Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1908-11-28

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that recalls early days in Bonners
Ferry. According to the allegations
in the contest proceedings, there
was an attempt made to beat the
Australian ballot system at Mace,
in Shoshone county, at the recent
election, and the method employed
was the same as tried in Bonners
Ferry sixteen years ago by Ed
Mimms, self-styled the "Napolean
of Kootenai County Politics." who
was aided by one Julius Runkle,
known to local fame as Long
Shorty"
The dispatch from Wallace gives
the details of the alleged fraud at
Mace as follows:
Malconduct of the officers in
Mace precinct is alleged in that
the receiving judges and the dis
tributing clerk allowed one of the
official ballots to be taken from the
polling place and from the booths.
1t is claimed thad this ballot was
taken outside and marked by
persons whose names are not
known to the contestant and deliv-
cred to an elector of the precinct
who went to the polling place,
received the official ballot given
him, entered a booth and concealed
the ballot he had received from the
clerk and on leaving the booth
displayed and had deposited in the
ballot box the ballot which had
been marker outside and delivered
to him by those interested in the
election of Herrick and illegally
working in his interests, and that
the eleoter on departing from the
polls gave the other ballot to these
persons who had marked the one
cast by the elector.
1t is alleged that this ballot was
marked and given to- another
elector who cast it and in turn took
away the ballot received by him
from the clerk, and that in this
way ballots to the number or more
rs were illegally marked without
the booths and deposited in the
ballot box.
The above was the same proceed
ings employed at the first election
under the Australian ballot in
Bonners Ferry to try 70 beat the
then new ballot law. Ed Mimms,
banker of Occur d'Alene, was
chairman of the Democratic central
committee. Ed thought he could
beat the system and chose Boomers
Ferry to make the test, as the
Ferry was then a new town with
a large floating element. He took
into his confidence Long Shorty
notorious local character, and
they succeeded in putting in about
40 of their ballots. They used bogus
ballots, very closely resembling the
. official ballot, but easily detected
from the fact that they had 6
smooth edge in place of perforated
I edge.
Mimms kept himself seoreted al
day, using "Long Shorty" as hi
field marshal and dispenser of thu
"long green" The trick was dis
I covered when the judges came t.
i count the ballots. After the poll
Z closed Mimms came out of hiding
\ and feeling that he had done
u good job proceeded to 60 arount
: and set 'em up. But when tn
? fraud was discovered there wer
things doing in Boomers Ferry
= Old dad" Ainslie lived here then
! He was an old soldier and a south
1 ern fire eater. He headed a crow,
I to rotten egg Banker Mimms an,
) run him out of town. Mimm
! again took to hiding, but wa
caught by the bunch just as h
T was taking the train. He neve
; wore his fine chlnchilla overcos
again, owing to the stale eggs this
| would not separate from the CHR
: chilla. He was rather roughl
handled, but escaped by crawlin
r under the cars and making a ma
: rush for the departing train. A
rests followed but the cases we
m. dropped.
m Ed Mimms was afterwards SCI