Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-02-20
DENVER LETTERS.
Denver. Colo. Feb. II. 1908.
o

ing session tOOay me nrSt Wtnefe
was Lewis g. Becker When he wa.
shown exhibit C 81, being bunch o
90 ballots reported by Expert Wicker,
as probably in tne same hand ant
asked IL certain one was his ballot
much to the surprise of counsel he
said no" The ballot was marked
.Democrstic" and he had voted
straight Republican. He was excused
at once
John Connolly was the best witness
for contestee that has appeared. He
was Democratic watcher in ward 16
precinct 6. Out Of list of names OF
voters of the precinct ne Identified all
hut one. These were alleged to have
been non-residents. Many of the names
were spelled wrong. Connolly has
worked for the city for eight years.
He vouched for people during regis
tration-for more than twelve, and
among them a lady whose residence ne
did not know
Henry Stewart had voted Democratic
in ward s, precinct IL, and identified
his ballot. c. B. Epple had voted Re
publican in ward 5, precinct 4. and
Identified his ballot. which was one of
bunch OF 8 said by Expert Smith to
have been probably by one hand. On
going through the bunch again, he
picked out two more. and really could
not tell which was his own. "They do
look alike" he said 81 identified the
first one because IL was nv number
number 81
Ralph Cuthbertson is Inspector of
sewers for the city On election day
he cea sed TO be inspector and becam.
n Democratic watcher, and was paid
for it. He also was paid by the city for
that dav.
Bill Hummel. of I'll, was recalled
to identify list of alleged non-resi.
dents. He said he knew them all, but
were all spelled wrong ELLA" ought
TO be Cora. ANDY" should be AN.
tone" Doncen' ought to be Duncan"
and so on by the score.
Miss Cavanaugh had been Demo-
cratic Judge in "a. All was fair as
possible. A number Of voters challeng-
ed. but all sworn in. Supreme Court
watcher Harrison made himself very
officfous all day-wanted to see the
registration book all the time, and
said things, Identified all the names
on list OF alleged Illegal voters, but
did not know but very few OF the
pe,ople-took for granted that anybody
whose name was on the registration
list was entitlei to vote. This witness
answered nearly all of Mr.. Wards
questions before he got them asked.
but he presisted in repeating them un.
til she finally explained Il would like
to get in word or two" She said
this had been the same kind Of honest
election they had In that precinct last
spring, and two years ago when Shat
roth ran for congress.
At the afternoon session seven wit
nesses were put on the stand for
Adams. Four Of them We're to testify
in regard to the conduct OF election
and ballots reported fraudulent by
experts. or rather written in one hand
The experts were shown to have been
right in more cases than they were
wrong, MIS- Bridget Detmire was a
Democratic judge In Ward 6, precinct
IL, She thought everything was all
right on election day. On being shown
the ballot that ought to have been
hers, according to the number, she
said that 1t was not her ballot. Mrs
Ella Shugren was a clerk in the same
precinct and was sure that she knew
IN, he, haf
everyone who voted was entitled to
do 80. On being shown a list of names
of persons whose ballots were said to
have been in the same handwriting.
she gave the names Of two of them
whose ballots she had written? Her
name was also on the list. She helped
several others, she did not know how
many. The Republican judge from
jyard 8 precinct Z, was then put on the
stand He refused totell how he had
voted. He had appointed clerk whom
the Republican committeewoman was
opposed to, because she thought ne
was a Democrat. On being asked II
he knew a certain lady. he replied that
he knew her well, that she did not live
in the precinct, and hadn't voted on
election day On being shown her name
on the poll book as having voted. he
had no explanations to Offer.
Most OF the time of the afternoon
eession was occupied by the County
Clerk Of Huerfano county, j. ID. Mon
tez, who appeared with eighteen boxes
from sixteen precincts, which were
successfully opened and turned over
TO the three Democratic experts to get
busy Most OF the examination OF Mr..
Montez was carried on through an
Interpreter.
The ballot boxes from Huerfano
we're found be 10 in various conditions.
All were sealed in some way or other.
but not always according to the strict
requirements of the law. All but one
were locked. On being opened, the
poll books of three were found to be
missing. In almost every case, the
ballots were found folded separately.
The first case in whicn an adequate
record OF assistance to voters has
been kept, in boxes opened by either
side, was in precinct 22, where rs per