Rocky Ford enterprise., 1904-12-30
Denver.

ne Ifduu lHNestiShtioh an ~ "hSss'
he goveraorship. has been largely re-
moved since my last letter. The In
yestigation conducted by the Republi.
cans and the Supreme Court has pro.
duced evidence which clearly demon
,trates that the fraudulent Democratic
cote In Denver far exceeds the totai
plurality counted for Mr.. Adams on the
ACE OF the returns.
This evidence will be presented TO
The Legislature on January 4th and an
immediate hearing will be asked which
will undoubtedly be granted.
As already stated. the fraud In the
100 lower precincts is SO extensive and
consists OF SO many varieties. as 10
make It impossible to separate the
good from the bad ballots. The fraud
alent vote In the other precincts Is not
,uite SO extensive or complicated and
Il is possible that In these the good and
Tho bad ballots might be separated.
A Recognized Principle.
The outcry against the Supreme
Court from leading Democratic attor-
neys on the ground that 1t has estab-
ushed n dangerous precedent has
failed to make any Impression upon
those who arc In any way familiar Win
The matter. Technically the court did
form n precedent. hut really II violated
no principle OF law or Justice. On the
II followed the practice that
has been In vogue In our courts anu
bodies for a century. Whefc
the fraud is SO extensive or OF such
nature rs to render II impossible TO de-
termine the actual legal vote cast In
precinct, tho whole return Is tainted
When the election officials arc parties
to the fraud the return Is furthcf
and Its integrity destroyed ana
under such conditions Il has been de-
cided always that the whole return
from such ballot box should be thrown
out. This Is all the Supreme Court
did.
There Is no law against forming
precedent In this country. particularly
when the precedent Is formed to pnr'
lfy our civic life.
Mr.. Patterson and the other Demo
cratic attorneys appear to 10 thof'
ourhly welded to the belief that es'
,abiishcd prccedcnis should not be diS'
,urbcd, tha, n violation OF them tech
n!eaiiy or In principle Is the Invasion
OF constitutional rights and danger 10
tho pcrpctuity of Republican ins'i'n'
lions.
A Democratic Precedent.
Tn. Democratic election thieves o'
III, lower wards OF Denver ions since
established the prcecdcn, OF stumng
tho ballot boxes In that section OF the
city. and stealing the elections FOR the
Democratic ticket. The average
Democrat is glad to see these election
crooks punished and their outrageous
crimes on the ballot suppressed. but
the big Democratic lawyers. faithful to
their love OF holding ''cstabiiShed pre-
ccdcnt' inyIoiatc. are objcciins scFi'
ousIy to this smashing OF the BIZ
Ml,,'s most precious precedent. Mr.
Patterson goes no far as to say that
In smashing II n deadly blow has
been struck against republican insti'n'
tons"
These attorneys arc equally active
and insIstcBt upon maintaining thcir
that tho state canvassing
board has no rish, to 30 behind the re-
turns; that IL must accept them as sent
In by the county officials and issue
certificates accordingly. They
will make exactly the same contention
about the power OF the Legislature
when that body undertakes to invcsti'
gate the Democratic frauds In Denver
and o,hcv counties which have "on the
face Of the returns" shown Mr.. Adams
to be elected.
Who peeiecs the Question:
II Is conceded that some high au.
,hority OF the state government must
receive the returns and determine who
is elected. This privilege at present
seems to be claimed by Senator Pat
tcrson for himself and his brother lead.
crs OF the Democratic party. But the
law says that the state canvassing
board shall canvass the vote for ma.
tional candidates. legislative candi.
dates. and. in fact. all candidates ex-
ccpt the state officers. When the re.
turns are in and II is determined who
is elected this board issues election
certificates accordingly.
when the Legislature meets It re.
cclvcs the returns for state officers
from governor down. canvasses them
and issues certificates to those whom
in its Judgment are elected.