Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-03-30
SETH LOSES BRIDGE BILL.
KENT NARR0WS MEASURE TO
THIRD READING.
The Eastern Shore Senators Meet
Squarely -Kirwin Beats
Amendment.
A DRAMATIC SCENE IN HOUSE
LAST NIGHT.

IN the Senate this morning the
| Kent Narrows bridge bill was Ecousid
| cred aud passed to its third reading
over the opposition of the President Of
| the Senate, which establishes a new
precedent. the Senate never before
having gone against the presiding
officer in a purely local matter.
The bill is the result of long
! wrangle between Talbot and Queen
| An1e's county, and involves a ques-
| tien of broken contract on the part
of Talbot The Committee on Judi
| cial Proceedings reported the bills IA
yorably, and after listening TO the ar
| guments on both sides of the case, the
| Senate voted down a most reasonable
amendment offered by the President,
| but which would have killed the bill.
since its sending back to the House,
through which it passed by a bare 81
votes, would have meant its failure
for want Of a constitutional majority,
/ since several members of the House
are paired.
The Murphy election bill, amended
so that it is the Murphy bill now ONLY
in name. was passed to its third read
/ ing, the Senate adopting the amend.
ments which follow;
The first amendment. as offered by
Mr.. German. was as follows:
In addition to the requirements pre-
scribed by the next preceding section
and as a safe guard against collusion
and FRAUDULENT nominations, such
| nomination papers shall be accompa.
MED by an affidavit duly made before
an officer authorized to administer
oaths, by each and every candidate so
| proposed to be. e.nominated that he is in
truth and in fact bona fide candi-
date, aud that he is so put in nomina-
tion with his consent and in good
| faith, aud not with the intent to mis-.
lead and confuse voters.
Note-This amendment, it is said.
will have the effect of doing away
with the bogus nominations, which
have been complained of by the people
| throughout the State.
The following amendments were
| offered by Senator Brewingtoh
but no ballot shall be considered
or adjudged deceitfully folded and
| be rejected, unless it discloses some
thing more than the printing and the
initials Of the judge on the face of
| the ballot :"
This amendment. it isEsaid, will do
away with the wholesale throwing ont
of ballots because they arc not folded
in exactly the same manner as when
given to the voter by the Judge.
The next important change offered
| by Senator Brewington was the follow
ing
"And no ballot shall be rejected
merely or simply because any of the
projections of the cross mark extend
beyond its proper square, if the point
Of intersection of such cross mark is
clearly within such square.
This amendment, it is said, Will
| correct the general complaint through
| ont the State that the intention of
| the voters has not been counted, aud
will allow ballots to be counted even
though the tails of the cross extend
| beyond the box. This amendment
should have the effect of saving
thousands of votes from being thrown
out as heretofore.
The next important amendment
offered by Senator sBrewington was as
follows:
"Or the judges may first canvass or
count the straight or full tickets, lay
ing aside while so doing the straight
tickets and after they have so can
vassed and counted the straight or full
| tickets they shall, if such there are
| proceed to call of canvass and count
each name and office for which it is
designated on the "split" tickets, so
previously laid aside, the several
| judges looking at eaon ballot aud the
clerks making tally of the same. -
The effectsof this amendment, it is
| said, will be to get a speedy count,
and to do away withsthe judges going
| TO sleep and letting tickcs slip in the
| count
The Ellicott City car-fare bill, re-
ducing fares to Ellicott City to 10
cents, failed in the Senate.
The House held a long session en-
tirely devoted to routine business.
Last night rather an exciting and
| dramatic event occurred there, how
ever. Yesterday afternoons Balti.
more News printed an interview with
| Mr.. David Stewart. head of the anti
smoke league of Baltimore, whose
anti-smoke bill was killed a day or
| two ago in the House. The interview
was extremely tart and dealt with
men whom it named. 1t was partiou
larly sharp with Delegate Jones, of
baltimore, who bad worked himself
up TO white heat over the matter be-
fore the session began last night 1t
vas discovered just prior TO the call
| ing Of the House to o1der that Uni.
| ted Railway street car bill to allow
suburban passengers leaving Baltl-
more to have seats, and to which the
city delegates are almost all opposed,
| had in some mysterious way passed
| the House and gone over TO the Sen
ate.
Mr. Jones, fairly crying with rage
over the newspaper report already
mentioned, took the floor with refer.
ence to this BILL He stated that he
had watched ell the previous day for
| the reappearauce of this very meas
ure. that he bad been in his scat from
early in the morning until nearly mi l.
night that night, and he charged in so
many words that the bill in question
had never been announced by the
chair and had never been regularly
passed by the House. He prepared a
message to the Senate asking the i'm
mediate return of the bill, and again
took the floor with a speech. The
message was adopted With hardly a
| dissenting vote This morning upon
/ the return OF the bill the vote BY
which it was passed was promptly re-
considered and further consideration
Of the measure then indefinitely post