Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-01-21
GMELICH LEADS
IN ST. LOUIS
BIGGEST GAIN FOR REPUBLICAN
CANDIDATE FOUND IN
FOURTH WARD.
s. PRECINCTS COMPLETED
Recount of the Votes on Lieutenant
Governor in ST. Louis Gives
Jacob r. Gmelich a Lead
Over Painter.

st. Louis.-Jacob F. Gmelich, Re-
publican nominee for lieutenant
governor, forged to the front Saturday
in his nip-and-tuck race for office with
William R. Painter, the recount of
ballots cast in sixty-fve precincts,
six wards, of the city of st. Louis,
under the supervision of the joint con-
ference committee of the Legislature,
giving him a lead of 1863.
1t was the Republicans day to smile
and they made the most of their op-
portunity. The Democrats, naturally,
were chagrined at the unexpected
change from Friday, when Mr.. Painter
| showed a net gain of "a, but did not
give up hope, and express confidence
that the inspection of the ballots in
the twenty-five other wards will en-
able them to have the last laugh.
The force of clerks engaged in the
recount were permitted to cease their
labors at 6 o'clock Saturday night
after working without interruption
since 0 o'clock, excepting only an
hours recess for lunch.
Mr.. Gmelich had easy sailing after
the recount of the first ward had been
finished. MI. Painter registered a
net gain of thirty in the first ward,
but it was the only ward re~canvassed
in which he scored. The second,
third, fourth, fifth and part of the
sixth swelled the Republican candi-
dates total.
Heavy in Fourth Ward.
The fourth ward produced the
greatest gains for Mr.. Gmelich, the re-
count there u%nearthing 122 votes for
the Republican nominee which the
official count had deprived him of.
The third ward developed a net gain
of fifty-five for Mr.. Gmelich and the
fifth added a dozen more to the Re-
publican nominees column.
Senator F. M. McDavid, chairman Of
the joint committee conducting the
recount, is authority for the state
ment that the investigation failed to
disclose ballotbox stuffing in either
ward, as the wide difference in the of
fetal and revised figures would in
dictate.
On the contrary, he said, the ballots
in the fourth ward %precints were
models of regularity, each being pro-
perly signed by the election judges
and numbered to correspond with the
poll books.
The Socialist vote figured in the
discrepancies found in the second,
fourth and fifth wards. Eight votes
cast in the second ward for Sargent
the Socialist nominee for Lieutenant
governor, were not given to him in the
official figures. Five more Socialist
votes were misplaced in the fourth
ward, while the fifth showed two
Socialist ballots had been left off Mr.
!, Sargent's total in that ward.
The third ward, the recount de
veloped, gave the Socialist candidate
all that was coming to him, 81 votes
The first ward recount added 6 to his
! string, making 81 votes in all thai
} were restored to their rightful ownel
: by the joint committees searchlight
! Three Precincts Perfect.
The recount disclosed discrepancies
in all of the sixty-fve precincts can
vassed with the exception of the frs
and fourteenth in the second ware
and the eighth precinct Of the fftl
ward.
l In the first ward the errors ranged
from l to II votes; in the second a!
i high as 10 votes changed hands; l;
? was the top miscue in the third, 81
, was the headliner in the fourth; 81
in the fifth and 7 in the sixth. The lat
= ter ward had been but partly recount
ed when the adjournment was taken
), In all $50 ballots were rejected b.
n the committee during the day, Fo
the most part they were thrown gu
e on the ground of illegality, either tn
Judges having failed to attach thei
i signatures or numbers corresponding
with the Doll hooks we're omitted.