The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-02
GAMBLER BEAT ROSS
CARRIED CHATHAM COUNTY FOR
SUPREME COURT BENCH.
DEFEATED RIVAL CANDIDATE
by BIG MAJORITY, THIS BEING THE
ONLY CONTEST OF ELECTION.

The Qufetest Day at the Polls Savan-
nah Has Seen for Many Nears-in-
terest in Result Weak and Apa-
thetic and Small Percentage of
Registered Vote Was Cast-PoIice
Contingent Had nm Easy Time--NO
Fights and No Excitement-Ab-
sence of Judge Ross Name From
Ballots Supplied by Executive
Committee Only Interesting Feat
ure of the Dny.
In the state and county election yes
terday. John s. Gambler of Atlanta,
carried Chatham county for associate
justice of the Supreme Court, over
John p Ross of Macon, by a vote of
sos to 1856 This was the only con-
test. and it has been long years since
there was an election in Chatham coun-
ty in which so little interest was dis
played.
Out of a total registration of $500
only 1884 votes were cast. For the Of
fees in which the people of the county
generally are wont to display an in
terest. there was no opposition to the
regular nominees of the Democratic
party, and a mild and apathetic In
difference marked the conduct of the
election from start to finish.
The squad of police that was on hand
to preserve order had an easy time of
il. There was no drunkenness. no ex-
element, no disturbance. and the pa
trolmen lounged in chairs in Wright
Square and spent the hours in thank
ing their stars for Savannah election
without a fight.
The vote for Gambler and Ross at the
several boxes was as follows;
LIST End 3rd 4th Country
Gambler ....... .167 339 ASS 667 81
Ross ....... 10 20 so 81 10
When the polls opened in the morn
ing there were no Ross tickets on the
ground. The tickets had been printed
under the direction of the Democratic
Executive Committee of the county.
When the absence of Judge Ross
name from all the tickets was discov-
cred his friends were indignant They
got busy al once and by 1920 or ii
o'clock tickets which bore the names of
both candidates were on the tables and
at the disposal of the voters.
This, however, scarcely served to re-
lieve the situat ton. The friends of
Judge Gambler were about the only
active workers at the polls and in
moment of abstract they lifted
most of the Ross ballots from the ia
bles and tore them up. The table
keepers helped the game along by
heavily loading the samples of Ross
ballots that remained with bricks,
blocks of wood and other extemporiz-
ed paper weights, so that a prospec-
tive voter who desired to cast his bal
lot for the Macon candidate had to be
literally endowed with physical
strength.
All of this created considerable indig-
nation, though possibly it was too
much to expect the political allies of
Judge Gambler to help Judge Ross AS
one of them phrased it, lit was a free
for all fight and if Ross wanted to win
he ought to have had his friends help
hirn."
Ali the candidates for county offices
made their appearance at the polls
during the day. but few of them spent
much time around the Court House
Dr. John G.. Keller candidate for coro-
ner, was one of those who devoted
considerable time to talking to his
friends, and in consequence of this and
his wide popularity his name was
scratched from the ticket less often
probably, than that of any of the other
aspirants for office.
When the polls closed the managers
wasted no time in counting the bal
lots. Within three quarters of an hour
all the boxes had been emptied the
votes of the candidates tabulated and
the managers We're ready to make their
returns. Little attention was paid to
splits and scratches and only in the
case of the Gambler Ross contest was
any active effort made to determine
the exact result. In the other cases
the managers gave the candidates all
the votes that were polled
1t was reported that there was con-
siderable repeating" during the cleo