The Elbert County tribune., 1905-01-05
CRISIS IN THE ELECTION
FRAUD SENSATION

trfct of Denver.
The frauds in twenty-four precincts
are briefly told in addition to the nine
which had at that time been investi-
gated by the Supreme Court. and he
states that columns could have been
filled with similar records of frauds.
The statement contains little or no
comment by the chairman. but 1t is
nevertheless most convincing one.
Abandoned Hope.
Senator Patterson has utterly aban-
doned all hope of making the fraudu-
lent Denver votes count for Mr..
Adams. He has reached the "foiled
villain" stage. where he stands and
foams and fumes and demands
blood"
1t is foregone conclusion that re-
gardless OF the action of the Supreme
Court the Legislature will investigate
the frauds and be guided by sane and
just judgment In deciding the matter
Agents of the Bigg Mitt in Denver
who had for years superintended the
election frauds in that city, and who
were familiar with the various tricks
and devices TO defeat the will OF the
voter at the ballot box, were sent to
many of the counties In the state.
A Smooth Scheme.
They did not succeed in making any
such haul OF votes as they did in
Denver, but their mission was never
theless successful. 1t was not their
| plan to do what is known as raw
work" in the smaller country pre-
| cincts. such work was reserved for
Las Animas. Pueblo and one or two
other places. The plan was to have a
little fraud committed in each precinct
in the state where the influence of
the machine reached the local cleo
tion officials. An average of ten fraud
ulent votes in every precinct in the
state would mean a total of $4,000.
An average of but three bogus votes
In each precinct meant $500. and these
frauds would naturally be so wide
spread and individually SO small that
they would be very likely overlooked
and ignored by the Republicans. To
register an unnaturalized person here
and there to get vote that was in
any form Illegal or to prevent by any
trick or device. legal or Illegal. Re-
publican from voting. was the scheme.
1t was a gum shoe" campaign this.
and 1t was carried out to much
greater extent than is generally be-
lieved.
An Instance.
The very small plurality received on
the face of the returns by Mr.. Ward,
Democratic candidate for senator from
Boulder. disclosed one of these In
stances of Democratic fraud in Re-
publican county, which many Repub-
licans have heretofore believed impos-
sible.
Investigation developed the fact that
the Lafayette precinct was one of the
| outside places where the gum shoe"
artists from Denver had gotten in their
work. Affidavits from well known peo-
pie furnished the names OF eighty-five
Democratic voters who were either un-
naturalized or who did not live in the
precinct. 1t was also charged that the
Democratic judges (of which there
were two instead of one as there
should have been in a Republican
| county precincU opened the ballot box
after 1t had been sealed for some pur-
pose and that they did 1t while the
| third judge (Republican) was absent.
The discovery Of this fraud was the
| means of preventing Senator Millard
from being robbed of his seat.
In Trinidad naturalization frauds
were committed and precinct No. 81
| was colonized with Italians and other
foreigners and the vote almost dou-
bled illegally. 1t was because of such
| frauds as these that Senator Barela
| was given his seat over his Democratic
opponent.
Questions for Adams.
Mr.. Adams has been the recipient OF
another open letter which he no doubt
wishes had not been written. Among
the questions asked by his public cor
| respondent are the following:
who was 1t that tried to prevent
the occurrence of Democratic election
| frauds at the recent election?
THE Republican organization, was
it not?
who opposed this action of the Re-
publican organization and its efforts
to get the fictitious names stricken
from the registration books?
who was 1t that opposed the issue
of the Supreme Court injunction, com
manding election crooks to obey the
| law?
"Who was 1t that opposed the ap-
pointment of Supreme Court watchers,
whose duty 1t was to observe and re-
port to the Supreme Court the work of
the Democratic Big Mitt' at the polls?
81 appreciate that this is an annoy
ing question, for you now want the
| boxes opened In fact. 1t is really en-
barrassing, but
WAS it not the Democratic organi-
| cation opposed every effort made by
the Republican organization to pro-
vide means of detecting these frauds?
This question is really deserving of
a specific answer"
The assembling of the members of
the Legislature has furnished an op-
n ha n