilization was. And we will break
down one obstruction after another until
Kentucky stands the peer Of any state in
the Union, for law, order and the integrity
of the ballot"
Hotel Arrivals,
Dewey-Col. D. r. Larned. New Haven.