Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-03-06
DENVER LETTER.
Denver, Feb. 2s. 1905.


ns on the adoption of report. |
seems 10 be expected that the vot,
will be on party lines, as naturally 4
would be. II the procedure OF tne ma
tional house OF representatives in con
test cases is followed, the tainted pre-
cincts will be thrown out altogether
and thus far II does not appear thai
there is any Republican either on tn,
committee or in either house. wac
does not believe that the Denver pre-
cincts complained of We're tainted
with fraud OF many kinds.
The printing OF the Testimony and
dispositions is at last finished II
makes thirteen volumes of an average
OF more than 800 pages-over IL 900
pages in all. Wlat has swelled It to
sich unreasonabls proportions is
mainly the 1000 dispositions put in
by the Adams slde-depositions which
VIII probably turn out to be worth
less because they are merely TO the
ehect that so and so voted at such
and such place election day. Not
witnstanding that the confession nrint
ed the supreme court proceedings as
part OF his matter, and that rebnttal
testimony was taken for him for fiyt,
DAYS there are only FIVE Peabody vol
umes, as against Adams eight. Put
In another way. the Peabody case
makes little over 1000 pages, and
the Adams case nearly 1000. Those
2,ooo dispositions have probably cost
the state for printing alone nearly
$4,000.
The proceedings In Joint session
VIII begin on Thursday. and there is
tremendous demand for tickets of
admission. which are very limited In
number. The speaker holds that
mere is no sense in issuing a great
many more tickets than there are
seats in the house and has refused
hundreds of applications All the en-
frances are 10 be kept closed during
the whole proceedings-there are to
be no side doors open, and nobody can
get in except through the main ell
trance, and not then unless he has
nis pink ticket with him.
II has been decided to allow the at.
torneys ample time on both sides. SO
that there is strong probability Of
no final vote before the latter part OF
next week. 1t is long strain, and
many wish 1t were over. but the
committee felt that the dignity OF the
proceedings and the importance of
the issue made 1t desirable to allow
all the time that could be deemed al
all reasonable.
In reading the findings prepared by
the Democratic attorneys, The mos
noteworthy point, perhaps, is that no
mention is made Of the conspiracy
alleged in the Republican claim to
nave eNisted--a conspiracy which, if
proved 10 exist, as Republicans be
lieve it has been proved, invalidates
the whole vote OF the precincts com
planned Of. The findings for the con
testee are devoted 10 a consideration
of two things-the handwriting ex.
sued tnat the handwriting experts |
have been totally discredited, and |
that their evidence is absolutely |
worthless; and 1t is argued that the
Iecheck lists made by the Republi- |
cans are all wrong; and the rather
sweeping assertion is made that 'iL
nas been conclusively proved that
more than SO precincts of the 104 at
tackled by the contestor are entirely
free from fraud" and that all the vot |
ers who cast ballots in the precincts
where the Republican recheck lists
show them TO be mythical, actually
did live there and legally vote on
election day.
The rest of the findings are taken
up with large number of figures pre-
pared quite ingeniously, showing. by
different arrangements of precincts
and different methods of allowance,
that Adams has a majority anyhow
you can fix II. One of the most in
genious of these is that on page %,
where it is proved" that even II the
lO4 Denver precincts are thrown ont
altogether. Adams still has a plural
ity. The proof" is by alleging that
thete are eight precincts more In
Denver that ougnt TO be thrown out.
with a Peabody plurality of TAO; and
then. just by way of trifie, 22 pre-
ciuets are thrown out In Las Animas
and Huerfano counties, leaving Ad-
ans net plurality Of 1926.
There are other marvellous doings
of the arithmetic man, wneftby 1t IL
''proved" tnat Adams plurality is
4.4ss. and also that II is 1905. or
course the size is q mere detail, so
long as little remains. AS stated
before. the Republicans claim to have
shown that Peabody had plurality
of at least 2,2S0.
R P b.
DENVER, March 1.-THE joint ses-
sion of the legislature called for to-
.z,. ,xf n q