The San Francisco call., 1904-08-10
WARD HEELERS VOTE
ILLEGALLY IN MANY
OF THE DISTRICTS

! day. Though charges of "stuffing"
could be heard in a majority of the
/ districts. it is not known positively that
! any criminal scheme was consummat-
ed except in the Seventy-second Pre-
cinct of the Thirty-eig District In
many other precincts there is fairly
/ good evidence that Illegal votes were
cast
In the gray of the morning, a few
minutes after the voting booth Of this
precinct opened, il was invaded by a
/ gang of heelers. The majority of them
/ called for Democratic ballots, signed
/ the book, voted and slipped away.
/ Things went along merrily, no one sus-
pecting that fraud was being commit
ted, until two hard-looking citizens en-
tered the booth, and, after calling for
! ballots, announced, one that his name
was William Pugh, the other that he
was Joseph Kane ]. ]. Golden, cleo
ton officer, looked up from his work in
surprise. He is acquainted with Pugh
and knows his voice. The voter was
not Pugh.
You can't vote for that man." said
0OA0Cn hllOM MI. L ugh.
The crook ran his pen through the
name he had signed and bolted for the
door The man that announced he was
Kane followed on a run. Police were
summoned, but the suffers managed
to elude them and make their escape.
The election officers then sat up and
/ began TO take notice. 1t was their
opinion that the discontinue of the
man who attempted to vote Pugh's
name had prevented the consummation
of the only fraud attempted. But they
were in error. In a short time Dewitt
S. RiddelI and Howard NJ. Ladd, Re-
publicans, both brothers-in-law of Phil
Fay, appeared at the booth and called
for ballots. An examination of the
register disclosed the fact that they
had been voted by the suffers"
SWEAR IN THEIR VOTES.
They demanded, however, that they
be allowed to vote, and their ballots
were sworn in. Following Ridden and
Ladd came Menke, a grocer, to learn
that the heelers had also voted his
! name. His protest was recorded and
he was allowed to swear in his vote
These developments were soon noised
/
orally charged to FOUNDERS working in
the interest of the Horses and Carts, .
who reorganized for the campaign un-
der the title of the Democratic League
The fact of the commission of the
fraud was communicated to the head
quarters of the regular Democratic or
ganization-the McNab wing-and an
investigation was instituted. A list of
the names of all those that appeared
as having voted was taken by the reg
ular Democrats, They say they will
interview every person whose sigma
ture appears, that they may get all the
evidence possible to further their eff
forts to land the offenders in the peni-
tentiary.
Charges were also freely made
/ throughout the Thirty y-eighth District
that heelers were getting $40 each for
aiding in the effort to stuff the ballot
boxes. 1t was claimed by some that
/ they saw money paid to the suffers" !"
4 but as to names and persons they were
so hazy that their testimony would be
of little Importance in criminal pro-
ceeding.
Several complaints were also re-
ceived in the Registrars office during
/ the day from citizens in the Forty
/ third Assembly District that when they
reached the polling places and desired
/ to vote they were informed that their
names had already been voted. Reg
istrar Adams issued an order that any
man whose name had been voted and
who was willing to swear in his vote
would be allowed to exercise his fran
chise.
HIGH-HANDED PROCEEDINGS.
A complaint also reached the Regis
trar's office that affairs were being
conducted in a high-handed manner in
/ general precinct No. 10Y, on the north
side of Jackson street, near Leaven-
worth. 1t was charged that tickets
were being peddled in the booths in
violation of the 100-foot law and that
the police officers in attendance were
doing nothing to stop the illegal prac-
tice. Word was sent from the regis
/ tration Office to the complainant that
| he should call on the police officers to
/ do their duty and in the event of their
refusal report the matter to the CHIEF
of Police.
Joseph p. Hayes, who represented
the regular Democrats in the Forty
third, drove a young man out of the
booth at 629 Post street who tried to
repeat" under the name of John Den
mis- O'Brien- O'Brien is out of the city
Police Sergeant Williams captured the
young man, but as no one appeared to
prefer charge against him he was
freed. Hayes said that during the day
the following names We're Illegally
voted by suffers: George Knapp Of
II Lewis street: Charles Ruggles, who
| lives on Bush street; p. Walsh, whose