New-York tribune., 1910-12-30
A REAL OHIO Cleanup
Court Will Pursue Vote Traf-
fickers Without Mercy.
eleven HUNDRED INDICTED
Probe Will Reach Darkest Cor
ners and Hit Buyers as
Well as Sellers.
by Telegraph to The Tribune. ]

Adams County Is to be continued Though
the special grand jury indefinitely. This
statement was made from the bench to-day
by Judge Blair. whose vigorous action has
| brought out the facts in the countrywide
scandal.
Judge Blair said: after we have had a
general investigation OF all the townships
In the county I shall call before me the
workers OF both parties from every town.
ship and submit to them the lists OF those
who have been indicted I will tell them
that there are still others who have sold
their votes, and that they must have knowl-
edge who they are.
Il shall demand that they designate every
purchasable voter in their precincts, and I
shall put special detectives In the field to
bring these men in. If any worker refuses
to disclose the names Of those whose votes
he has bought will bring the -foaters' in
! To testify against him. We are going to
clean up Adams County as it has not been
purged since the Civil War"
The special grand jury returned about
thirty additional indictments late this after
noon, bringing the number up to approx
mately 1,100. Even with this number, only
cne-third of the guilty persons. according
to Judge Blair and ". R. Shoemaker,
special prosecutor have been named by the
court.
Anticipate Their Indictments.
The prosecutor says that there will be
bit of a falling off from the original num-
Der calculated upon by Judge Blair and
| himself. because the culprits are now flock
ing to West Union before their names are
reached by the jury. and are oonfessing to
the receipt Of money for their votes. How
t,a ~
jury is not yet half through with its work,
and that It will take at least two. and may
BIZ three. more weeks for IT to finish all the
cases.
He is authority for the statement that at
least three hundred persons have come to
court here and confessed without anybody
naming them as among those who were
guilty Of accepting bribes. And since this
number is increasing rapidly. It is thought
by Prosecutor Shoemaker that at least
seven hundred will give themselves up to
the law and receive their fines before next
Tuesday.
Perhaps the strongest cases in connection
with these wholesale indictments is the
| story which comes TO West Union tonight
from Manchester, city fourteen miles
away. Late this afternoon four men, all
Of them past eighty years old, were seen
trudging down the road leading to West
Union.
= friend passed them on the road and
asked where they were going. They said
they were bound for West Union, to tell
the court that they have been guilty Of re-
ceiving bribes, and that they had the
| money in their pockets to pay their fines
Up to 10 o'clock tonight nothing had been
seen Of them in West Union, and it is
feared that they may have got lost or are
showed in on the way between Manches-
ter and West Union.
| Prosecutor Shoemaker said this after
| noon that he had held a continuous recep-
| ton for the last five days at his home
| listening to the pleas of his friends to be
kept out of the case. Several of these men
only asked for an extension of time until
they could raise the money without mort
| gagins their farms He said he told them
he could do absolutely nothing in the mat
ter. and that if they would see Judge Blair
perhaps they could reach some agreement
with him.
| All Willing to Pay.
So far there have been no arrests made
| for failure TO pay the fines. Judge Blair
says he has extended the time for few
and that all he wants is that they come
into court and pay fines equal to the
amount which they received for their last
votes.
More than three hundred young men who
had voted their first time have been in
dicted for the receipt OF money for their
| ballots
Judge Blair has issued an appeal. through
| the newspa pers of this and adjoining coun-
| ties, asking all those who received money
| for n int rnIlrf nj rnn-
fess their crime. Hs says that il they will
do this; he will promise that their names
| will not be used in connection with the
cases and that the court can clean up all
the suits twice as quickly IN this way. 1t
| is said by officials here to night that Judge
| Blair hopes to secure, by this means, many
| names of witnesses who have displayed
unusually had memories and also procure
| several more confessions.
Hes rhe longest guy on securing con-
| fessions I've ever known said one Of the
men who went to him this afternoon and
confessed to buying eighty votes at IS
| each in the last election.
| It was discovered tonight that not a
| single voter Will be left in one school dis
trict. in Jefferson township, which includes
the town Of WamsIeyville. Every male
citizen has been indicted, but none has been
arrested. Two more ministers, both resi-
dents of Green township, were indicted to-
day. Each received IS for his vote.
| One young man confessed to-day that he
sold out to his own father. and received
$40 for his vote. Mrs. Sallie Inflow, of Pee
| hIes, pleaded guilty to selling the vote of
her son John. She said she was separated
/ from her husband and was very poor, and
could not resist taking the money when it
| was offered TO her She was fined So
| which was RENTED. The son was fined
S. and costs and was disfranchised for five
years. prominent business man of Pee
| bles bought the vote. The wonans hus-
band, il was learned, had also sold his vote.
The oldest voter In the county, a man over
eighty-four years old, has been disfran-
chised. and he says that he expects never
to vote again. Many persons were deprived
of their Christmas shopping money by
being fined. and many are placing chattel
mortgages on their furniture to raise the
money with which to pay their fines.
Judge Blair said tonight that the jury
would adjourn on Saturday for few days
to enable him and Special Prosecutor Ste
phenson to review their work and pick UP
!. the loose ends. Frank Shiveiy-, the Demo
cratic Prosecutor-eiect, VIII assume charge
on Monday Sherif-eleot James Williams.
q Democrat, will also take office next week
and is engaging extra. deputies.
FEAR OF PANIC KILLED HER