The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-04-06
BUNGLINC WORK.
Mayor Contest Tied Up on Ac-
count Of Errors.
Election Clerks Failed to Keep
Clean Record.
THE CHANGE OF VOTES
Totals Show One Thing, the
Record Another.
City Council Refuses to Declare
the Result.
Tally Sheets Give Hughes Ma
jOrity Of Seven.
THE CHANGE OF VOTES

Ine council Q1Q not QeclQG last ul5HL
who was elected mayor Of Topeka.
The committee which was appointed to
go over the tally sheets which had been
turned in to the city clerk could not
determine what report to make TO the
council. and at 1.30 o'clock this morning
a recess was taken until this afternoon
at 80 o'clock
were opened and gone over by the coun-
Gil last night were in such bad shape
that no one was satisfied with the re-
turns. "A number of the sheets showed
that there should be more intelligent
men appointed on the election boards.
Some OF the sheets were not signed and
some were so carelessly kept that votes
had to be guessed at. In a close election
this kind Of carelessness is almost Grim
1nal
After the routine business had been
attended to the council resolved itself
into a canvassing board and the mayor
appointed Councflmen Swendson, Round
tree Warner and Clancy as commit
tee to go over the tally sheets. The coun-
Gil chamber was packed almost to suffoca-
tion by a crowd eager to see and hear
every thing A majority OF the crowd q
were men who We're personally interest
ed one way another in the decision
OF the council The committee took the
reporters table in the center of the room
and spread their sheets. They were sur
rounded by Frank Thomas, A b. Quin-
ton and David OveTmyer, attorneys for
Mr.. Parker, and F. p. Lindsay and ]. B.
Larimer. attorneys for Mr. Hughes.
The recountng Of the tally sheets pro-
ceedeo without any change until the
tally sheet Of the first precinct Of the
Second ward was reached and here a
discrepancy of 10 votes was found be-
tween the tally and the total as set down
IN the column Tor men In the same pre-
clnct discrepancy was found of votes
between the tally and the total in the
WOmRn'S column Both We're in favor of
AR Hughes as the figures showed that
Mr.. Parker had 342 votes in the total
and there We're but 327 tallies on the
record The attorneys for both sides at
once began to argue concerning how the
vote should be counted The attorneys
Tor Mr- Parker contended that the totals
were in all probability correct as the
clerk had evidently been poor one and
and had followed the clerk keeping the
other tally sheet They said he had evil
IDENTIFY not kept up in the count when
putting down the tallies and that he had
taken the totals from the other sheet.
The judges all signed the sheet on which
the totals must be correct The commit
tee was not satisfied and the tally sheet
was put hack in the envelope and mark
ed to Ne EachecHed."
The Fet from the third precinct If
the Tnzra ward was the poorest shee-
opened 1T was very hard to determine
anything concerning it. The clerk had
marked i've tallies in some blocks and
III others ne had marked but two ar
three The tallies and the totals did not
agree for either candidate The lawyers
and the committee again got into a dis
cuSslon as 20 what should be done with
ana explaining Mr. SWendsOn and Mr.
Roundtree said that Is votes should be
added to Mr. Hughes vote and y should
be added to Mr.. Parker's vote This
made the totals 641 and 224 respectively.
1t also made a total vote in the precinct
Of s65, which is nine more votes than
were cast. This sheet was also objected
10 by Mr.. Warner and Mr.. CLANCY and
was marked TO be rechecked-" The rest
of the sheets were made to agree in
their tallies and totals
The gain for Hughes in the first pre-
cinct OF the Second ward of IS and the
gain in the third precinct OF the Third
ward OF 10 made the total gain for
Hughes 30. The gain in the third pre-
c1nct of the Third ward of u for Parker
left Hughes total gain IS which if ac-
cepted by the council will give him a
ma ajority of z the total of the tally
sheets before checked gave Mr.. Parker
i majority
When the sheets were completed the
lawyers again took up the argument be-
1ore the committee, Mr.. Overmyer
claiming that the sheet which showed d
total OF more votes than were cast was
not regular and that the total as st
down by the judges and clerk in the first
precinct of the Second ward should be
counted and not the total of the tally as
made by the committee. Mr.. Larimer
and Mr.. Lindsay both made speechas
urging the committee to report to the
council that they had found that Mr.
Hughes was elected and that q certifi-
cate De given him. The committee sat
patiently and listened to the LAWYERS
and the crowd swarmed in and pressed
close around. Mr.. SWendson attempted
TO keep Mr. Overmyer from talking or
quoting law He said that he did NOT
want any advice and spoke of hirnserf
as we. The other members Of the COM
snittee decided that they wanted to learn
= al they could about how to conduct tbs
matter legally and they voted to let Mr.
0vermyer talk City Attorney Bird was
called up and asked his advice OF
course The lawyers did not agree and az
ger hearing them for a long time tf1e,y
decided that they wanted to go home as
4 was evident that the matter could not
b settled before daylight at the rate it
was going.
Mr. Warner suggested that the con-
unittee report to the council that it was
unable to reach decision and that 4
recess be taken until Saturday morning
Mr. Swendson agreed to this and then
objected to 1t when Mr.. Clancy made
the motion that the council take a recess
ant1 Saturday afternoon.
While the matter was being discussed
Mr.. Warner erased the totals he har put
+ ct the foot OF the column for mayor and
Mr. Ewendson snatched the paper away
and said; What are you doing that
40r2 You have no right to erase those
GNslreA"
n guess have" said Mr.. Warner *
made GMeuR ans can erase them If I
WaGeAgF nsva not disturbed the nguren