Omaha daily bee., 1902-05-02
DISFRANCHTSE CITIZENS
What Judge Bakers Ruling in Unit
Miller Case Will Do.
CLERKS LAWYERS MAKE SWEEPING MOVE
Propose 10 Make Prominent Men
Whose Votes Are Declared
Illegal Tell in Court for
whom They voted.

''since Charley Unit has seen ft to re-
sort to the merest teehnicalities in his
effort 10 get Harry Miller's county clerk
ship aWay from him., and since Judge Bax-
ter has seen At to hold to the most exact
ing Interpretation Of the law, we have de-
eided to follow the lead and split hairs so
fine In this contest that It will prolong the
proceedings for at least a month, possibly
six weeks; pile up the court costs alone 20
$500 or $4,000, result in the disfranchise-
ment Of pretty nearly one-half the voters
Of Douglas county and be a source of end
less annoyance to those who accommodated
forgetful friends who had neglected to reg
lister by filing afidavits for them"
This was the declaration OF Lysle I. Abb
bolt and Louis J. Piatti, attorneys for
Mr.. Miller, yesterday. Scattered around
were papers that portend much loss Of time
from business and much embarrassment for
many men. Mr.. Abbott further explained:
II confess that my dander is up a little
over this contest. The canvassing board
gave Miller a majority OF 50, the first re-
count In county court gave him a majority
Of Is. and this last recount gave him a
majority Of "a, yet Unit will not accept
the evident desire Of the voters, but must
continue the fight and incidentally the
costs on purely technical grounds.
First Hair Splitting.
Never before has there been any dispute
hero OF the sufhclency OF ~afidavits filed by
residents Of the same ward as an ~unregis-
tered voter, but Judge Baxter sustained
their contention that such afidavits must
be by residents of the SAM precinct and
there are left but two things we can do.
Ona IA IN Ora raj IN tho fiIa0aI haIlotg vh3oh
is manifestly unfair to us now, as Unit
attacked only the strong democratic pre-
cincts. and the other is to bring each of
the illegal voters into court and find out
how he voted. We can do this, because
the law will compel any man who voted
illegally TO tell how he voted. 1t will be
an embarrassing ordeal for some Of them,
but We intend to take that course.
Unit attacked the First, Second and
Third wards Of Omaha and all of South
Omaha except one precinct Of the First
ward and another of the Sixth, which were
known to be republican. As nearly as l
can remember, he challenges 1926 affidavit
voters. We shall r~etallate by attacking
every precinct in Omaha and South Omaha
that he didn't attack, and we already have
q list OF 200 names that will be swelled
before we finish our work on the books, to
q number that will represent, l believe,
pretty nearly one-half the voting strength
OF the two cities. Judge Baxter seems to
demand the strictest compliance with the
balloting law, and this opens the way for
a sweeping Acknowledgement. II a voters
name, for instance, be entered in the poll
book enormously to the extent of even
a wrong initial or incorrect spelling, we
shall demand that the vote be thrown out,
as that Is what his ruling requires.
some Illegal Voters.
ITO show you the effect I'll name some
OF the men who are shown to have been
illegal voters, although they have been
prominent here for many years. The list
includes lawyers, doctors, real estate men
and business men OF whose good intention
there could be no doubt. Among them are
w. A. Paxton. J. r. Buchanan of the Elk
horn road, H. w. Webster, John H. Du-
mont, Chester B. Summer, A. G. Ellick Zone
OF Units attorneys), J. c. Birney, w. c..
Green, J. J. Riley. Joel w. West, another
attorney; Charles W.. Robertson, Charles D.
Pickett, G.. r. Voss, Councilman d. T.
Mount, @. S. Amber, J. w. Woodrough, c..
q. Llewellyn. ]. b. Rahm, Frank Debolt,
w. T. Denny, Harry O'Neill, A. w. Bar.
nard, H. i. Hayward, ]. j. Gibson, o. C.
Redick, e. c. Page, another attorney; p. ].
Haas and Charles Mack. There seems small
justice in throwing out the votes Of such
men as those, but that is precisely what
we can do under the Baxter ruling, and it's
what we will do. And every one Of them
will have to appear in court and tell how
he voted.
Prominent Men Subpoenaed.
Another interesting feature Of the litiga-
tton which Is ahead will be the presence
in court OF men who signed afndayits for
friends. Our list isn't complete, but we
have already placed in the sherif's hands
subpoenas for the following, whose first ap-
pearance In court is to be Friday morning
~ $50 o'clock: William Coburn, H. c..
Sharp, William Whitehorn, Frank E.
,Moores. w. J. Cornell, r. c. Hallet, ]. G.
.Holtorf, James II. Adams, Morltz Meyer,
u. II. Laebrich, A. +. Connect. II. G. Couns-
1an. Otto Bauman, A. H.. Briggs, Frank B.
johnson, Frank B. Kennard, C. 8. Elgutter,
II, L. Perrine, w. II. Elbourn, John N.
Westbers, M. e, Muxen. George ostrom,
y, J. Harp, o. G. Redick. J. O.. Sherry, T..
y, Mahammitt, Myron d. Karr. Henry
Hardy, @. S. Amber. f. l.. Mccoy, ]. o.
Detwiler, John d. Ware, c.. r. Llewellyn,
~. +. Sears. O.. o. Lobeck, Martin Tighe,
q, NJ. Nattinger. T. S. Crocker. z. c. Hold
der. Peter O'Malley, r. B. Bryant. p. A.,
Edqutst. j. G. Brugner. Van b. Lady, C. H..
Klopp. e. j. Bodwell. H.. w. Corduroy, w.
9. Ives, Charles Malm. C. d. Hutchinson
city Hall Aspect.
''rhis will make the court room look like
. wing OF the city hall and when the gen
tlemen are repeatedly called to testify
psrfunctorly l anticipate that they will
feel far from pleased. but I'll simply bow
and refer them to Mr.. Units attorney. He
ps the one who started this thing. We're
merely following a lead that he has com
PEELED US to. City Clerk Elbourn will have
10 so to the trouble, too. OF bringing over
ell the poll books and all the registration
books that We may make our comparisons.