Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-03
Inspection Of the Ballots
Held Thursday Night
sill a Tie, Andrews Having
SGT, Cults 567.
Ballot Tinkering in Ward s May
Change the Result.

Some fdlIlFI Stoj tiiiS3 dCSSiopAiiSiit5
were the result Of the inspection of the
ha,lots cast in Mondays municipal
aIactio1. the inspection being con-
s,,ctcd nv City Clerk Wadsworth in the
areeence Of the candidates for city
rrn,rshal and their counsel at the city
f..o,,erumcnt rooms Tuesday even
;ng The votes for city mar
sheI we're recounted by the clerk,
With the result that each candidate
had a net gain of one on the face of
,bc returns as canvassed by the mu-
nicinal officers Monday night, the Of
sn;a1 figures Monday being: Frank e.
Andrews. $50; Samuel w. Cults, 56G.
The count Tuesday evening showed:
Frank F.: Andrews, 567; Samuel w.
Cults, SCI.
When the ballots for Ward We're
reuchnd 4 peculiar discovery was made,
and that was, that the ballots, which
are not supposed to be opened until
thew are delivered into the hands of
the ballot clerk to pass to the voters,
had seemingly been tempered with be-
fore they were given to the voters.
pv wav of explanation it should be
said that John G. A. Ripley was nom
mated for councilman in Ward 6. J1e
did not wish to serve, although reason
abIv sure of election. On a large num-
her IF ballots his name had been cross
oil out and the name of Warren w.
wight had been written in the same
ban6vritinr in each column. On scores
of other ballots a Wight sticker had
benn placed over Mr.. Adams name III
each column. SO that the only way IN
'whici, a voter could have cast his bal
Inf for the regular nominee of the eau
cus was to write in his name. But two
votes were thrown for Mr.. Adams.
The kew to the situation was discov-
cred when 10 ballots were found placed
together as unused" ~ of which bore
Wight stickers in each column, and
one oe which bore evidences of an at
temnt to erase the name of Mr.. Rip
ley.
The bearing Of these facts upon the
fight for city marshal is that Ward
gave plurality of Sc for Mr.. Andrews,
the vote being 1872 for Mr.. Andrews and
46 for Mr. Cults. With these votes
thrown out, Mr. Cults will unquestion-
ably continue in office for another year
as city marshal of Gardiner.
But ar additional difficulty at once
arises If the Ward s votes are thrown
out, the city government will be minus
an alderman and three -councllmen,
and tte ward will be lacking a warden,
ward clerk and constable, legally elect
ed, although OF course the old officers
would hold their office until their sue
cessprs were elected and qualified. AL
together it is Il tangle which will
doubtless require the assistance of the
courts to untangle.
But this is not all. It is limited that
two men voted at the election who had
removed their families from the city
and had consequently lost their resi-
dence and were not qualified to vote.
The following was the result of the
Inspection Of ballots, all questions of
legality laid aside:
Ward Andrews. 95; Cults, SO; de-
fective, 4; total 1873.
ward 2-AnGreWs, 80; Cults, 60; de-
feotive, Z; total, 1876.
Wald 3-.AndreWs, 81; Cults, 100; de-
fective, 3; total 1854.
Ward 4-AEorcws. 113; Cults, 10; de-
-NN'NN, ,, totai ~.
ward f-Andrews, Il; Cults, 1862; de-
iecllve, l: total, 24O
WaTd 6.-AndrcwS, 1872; Cults, 46; de-
fective. ); total, 49,.
totals, Andrews, 567; Cults, $50; de-
lectlve, %; grand total, 1157
me inspection, which is in no sense
recount III the legal meaning of the
term, thus gives both candidates a gain
OIL ohc vote each in Ward 2. Mr.. An
ureWs gains one vote in Ward 4, but
nus Is Offset by his loss of one vote in
ward s. Two ballots were counted in
INC inspection Tuesday evening, which
"" friends of Mr. Cults believe should
Ut thrown out. and these two ballots
Wi y submitted to Justice A. NJ
Htear OF the supreme court together
win the other legal questions in the
case
Ihose present at the inspection were
Mayor Will c. Atkins, City Clerk
charies o. Wadsworth, City Marshal
eGtts and Former City Marshal An
ufews, the candidates, City Solicitor
~ A. Knight and Hon. George w. Hes
e"on. The counting, which continued
a''ll late hour and was very careful
dcnc, was witnessed by an interest
eu crowd of city officials and other
citizens.