Evening star., 1901-10-29
Latest Scheme Of Maryland Demo-
Gratis to Injure Republicans.
REFORM TICKET IN PRINCE GEORGES
Candidates Selected Without Their
knowledge or Consent.
THE SCHEME DESCRIBED

Maryland courts will be called upon
most probably to thwart an attempt to in
jure republican chances in Prince Georges
county, Maryland. A reform republican
ticket was produced a few minutes before
the legal time for the announcement of
candidates of the various parties expired,
and despite objections by republican MEM
bers of the county board of election super
visors the board voted to accept the nomi-
nations as valid and to place them on the
official ballot. Unless the courts intervene
this Will be done.
Waited Until Last Moment.
Briefly, the facts are these: Under the
law all certificates Of nominations properly
signed by a sufficient number of voters
had to be filed with the supervisors of
election previous to midnight October 25.
Last Friday night at II 80 o'clock dele
cation purporting to represent an independ-
ent republican movement called at the resi-
dence near Riverdale of b. d. Stevens,
democratic supervisor, and presented the
alleged credentials of candidates and de-
manded that their names be placed upon
the official ballot. The next day, last Sat
urday, Mr.. Stevens attended the meeting of
the supervisors at Upper Marlboro and
produced certificate of nomination OF a
reform republican ticket, stating that it
had been filed with him the night before
at his residence. 1t purported to be signed
by some 277 names.
Messrs. William G. Smith and John G.
Rose, representing the republican commit
tee, examined the certificate Mr.. Rose OBJ
jected to 1t on the ground that forty-eight
of the signers had failed to state their bus
mess addresses, as the law requires, and
deducting their signatures there were not
enough valid signatures left He also called
the attention of the board to the opinion of
Attorney General Rayner in the matter of
the social democratic ticket, to the effect
that social democratic was too similar to
democratic to make it proper that such
party designations should be used on the
official ballot.
An Extraordinary Assertion.
Mr.. Robert W. Wells, the counsel to the
board, who is himself democratic nominee
for the legislature, advised the board that
the omission of the business address did
not invalidate the signatures. At this
| stage occurred very significant incident.
Mr.. Wells said, as to the point that reform
republican" was within Mr.. Rayners rui-
| ing, that the board should remember that
| Mr.. Rayner was not the court of appeals;
| that he was a democratic partisan, advis-
| ing partisan secretary of state, and that
| he probably gave such advice as would be
| of most advantage to the democratic party.
| Mr.. Rose gravely commented upon the ex-
| traordtnary character of this assertion,
| and declared that ne believed 1t to be an
unwarranted insult to the attorney general.
Signed by Democrats.
| The board of supervisors thereupon voted
| to accept the nomination certificate as
| valid and the names Of the candidates nom-
| mated upon it will appear upon the official
| ballot, unless the republicans shall succeed
| in the application it Is understood that
they will make to the courts to have the
reform republican" ticket kept off. An
| inspection of the reform republican" nomi-
nation certificate shows that among
| the candidates on the certificate are two
| colored men. Every signer of the certifi-
| cate certifies that he intends to vote for
| the candidates nominated
Among those who SO sign and certify, 1t
| Is said are many democratic leaders, in
Guiding a former aspirant for seat in the
lower house Of Congress: the editor of a
voters, a democratic Judge Of elections and
a former democratic nominee for county
commissioner.
Mr.. Parker's Position.
One Of the colored men whose names ap-
pear on the reform republican ticket as
| candidates for road commissioner Of Prince
| Georges county is VIM. A. Parker.
II never put my name on the ticket"
| said Mr.. Parker to Evening Star re-
| porter today, nor have 1 authorized any
| one else to put my name thereon. l am
| not a candidate for road commissioner or
| any other office on the Independent ticket"
Object of the Scheme.
The object Of the individuals placing the
ticket in the field is apparent to all who
| understand the situation in Maryland The
| law passed by the extra session of the
| Maryland legislature last year was in
| tended to disfranchise the larger proper
| tion Of the negro voters in the state by
| compelling each voter to mark his ballot
without assistance This. Of course, was
| a bar to those unable to read Republican
| managers, however, began campaign of
| education, and in Prince Georges and other
| counties where there is a large negro pop
| ulation schools were organized in each dis
trict for the purpose Of instructing colored
| illiterates in marking their ballots. The
| success of their teaching was a surprise
| to even the persons who had the education
| of the voters in hand. The instructions
| were to designate republican from demo-
| cratic and other party names which had
| been placed on the ticket, and the addition
| of the reform republican names, it is
| thought, may cause confusion among the
| illiterates. which will be most detrimental
| to the regular republican nominees. Bal
| lots of various designs and Of different
| type were employed to teach the voters
| and meetings were held at frequent inter-
walls. So thorough had been the tnstruc
| tions that at recent test marking Of bal
lots in this district, where ninety 1.-TWO bal
| lots were cast by colored voters but
| single one was faulty in marking. Among
| the voters were goOdly number who were
| thought to be incapable of voting when
special session of the legislature.
DenunciatiOn of the OriginatOrs.
AS the day of election is but little more
than a week off, every effort will be made
by the republicans throughout the county
| to have the colored vote educated to the
new makeup Of the ticket, regardless Of
any legal steps that may be taken. and
they confidently predict that this will be
done. Denunciations of the originators of
the scheme to defeat the regular repub-
lican ticket by bringing out an independ-
| ent one are freely heard. The reform"
ticket. 1t is thought, will receive but feeble
| support in the county.
A Newspapers Opinion.
What reputable Maryland newspapers
think of the scheme may be gained from
an editorial published in the Baltimore Sun
day Herald yesterday under the head more
Dirty Politics." which is as follows:
I'm Prince Georges county, as appears by
the dispatch in another column, prominent
democratic leaders have gone so far as to
formally sign the nomination papers of a
so-called reform republican ticket upon