The times., 1901-03-21

| Assistant Director Wines i'm Charge
of the Work-An Effort to secure "A
| Reduction of AbeII's BOnd-The Po-
sition Taken by Mr.. Merriam.
The padding of census returns in St
| Mary and Charles Counties. Maryland
| by the population enumeratOrs, has been
the occasion OF an investigation on the
part of the Census Bureau. and will result
| in what is practically a recount of the
two counties DIT. Wines. Assistant Di-
rector of the Twelfth Census. is now in
Maryland. i'm charge Of the work. which
! is being done by twenty clerks, employed
! in the Census Bureau.
The original count. whether accurate or
falsifed. will remain the official figures
of the bureau. inasmuch as they have al
ready been published. and cannot he al
| tered, as the basis for apportonment
| Such DISCREPANCIES as are uncovered viii
! he acknowledged by the Census Bureau.
! hut will not be published i'm the reports
| as the official returns.
IS result of the investigation into the
! alleged classification of the returns IN
| Maryland. Stephen \. Abell, crossing
| policeman i'm this city who served as one
| of the euumerators in St. Mary County
was arraisned I'm the Police Court yester-
| day morning, and he pleaded not guilty.
| He waived the preliminary examination,
and the case went to the grand jury.
Abell's bond was fixed at $500. after con-
siderable wrangling between Mr.. sloane
| geographic at the Census Bureau who
has charge Of the case for Director Mer-
| riam, and Maurice Smith. the attorney for
the defendant.
Mr. Smith asked that the case be taken
ac hfe elf IN an
animation. He asked that the amount Of
bond. which had been placed at $1,000 by
by Assistant District Attorney MuIlowny
Tuesday night, he reduced to $500 Mr
Sloane objected 10 this and said that he
had been instructed by Director Merriam
to say that 1000 was not satisfactory to
him. and asked that d larger sum be re-
qured.
Attorney Smith said that under the law
the offence was only a misdemeanOr, pun
ish1ble 10y q fine of not more than 5000
or Imprisonment for not more than two
years. he became somewhat heated in
his remarks, and referred to what he
termed the impertneuCe of Director Mer-
Ram in attempting TO dictate TO the
court what the bond should be. He said
that il was a matter entirely with the
court
The bail was finally fixed At 50 800, and
the defendants counsel is given until 9
O'Clock this morning 10 show cause why
the amount of the bail should be reduced.
At the Census Bureau the returns from
ST. Mary and Charles Counties fell un-
der suspicion as to their reliability when
first received from the enumerators. The
surmise was reached that the returns
were inaccurate and padded. Certain rep
| reservations made by Democratic news
| papers OF the State. charging fraud in
the returns. i'm the interest of the Repub
Leans. determined their bureau to inves-
tigate the matter In the LeonaTdtown
district the inaccuracies in the enumeTa-
tors reports were most patent and the
Instances Of fraud were soon unearthed
by the investigation which was instituted
by the Bureau.
Abel, enumerator of the Census in this
district. was arrested as the result Of the
investigation, charged with having, on
June -, 1900 while acting as an enumera-
tor in District III, of the Third SUpervis-
ors district of the United States Census,
willfully, knowingly, and unlawfully
made certain false returns to the Direc-
tor of the Census by setting out in the
returns that seven people were alive and
actual residents Of the district, while, in
TACT lueE were AL utdQ d. tlt tllilt titt
returns We're made.
The Census act of March 9. 1859. defines
in section q the crime and penalties for
conviction of altering census returns, as
follows:
That any supervisor, supervisors
clerk. enumerator, Interpreter, special
agent, or other employe, who, having
taken and subscribed the oath Of office
required by this act shall without jus
tihable cause, neglect or refuse to per
form the duties enjoined on him by
this act. or shall, without the au-
thority OF the Director of the Census,
communicate to any person not author
lied TO receive the same any Information
gained by him in the performance of his
duties, shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and upon conviction shall be
fined not exceeding $500. or il he shall
willfuly and knowingly swear or affirm
falsely, he shall be deemed guilty Of per-
jury, and upon conviction thereof shall
DE imprisoned not exceeding three years
and be fined not exceeding $500; or If he
shall wiHfuIly and knowingly make
false certificate or a fictitious return, he
shall be guilty Of q misdemeauor, and
upon conviction Of either of the last
named offences he shall be fined not eX-
ceeding two years
Director Merriam. Of the Census Bu-
reau. said yesterday that twenty men
from the bureau had been sent 10 the two
counties in Maryland TO review the work
Of the original enumerators. Clerks
| from the bureau he stated, had
| been selected. in preference TO
| enumeratOrs from the counties
| in order that the work should be
| perfectly fair and impartial. The popu-
| latlon lists turned in by the original
| eHumerators VIII be checked of by the
| men making the recount. All names
| found 10 be correctly accredited to the
| counties viii be approved Names of
| persons on the lists who cannot be found
will be erased.
| Whether the penalty upon conviction Of
| falsfying census returns, in more than
| one instance Is cumulative, Director
Merriam believes rests entirely with the
! court 70 decide. lie states that this Is the
first instance OF recount authorized
under the Twelfth Census. IN view Of
the fact that recounts under any preced-
ing census We're Invariably instituted to
| ascertain whether the population Of GER
| tain places was not estimated at TOO low
| a figure while ia the present instance the
count, the Director considers that the
situation is unique.
While no recount In any other county Of
Maryland IS at present intended, Governor
Merriam states that if further develop
mcuts dema nd such n viii be done
When seen at the Ebbtt House ypster-
day Representative Mudd denied any
connection with the case or any kuOWl-
edge Of AbclIs WrOngdOing previous TO
the arrest Of the latter.
Il want il understood said MT. Mudd
that ! did not have Abel appointed 10
his position iu the Census. This was
done by the State Central Committee ]
did have him appointed on the police