Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-22

] or Winfield S. Brown, the contestant;
SO that the sitting member, Mr. Wal
dron, by the majority report has a
majority of two. The minority report
is that Winfield S. Brown had 425
votes, and Lafayette B. Waldron, the
sitting member, 423 votes, claiming the
election Of the contestant by two votes.
| so you see the matter has got down
to few votes; and 1 wish every MEM
Der of this House could see those bal
lots. Now, there are nine ballots to
which l want to call your attention.
| The first is a ballot in the town of
Dexter which in the two reports is de-
signated as No. 3, Garland. (Showing
balloO 1t is unfortunate that you are
| called upon to vote upon this question
without being able yourselves to study
| that ballot. 1t has a cross in the Re-
publican square. Then the voter went
down here and made a cross through
| the name of Lafayette 3. Waldron
| There is a cross through the name,
| Lafayette, and part of the cross cuts
| the top of the middle initial "B." The
| majority of this committee has said
| that that is not an erasure of Mr.. Wal
| dron's name and they have counted
| that ballot for Lafayette E. Waldron,
the sitting member. The minority Of
| the committee say that that was an
! eraSure of Mr.. Waljron'S name the
| cross going down through the "Lafay-
| ette' and cutting the top of the 81
erased his name. / think the minority
| of that committee are correct. One
| of the definitions given in Webster s
international Dictionary of the verb
ito erase" is ito cross out" Let me
ask you as practical men if a note we've
| brought to you with the name 'Lafay
| cite b. Waldron" at the bottom of it,
and through the Lafayette" and cx-
| tending through the top of the middle
initial b" was cross such as thar
would you consider rhat an erasure of
| the name of the maker of that note or
not? Would you call it a genuine
signature and say that the name HAD
not been erased? Suppose upon a book
| of entry that name appeared to which
| charge was made and then this cross
| had been put through the name.
Wouldn't it be an erasure of that
name? The majority report says that
as the cross comes down through the
| word Lafayette" it comes down
| through one letter only &C. in the mid
die part of it, that it starts and cuts
| the top of the "B" and comes down
| through the final ''e' of the name, leav-
| ing, they say, a name still spelled
| "L-a-f-a-y-t-t" which may be a name.
Now is that an impartial counting of
( ballots? l do not ask you to get at the
| INT Of Ia OF hnn r n cr,.oa
| with the committee that nothing is left
| 70 intention; but was that an erasure
| Of TIC .ant. of Lafayette Il. Waldr0n
| in the common acceptance IF he term
"erasure," and according to our sta
| tute We are instructed that words as
| used in statutes are to be construed
according to their ordinary, usual in
| depreciation and meaning. Wcull any
| one of you hesitate to say if y1u saw
| that name and that cross down through
| it, that there had been an erasure of
| Lafayette B. Waldron's name, IN any
| business transaction that you might
have, where that name was Appended
| to any written document and YOU
| found that cross down through it?
The supreme court of South Dakota
1
! have given an Interpretation Of the
| word erased consistent, l say, with
| the general acceptance of the term.
| This is in the case of Waller VS..
| Brake. in the eth South Dakota Re-
| ports, page 356, where there was a
| similar ballot for consideration The
| supreme court of South Dakota had
| this question before them. The ballot
| was No. 5. And the court says: The
| finding No. 5, of the court is clearly
| correct, and its conclusion that cross
made by the official stamp on the ramc
| of the plaintiff was an erasure of the
name was also correct" This is where
| the stamp of the crCSS was used on
the name and the cross was san TO
erase the name. Now, here is the
point; the supreme court of South Dit
kota said this: IF the act of erasurc
| is such that the court can clearly see
the voter has made all effort to erase
| the name, and intended in fact to erase
| 1t, any infOrmalty in the manner of
| doing it will be ,liSreE2rtIcd" Isn't
that sound common sense, as well as
sound law, that any informally of tic
voter when there is an attempt 10
erase is plainly made, any inforraalitv
is to be disrcgardcd? sat in the Senate
at the beginning Of this session inter-
| cStcc in the contest Of friend of mine
Key. John u. Rcardon. whose right TO n
seat was contestcd-I sat there as
his friend not counsel, and watched
the count of the ballots. A ballot
with a cross in the Democratic souara
ana then cross down through tho
| residences only of the Democratic can >
didatos for senators in this county. an
rcarcd. That cross did not touch q Gin
Gle letter Of the name of Rev. John p
Reardon or Simon S. Brown or Thon,o q
j. Lynch. but it did cross cut tho res
licences which followed their names.
and the committee on the part Of the
Senate rejected that ballot as an eras-
ure of those names Now. in the nama
Of fairness. when we got into this
House in contest. are we to b~ told
that cross down through the Chris
tian name of the candidate and the
middle initial of the candidate is not
an crasure of his name, but on the 9TH
cr side of this CAN'T ri We ara frId +bo+