Rocky Ford enterprise., 1906-04-13
ROCKY FORD'S
ELECTION CONTEST
The Supreme Court Decision Adverse
TO the No-Lleense Aldermen but
the Litigation not yet Ended.

/
Springs. whsfe Ike eontss, with that q
Rocky Ford. minus the p0ohib!,ion policy
here represented by one set Of partiss 70
Tie sui',i was before the court. But the
whole lengthy argument reduced 10 sim
pie. n0n-lsEsl terms, is this; The amend
msnts made To ito election law N 1901
does no, specifically change the cd law
Of 1897 90 IS 10 show that !l was the
ls;2nti1a q the state legislature 10 de-
past ffgm he cd laws provision of elect
ing the AitsHnsH by wards in cities Of
tho second class. That hs.ng the case
the court holds that the Intent oi tho new
law was simply 10 change from annual 10
biennial elections. making tke terms Of
city oflsials two years instead Of one
year. and renders It's decision according
~.
City Attorney Hssil returned from
Pueblo Tuesday night. where no had been
In consultation with Attorney s. II. White
on tho Rocky F1rd kldermsnis dispute.
He said an application for q rehsafing
would DO fled with the Supreme Court
Wednesday or Thursday. Asked as 20
what the hope o! q rehearing was. he
said. tho Supreme Court was no, much
given to granting fehearinss- Tho ox-
pectation OF his side was. however. that
tho court would. as shown In their brief.
distinguish between tho Rocky Ford case
and the Idaho Springs case on which the
decision of both cases had beon ba sed. In
tho Rocky Ford case tho ground o. tho
demurrer was ths: tho complain, itself Of
tho plaintiffs was technically defective.
II this contention was no, heard and sus-
tanned by tho upper couf. Il WAS no. too
late. in mr. eoall's opinion. 10 ask for and
secure recount o! tho vote Of last
springs election. He did no, believe tha,
upon recount tho complaining Alder
mon could show In Ward No. l that they
had boon elected.
w. 3. Goblin returned from Denver
Tuesday morsing. where he called upon
tho officials o! tho Supreme Court and
go. reserips OF the recent decision in tho
kidermanie contest d9sc.
Tho doeumsn. briefly rcei,es tho opin-
ion Of tho court in tho Instance Of Alder
men Lawson and Roifol. tho decision In
tho other ward. mo. ~. being Of course
exactly tho same. so that ono roseript
suf'ieos to give the courts opinion as to
:he four contested seats. Tho opinion
unaualifodly royersos Judge Dixon's do
cision and concludes with tho statement
that any further litigation that may DO
instituted can only turn upon tho quss.
ton Of tho vote pollod.
Mr.. Goblin says this means tho vote
polled as shown by tho returns made oy
the judges OF election. and does not mean
a reoanvas Of tho vote by Judge Dixon or
anybody else. Those returns show ma
iority Of | and 2 respectively for Messrs.
Ssoop and Nicholes in Ward No. l. and
majority Of IS for the two Citizens ticket
candidates in Ward No. 2. Messrs. Nor
row and Amos.
Mr.. Goblin says Of course an application
to the Supreme Court for a rehearing on
the part OF tho defendants is possible.
but not probable. and would hardly
be likely to be granted under the cir
cumstanees.
Mr.. Goblin saysit IS not true that the Citi-
zens ticket committee was consulted last
spring as to the neutrality-suspicious. Of the
election law as reported. He says the city
clerk reported to him that the administra-
ton had decided to put the Interpretation
that they did upon it, namely the election
OF all aldermen by the whole city instead
of by the respective wards, as had been
done in former years. He replied to the
clerk: "All right. Go ahead" He
knew that the ward vote for each alder
man could be determined afterward If it
was necessary. They felt sure they had
a good working majority in Ward No. l.,
as well as in No. 2. and he could not ac-
count for the drop in No. that made the
contest so close in that ward.
the plan to elect aldermen by the whole
city was distinctly understood to be
agreeable to both parties. We stand BY
that statement Of fact. and find file Of
the Daily Gazette valuable for conclusive
evidence:
The Gazette was the recognized organ
of the Citizens party. 1t was in the clos
est possible touch with the party leaders
and published nothing without .the au-
thority of the committee, refecting most
fully that party's position on campaign
issues. In ths Gazette of March l6,
1905, was published the following edi-
torial
According to the new statue of the
state of Colorado every voter has a right
to vote for all six of the aldermen at the
coming city election. Heretofore the vot-
er voted for only the two representing
the ward in which he lived but now he
can vote for all six regardless of which
ward he lived in"
In the same issue appeared an article
credited to the La Junta Tribune from
which we make the following extract. n
n THE amended law Of 1901 chang
ed the phraseology of the law so that the