The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-10
LETTER FROM MR.. TODD
Denies that He Acquiesced in the Reso-
lutioe OF the State G mini tee

Denies that He Acqulesced IN the heso-
lutioe Of the State c mini tee.
The letter of Mr.. Todd to which refer
ence is made above. is printed IN 1ull
below. It is a very interesting contrbu-
tion TO the discussion of this most inter-
estinr case. He denies that the state
Committee had jurisdiction in Mr. Brauer >
appeal from the County Committees de-
cision. and claims that The Times-Dls-
patch has been in error regarding the
action Of the State Committee. On this
point he says:
with reference to the agreement before
the State Central Committee wish 10
say that / In no way asquiesced IN the
resolution adopted by said committee, DE-
claring that it had Jurisdiction. but on
tnc contrary, after the committee took
jurisdiction. my counsel refrained from
any further appearance in the matter.
This view of the matter is very ar
farent from that taken by the chairman
and other members Of the State Commit
tee. and by counsel who appeared for Mr..
Brauer. The Times-Dspatch, while not
intending to question the motive or We
racity of Mr.. Todd is fully satisfied that
its report printed Saturday morning and
reproduced In part In an editorial yester-
day morning. was both accurate ana ihlT.
This belief is sustained by the chslrman
of the State Committee, by the circum-
stances and by the official correspondence
that, followed the committees action.
The case went up to the state Com
mittee on appeal from the decision of the
Hcnrico County Committee IN declining
TO issue the certificate of nomination for
treasurer to Mr.. Brauer, who recelVsd
the highest vote, because of alleged Vio-
latIons OF the Barksdale pure election
law. The contest had been made IN the
name of Mr.. Hechler, who received the
smallest vote, the general impression was
thot Messrs. Hechler and Todd really
stood together in the matter. Messrs.
O'Flaherty and Fulton conducted the fight
against Mr.. I3rauer before the County
Committee and when 1t went up to the
State Committee they appeared there. Mr..
St. John Coalter appeared as the legal re-
preventative of Mr.. Todd. These three
attorneys We're against Brauer ana
| Messrs. Wyndham r.. Meredith and Mr..
VIM. II. Sands appeared for him. Mr..
Coaltcr took very small part In the pro-
cccdlngs Early in the consideration OF
the matter, when the question OF 1uris-
diction of the State Committee was being
discussed, Mr.. Coaltcr yielded to Mr.. Full
ton (of Hechlers counseD, who spoke for
Mr.. Todd The committee decided una
| nimously THAT it had jurisdiction and
1 a
that the committee having notified both
sides evidently referring to Hechler and
| Todd together as one side) that 1t had
jurisdictions the parties would by their
| appearance answer and say by that act
whether they proposed to abide by the
action of the committee. Soon after Mr.
| Meredith began his statement OF the case
Mr.. OFlahcrty asked that he "and his
associates" be excused for conference
and retiring he stated that they appeared
to contest the jurisdiction Of the com.
mittee There was another long discus
sion and In the course of a further state
ment Judge Watkins used words to this
effect:
As 10 whether Hechcr or Todd Is enti
/ tied to the nomination, this committe!
has nothing whatever to do. We arr
hearing the Brauer case, and nothing
else. II you appear here and make charg
against Brauer, you have made your ap
pearance and accepted the jurisdiction o
this committee When you appear AM
undertake TO take part in this case, yo'
are bound by your action. and must abld
the result"
Counsel were understood by the commit
tee to assent to this, and after the adop
ton of Mr.. Patton's resolution, declaring
that II the committee found that the Ger
tihcate of nomination should have bee
awarded TO Brauer he would he declare
the nominee, the hearing Of the case o.
its merits proceeded, and all of the at
tomcys remained, including Mr.. coaltel
Only Mr.. Meredith. on the one side, an
Mr.. O'Flaherty, on the other. mad
gpoeches. WheT Mr.. Meredith arose t
close the case, he asked Mr.. Coalter
he wished TO say anything, and he reptile
, In the negative,
These are the facts In the case as TIL
Times Dispatch understands them. an
Q they are substantiatcd by Chairman ELY
, son and Others. If the committee ha
not understood that all parties at in
terest would be bound by Its action |
q would not have given the afternoon an
half the night to hearing argument an
= reviewing the evidence taken by tn
county committee. Secretary ]. G. Han