The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-06-25


1t is more than likely the I.angstaff-
Kelly election contest will be terniin-
ated this week. A plan to this end,
proposed by some of the parties con-
cerned, has met with the approval of
two of the judges and is to be sub
mtted to the third as soon as u con-
ference can be had with them.
To follow the regular course for
determining the contest would Involve
an extra expenditure of about $4,000
according to computation made by
former President Judge Archibald. The
report of the examiners merely gives
the names of the voters. who. in their
opinion. were disqualified. There were
400 of these. 1t now devolves upon
the court to so through the 10000 bal
lots in the l56 ballot boxes. select
he 2.40O bad ballots. find out which
candidate the ballot was for. and make
the necessary substractions.
The only thing all tn:s could effect
would be to ascertain whether it was
Kelly or L.angstaff who was elected
treasurer. AS Mr.. Kelly has served
out the term and there is no law
in the land that can deprive him of
a dollar of the emolumentS the office
earned. neither he. Mr.. l.angstaff or
anyone else for that matter, cares a
rap what the ballots show.
PROBABLE COURSE.
The only question now at issue is
whether or not Mr.. Langstaff showed
that there was probable cause for bring
ing the contest. If, in the opinion of the
court. there was probable cause. the
county must pay the costs. II there
was not probable cause, Mr.. Lang
staff and the sgners of his petition
will be called upon to pay the costs.
If the costs are put on the county.
examiners, stenographers, witnesses
and constables to whom fees are COM
ing are assured of immediate payment.
IT they have to wait for Mr.. LangStam
and his petitioners to pay the costs,
they may. they fear. have to wait
quite while to collect their fees.
1t is almost a practical certainty that
while the contestant aid not invalidate
| enough of his opponents votes to over
come his majority plus the bad votes
the opponent showed were east for the
contestant. Stil1 the contestant showed
that there were hundreds of bad votes
cast against him. and, in the eyes of
| the law, this is all sufficient to war
| rant the judges in saying there was
| probable cause for the contest
This being the case, it is proposed to
| have each side admit a certain num-
| Der of bad votes, the respondent as
sumng the biggest share of them. so
| that his majority will be cut down
| to narrow margin. This will then be
| reported formally as the result of the
| contest. and the judges will declare
| that the result shows the contestant
| had probable cause for instituting the
proceedings. and having had probable
| cause. the county and not he, should
pay the costs.
| THE TOTAL COSTS.
| The latest computation on the total
amount of the costs places the figure
at about S66OOO. The two examiners
have filed hill for 7.3 days work
at SO apiece a day. or $l4.460 The
two stenographers are working on
their bills and will file them today or
tomorrow. Their claims will total up
| to $24.0O091. What the witnesses will
draw from the treasury and what the
oonstables who served the subpoenas
will get is still conjectural There
| We're 1900 witnesses examined and
| they are entitled to 81 for each time
| they appeared. Some of them ap-
pcared three times, and many of them
| after being disqualified by one side
| We're called on by the other. with Il
| hope of having them cure the defects
which they admitted on their first rX-
animation. Every witness living out
side Of Scranton, except those from
| Carbondale, who were examined in
Carbondale. is entitled to six cents Il
mile for travel. The constables who
served the subpoenas are claiming 30
cents for each person subpoenaed, be
| sides the usual mileage.
Appended is table giving the costs
| known or. estimated, upon which the
| computation above mention is based: