The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-20
0DELL'S POPULIST PETITION.
THE TRICKERI RESORTED no
TO OBTAIN SIGNATURES.
Orsen l.. Drew OF Rochester. the Candidate
for Secretary OF state, Announces His
withdrawal From the Ticket, and
In an AmdaMi Exposes the scheme.

ROCHESTER, Oct. I9.-Orsen j.. Drew
Of this city, nominated for Secretary OF
State by the so-called Populist party.
to-day announced his withdrawal from
the ticket. and in sworn affidavit
exposes the trickery that was resorted to
in order to obtain the necessary sigma
lures to place the ticket in nomination.
As a result OF the disclosures 1t IL expected
that the Democratic leaders will take the
matter before the Grand Jury, now sitting,
and indictments are expected TO follow.
Over eighty names were signed to the
petition in Monroe county, and it now
appears that not half of the signers knew
what they were signing and that they did
not swear to their signatures as required
by law
In his affidavit. Drew shows that the
Populist Movement was promoted in New
York State by Melvin G. Palliser OF New
York and Jay W. Forrest Of Albany. and
his opinion of it is given in the closing para
graph, in which he says:
1T is now plain to me that the whole
so-called Populist movement is engineered
by Forrest in the interest Of the Odell Re-
publican machine and is only sham and
a fraud to deceive enough honest men to
defeat the regular Democratic ticket.
think that the proper course for those men
who, like myself. have been deceived and
imposed upon by this sort Of trickery, is
to rebuke such methods by voting the
Democratic ticket.
Monroe county was made one OF the
centres of this scheme to deceive the Demo-
cratic voters. Drew was designated county
chairman and afterward nominated for
Secretary OF State, and Louis MANI Of
this city was named for Comptroller. 1t
Ia believed that the revelations made in
Drew's letter may result in invalidating
the whole ticket. as 1t ia shown that many
of the names were procured by fraud and
the signers did not take the required oath.
1t seems that Drew failed to secure
enough signatures Of men who genuinely
favored the nomination Of the Populist
ticket and when Mr.. Forrest came on from
Albany he was very angry and abusive.
Forrest then told him that he would show
him how to I'LL the list. Forrest asked
where they might go to And a lot Of men,
such as a factory or the street car barns,
and he was taken to the New York Central
freight house. Drew thus describes in his
affidavit how Forrest worked;
when we reached the freight house
and came among the men Forest took the
petition out Of his pocket and carefully
folded that part OF the petition which oon-
tanned the extract from the law and the
sta teruent that each eigner was required
to make oath as to his intention TO support
tlae ticket, exposing only to the eiEner
the liet OF names already obtained, When
he approached a man he used always the
same riemaroie to obtain his signature.
/ heard 1t 10 many times that can almost
repeat II word for word. He would say:
We've got little petition here we
would like to have you sign. We're running
Tom Watson for President In order TO
have his nomination filed we have to have
something like a hundred names from
each county. We've got blank names al
ready l don't care whether Won are a
Democrat or a Republican; what your
politics are don't concern me and mine
don't concern You. We would like to have
you sign this paper to help US OUT"
Drew says that most of the men to whom
he made this appeal would sign the petition
without hesitation, taking the whole affair
in a good natured, offhanded way. Drew
says further in his affidavit:
when he had finished this work he had
the notaries make the required attestation
Most of the signatures obtained by For
rest were not acknowledged before any
notary. Some few were acknowledged,
but think it safe to say that not one out
of the entire humber knew the exact pur-
port Of what he was signing or had the
faintest intlmaton that he was expected
to vote for the ticket to be nominated by
petition. I called Forests attention to
the irregulArity Of this proceeding. He
said to me: We don't care how we get them
or whom we get; get anybody. 30 long as
we get their names signed; that Ia all we
care about
1t is the illegal actions Of Forrest that
have prompted Drew to withdraw from
the ticket. He says
"The more reflected on my connec-
ton with the transaction the worse felt
about the matter, and l determined to
clear myself OF all possible suspicion OF
intentional fault by getting Of the Populist
ticket. and by advising all honest men to
have nothing TO do with II"
Jay W. Forrest is State chairman Of the
Populist party.