New-York tribune., 1907-01-11
LOOKS TO RICHMOND.
TO FIND BALLOT FRAUDS.
attorney General Jackson Plans to
Begin York on Staten Island.

The attempt Of Attorney General jackson to
obtain possession of the ballot boxes containing
tho votes cast for Mayor in November. 1905. has
caused an amazing amount of legal tanges
which it will take several days to unravel The
Attorney General. however, allied with various
Eeutenants OF William r. Hearst, is apparently
sanguine of ultimate success.
1t is understood that when some OF the multi
tude of court orders and injunctions have been
decided, the Attorney General. if he finds him
self empowered still to do so. will begin his oper-
etions In opening the boxes In Richmond County.
Richmond, it is believed, is the easiest and best
place to begin the work OF wrestling the boxes
from the control Of the Board of Elections, hav-
Ing them opened and the votes counted
Municipal Ownership Lea que leaders, with
whom Attorney General Jackson can be classed.
have for long time looked askance at the large
plurality that George B. Mcclellan received in
Richmond. The vote recorded in the fall Of 1905
showed that Mcclellan received 6121 votes
against 4,501 for WINS and 1896 for Hearst.
That would make McClellans plurality over
WINS 1620 and over Hearst 1865
Richmond is generally much closer than the
ngures In this instance. ordinarily being Demo-
cratic by about 1000 and the Attorney General
believes that there was something peculiar in the
amounts given official. Therefore, he will
begin his work Staten Island, If he can get
the court order to do so and expects to find glar-
ing discrepancies there.
The Attorney General was IN Albany yester-
day trying to get his Office in order so It would
run without him. He returned to this city last
night to appear in person before Justice Leven-
tritt to-day in the Supreme Court. where two
arguments scheduled. For the time being he
nnds himself checked in his efforts to get at the
palot boxes. but hopes that the courts will dis
miss the orders to-day which tie him up.
Justice Leventritt will hear argument this
morning on the return of orders secured from
Justice Gaynor and Justice Amend The first
order, that signed by Justice Gaynor, was Sc
cured by the Eagle Warehouse Company of
Brooklyn, directing that the Attorney General
show cause why the order Of Justice HendricI
giving him the custody Of the ballot boxes should
not be vacated. The other order is a motion
20 vacate the order of Justice Hendrick giving
over the custody Of the ballot boxes TO the At
torney General from the Board Of Elections.
1t depends entirely on the decisions of Justice
leventritt in these two cases whether John T.
Dooling and the other members of the Board
of Elections can be adjudged guilty of contempt
OF court in refusing to give the Attorney Cen
eral the ballot boxes as custodians
Justice Hendrick, who has been most active so
FAR fl the cases, explained yesterday just what
he said to all the parties at the secret confer
ence in his chambers on Wednesday. The JUS
tice said he stated:
II have conferred with my associates and
they all agreed with me that the situation was
serious stated by Governor Hughes in his
message to the Legislature and that the is
suance of conflicting court orders by them
would only tangle up matters more. and that
St was their opinion that the authorities-state
and city-as well all the parties interested
3n quo warranto, should arrange among them
selves for the preservation Of the vital evidence
contained in the ballot boxes used at the cleo
ton in 1905"
Justice Hendrick denied that he said. he
had been QIoted:
Personally, I am confident that the Board
of Electors has taken all necessary precau-
tons for the safety OF the ballots. and there is
little occasion for any drastic measures"
It strongly hinted yesterday that Mr..
Jackson he'd sent a letter to Mayor Mcclellan
in fulflment of his promise at the conference
with Justice Hendrick. At the Attorney Gen
erals office no confirmation of IL could be OBJ
tafned. Mayor Mcclellan declared positively
that he had received communication of any
kind from Mr.. Jackson.