The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-12-04
SAY CRAWFORD
DEFEATED LANE

me peIltlOn 1Or contest OF tne eiec-
ton of Joseph j. Fern as Mayor of the
City and County of Honolulu was fled
in the Supreme Court yesterday after
noon. 1t is entitled James Kulike and
others VS.. Joseph j. Fern. The others
number thirty.four, the petition includ-
ing thirty.five petitioners who allego
that they are each voters who voted ut
the election for mayor and are there
fore interested in the result.
George A. Davis, A. g. NJ. Robertson,
and A. l.. C. Atkinson appear as at
torneys for the petitioners. Sheriff Tau
kea served the summons on Mayor Fern
who has ten days in which to answer.
w. A. Kinney and E. NJ. Watson arc
expected to return from Maui on Sat
urday and it is probable that they with
Judge Edings will be retained to repre-
sent Mayor Fern.
About half of the petition is taken
up with recital of the doings of Will
lie Crawford at the polling place of the
Fourteenth Precinct of the Fifth Dis
trict. This is Crawford IS precinct and
his misbehavior is related at great
length and with much particularly. In
fact this part Of the petition sounds n
good deal like an indictment against
Willie Crawford.
Crawford is accused Of ''artifice,
fraud and DEVICE in keeping the "tal-
ly-sheet of the count of said votes cast
at said precinct but it is not made
very clear just what tallysheet Craw-
ford was keeping, whether it was one
of the official tally-sheets or private
one, nor how his "artifce, fraud and
device'' could have affected the re-
suits. 1t is nowhere alleged that he
was an election official, and as mat
ter of fact he was not, the election
officials at that polling place being Der
nard II. Kelekolio, Sam Kaaloa and
John X. Motley. 1t does not allege that
he was employed in connection with the
election either by the Territory or the
County. 1t is said by those present at
that polling place that he may have
been a clerk appointed through the Re-
publican Central Committee but this is
not alleged in the petition. 1t is not
even alleged directly that he was act
ing clerk, the petition merely reciting
that "while acting as clerk he used
the "artifce, fraud and device"
complained of, though there is no such
thing as clerk or acting clerk known
to the election laws.
The petition, after saying that while
acting as clerk Crawford used artifice,
fraud and device, proceeds:
"That the said William II. Craw-
ford, in keeping the tally sheet Of the
count of said votes cast at said cleo
ton, when they were being called off
by the inspectors Of election, who
were counting said votes, would mark
the count of the votes cast for the
said John G. Lane incorrectly, and
would mark ON said tally sheet incor-
rectly, that is to say: He would
mark on the said tally sheet one, two,
three, four votes for the said John G.
Lane, and would call the same out as
four votes, whereas in truth and in
fact five or six votes should have been
counted; that he, the said William II.
Crawford, in using his pencil would
not figure correctly, and would mark
or pretend to make mark when the
vote was called off, when in truth and
in fact he made mark through the
figure already placed upon said tally
sheet, or mark over the same, SO that
Mt the conclusion of the counting of
the said votes large number of votes
which were cast for the said john @.
Lane for the Office of Mayor, as afore-
said, to wit: about 81, did not appear
upon the said tally sheet; and the said
William II. Crawford, so your petition
ers are informed and believe, and upon
their oaths allcge and say that during
the hours of the holding of said cleo
ton, and within the polling booth of
the said fourteenth election precinct of
the so.called fifth election district,
that the said William II. Crawford, in
violation of the statute re-
NAMED within the space set apart for
the polling place in said precinct and,
being conversant with the Chinese lam
guage, attempted to influence and did
influence by words or acts number OF
duly qualified electors of Chinese ma
tionality who came to said polling
place to vote, and who did vote at said
election
1t is then alleged that the way he
| Influenced these Chinese voters was to
persuade them to vote for Achi in
| stead of for Lane. 1t is also alleged
| that he offered to bet fifteen dollars
with Kulike that Achi would have a
plurality of the votes in that precinct.
Aside from the charges against
Crawford, the petition alleges general
| ly that there was an election for
Mayor on November 8, 1908, at which
something over five thousand votes
were cast. That Fern, Lane and Achi
were all regularly nominated candi-
dates; that the County Clerk tabu-
lated the results, showing 1920 votes
for Fern, 2212 for Lane and 1924 for
Achi. But it is alleged that in sew
| eral precincts votes which were cast
| for Lame were not counted for him;
and that if all the votes which were
| east for him had been counted for
him, and only those votes counted for
Fern which were really cast for him,
Lane would have been elected by
plurality of 1875. The precincts in
which it is alleged votes east for Lane
were not counted for him are the sec
ond third, eighth, ninth and four
teenth of the Fifth District, and in
| the aleyenth IL is alleged that twenty