Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-05-14
TESTIMONY COMPLETED
Heyoralty Question Will Now Go to
the Supreme COURT for Decision.


The testimony in the quo warranto pro-
ceedings brought by j. l.. Burke TO make
Mayor Hawley show why he is holding
office was completed Thursday before "A.
V. Spalding, master, at the ONCE OF w.
l.. Burnap. The matter Will now be put
in form and submitted to the supreme
court at Montpelier for decision. The
witnesses examined Thursday were c. e..
Allen, former city clerk, j. Il. Burke
the democratic candidate for mayor, i.
+. Conlon, inspector of election in ward
four, c. a. Ilibbard. inspector of election
in ward five, and T. IL. McCale, clerk III
ward five. The officials In wards four
and five were examined because in those
wards the principal questions relative to
the election came UP. In ward four the
ballots on which the democratic and local
option tickets were both marked were
not counted and in ward five it was claim
ed that II ballots marked in similar
manner were left out of the returns
through an error on the part of Mr. Nc
Gale From the recent recount of the
ballots it appears that in ward I'VE
there were 81 such ballots instead of ii
and of the extra II no record was made
whatever. 1t was on that question and
upon the conduct of the count i'll the
ward that the principal questions We're
asked.
Mr. Allen was the first witness ard tes-
titled to the returns made from ward five
and to the fact that an amended return
was also made the day following the
election.
MIR. Conlon testified that is ballots were
cast in ward four that were marked in
both democratic and local option tickets
and that they We're thrown out as defec-
tive. lie said that he protested and
urged that they should bc counted Tor
Mir. Burke but that he was overrulcd.
Mr.. IIibbard testified that when the
ballots were counted by the inspectors
and it was discovered that Il number had
been marked in both the democratic and
LEGAL option columns the inspectors con-
1errod about the matter and decided that
they should be counted for Mr.. Burke
and ordered Mr.. McCae to include them
in his returns He said that +. Z. Bur
CESS and NJ. S. Villas were in the room
while the votes were being counted, hay
ing been invited by the inspectors to re-
main. He said that they made a pro-
test against counting the ballots for Mr..
Burke He said that Mr.. Villas was par
ticulary strenuous in his protest and that
hot words passed between them. which
ended in the witness ordering Mr.. Villas
from the room lie did not CO. however.
Mr.. Hubbard said that he understood
there were but 4votes marked in both the
democratic and local option columns and
that the protest was made as to but IL.
1T was news to him that there were 81
instead of II such ballots. He testified to
the fact that when the mistake on the
part of Mr.. McCale in making the re-
turns was discovered, he and \. A. Drew
made an affidavit to the fact that II votes
should have been included and that on
the day following election such a re-
turn was filed.
Mr.. McCale testified that he did not
touch a single ballot but made out the
returns as given him by the inspectors.
At first he claimed that the inspectors
did not tell him to include the II ballots
in his returns but under eNaminat ton
said that a protest was made by Mr..
Villas and Mr. Burgess and that he did
not know what to do under such circum-
stances. He said that when he filed his
official that there were II protested votes
that had not been included. He said that
when the Il ballots were discovered the
the matter and that the pro-
test made by Mr.. Villas and
Mr.. Burgess resulted in a heated discus
sion between Mr.. Villas and Mr.. Hibbard
and that he feared for n time that blows
would be struck. He said that under the
circumstances he did not know what to
do. lie said that when he filed his re-
turns he knew that Inspectors Drew and
biibbard thought the II ballots should be
counted for MI, Burke as they had said
so but had not directly told him to in
Clude them. He said that Mr. Villas told
him he must hc careful what he did i'm
regard to the votes that had been pro-
tested.
He testified that Mr.. Hubbard and Mr.
Drew requested him to make an amended