The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-12
E. J. Weaver Of COlum-
 < biana Got First.
Judges Concluded Work Last Night and Announced Result-Lucky Man Had e7,542 Dots
 in His Chart.

'fhe Dot Contest has-been decided and T. J. Weaver. of Columbiana gets the first prize.
 Herewith is presented the decision of the judges together with a list of the lucky ones -s,
 The all absorbing topic of the past week has been Dots What about the Dots?' etc. Never has any contest created a like amount of interest as this one. Not only have the Dot makers been on the hptoe of expectancy, but each had also | horde of friends apparently as anxious Tor the coveted information.
 Last Friday the judges met at The Advertiser building. for the. purpose of taking up their work: On assembling in the library MT. J.. A. Weiss begged to be excused owing to a severe attack of neuralgia which placed him in an unfit condition to perform the arduous duties before him. After nasty consultation, the other two judges, MT. J. E. Wors- wick and MT. George P. Haardt decided to select another gentleman to act in Mir. Weiss's place owing to their desire to get through with the work speedily, and also to insure an immediate decision which the many Dottists were clamoring Tor. MT. A. J. Miller was selected He responded promptly and with his agree ment to accept and fill the vacancy the work of going over the many charts was begun.
 The first move to be made by the Judges was to ascertain who had the greatest number of Dots. Therefore the charts were arranged in the following order: beginning with the chart claim Ing chart was arranged to follow in regular order. In this manner the judges began the inspection of charts with the use of strong magnifying glasses that assisted them in determining the merits of each chart and the number of dots run together or connected with the border line. A system of rapid calculation was adopted that permitted them to arrive at safe conclusion as to whether the Dot tist had made as many dots asS claimed; nlso permitted of deductions made for blurs or blots or over estimates.
 The conditions of the contest are here with furnished for any of those who may have labored under any misapprehension be noted in condition No. that this con- tains the Fundamental principle of the contest when it says: The person who can draw with a pen and black ink THE the white surface within the black border of the accompanying blank chart, etc, etc." Then again the third paragraph calls particular attention to one of the most essential features of the contest where it says in capitals EACH DOT MUST BE CLEAR AND DISTINCT AND SEPARATED FROM EVERY OTHER DOT TO BE COUNTED" Many charts were found whose makers, in their eager ness to dot larger number than some other person, had over-done their work by dotting in so many dots that large number of them had become blurred or run together. On a careful examination of each of these kind of charts. proper deductions were allowed and if chart still contained a sufficient number to keep ahead of the next lowest 1t was counted. Exceptions to this rule were made only when charts were found, which, after a careful examination. were acquired to- oe reduced overa25 per cent.;, aH such charts were excluded from the contest. they be- Ing inferior fin workmanship as well as unsatisfactory evidence of containing the required number of dots properly made.
 Seventeen charts were selected in this manner, the highest number of dots ob- tained being accomplished by T. J. Weaver of Columbiana. which number httested to by the committee was 97,542. MT. Weaver had drawn his dots in very systematic manner. point that was highly complimented by the judges, as the arrangement of dots permitted the count to be made quite accurate. Al for his chart, great number were found run together or connected with the bor- der, or to be exact, 5,S0S dots were thrown out of his chart, still leaving enough remaining to be ahead of the next low est.
 1t is to be hoped that the timely pub licaton of the list of winners will prove of great satisfaction to the many dottists who were so absolutely sure they were the proud possessor of the chart contain ing the greatest number of dots. How ever, provisions have been made to prove to all in doubt concerning the correctness and fairness of the decisions rendered by he committee by exhibiting the winning lharts together with several hundred of the largest charts furnished, which, It IS