Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1908-12-10
Auditor Pitts Breaks Loose trou,
Ills Misleading Advisers and Fl.
nally Complies With the Pro.
visions Of the Law.
The Legislative Returns Of This DIS.
trict Show The Election Of Street.
er and 4 Tie Vote Between
tierolz and Storey.
Streeter Is Finally Granted the Long.
Delayed Certificate Of Election
to the Lower house Of the
General Assembly.

+, Tuesday last Auditor Pitts went to
Steele, after having made two previ-
Gus appointments which did not ma
terialize, and there, with Auditor
Bope, canvassed the returns Of the
legislative vote cast in the Twenty
sixth Senatorial district at the recent
general election, the result being Is
announced in the above heading.
The outcome shows that the advice
given to tue auditor by the state s at
torney Of Emmons county-the same
being the opinion Of the states attor-
nev of Kidder county was correct.
and that the tive-dollar opinion OF the
Bismarck attorney, backed by the
wisdom of the Dem0stheneS OF Lin
ton and IIazelton was wrong. Had
such misleading advice not been civ.
en-, the supplementary election re-
quired by the statutes could have
been held on or before the 23d Of No
vember, when the weather was COM
paratively mild. For instance: The
election was held Nov. ID. The re-
turns except in Union precinct, where
some of the election officers were so
much interested in the success of Mr..
Heroz that they absent mindedly
overlooked the proper preparation Of
the books were all In by the 5th.
The law requires the auditor to call
the county canvassing board to meet
within fifteen days after the election.
He could have called that meeting not
later than the Sth, which would have
given sufficient time for the few mem
bers of the board to assemble The
district canvass could have been held
on the 10th and the sheriffs notified.
BY the 18th the sheriffs could have Is
sued their call for the supplementary
election. AS the Jaw requires at least
ten days notice by the sheriffs, the
election could have been held by the
23d of November.
BY a perusal of a clipping taken
from the Bismarck Tribune, published
in this issue OF the Record, IL will be
seen that Attorney Armstrong, repre-
senting Storey or Herolz, or Storey
and HeIOlz, went before the state
board of canvassers at its session in
Bismarck Tuesday and wanted the
board to "take some action ON the
tie" This the board refused to do, on
the ground that they had no author
ity Which was just what the news
papers OF the district-excepting Mr..
Patterson's paper, Of course and the
real lawyers OF the two counties, had
insisted right along.
| Messrs. Patterson and Armstrong.
en- route to Bismarck, were on the
train, Tuesday, which bore the audi
tor on his official trip to Steele, and
others on the train say that the two
worthless named made life a burden
for the major, advising and beseech-
ing him not to 60 to Steele TO canvass
the returns.
A mighty good rule for county Of
ticer to OBSERVE whether he be a com.
missioner, an auditor, treasurer, or
filing some other POSITIONS, when
In a quandary, 10 ask the states at
torney for advice. Then promptly
follow that advice; and let the coun-
ty officers statutory legal adviser do
the worrying over any adverse criti-
cism that may ensue.