The Oskaloosa herald., 1910-12-29
PETITION HAS FAILED
Board of Supervisors Holds That it
is insufficient.

The board of supervisors complet-
ed the canvass Tuesday afternoon
and held that the petition of consent
for the operation of saloons in Oska-
loosa was insufficient. This is final
so far as the board is concerned, but
the attorneys for the petition say the
matter will be appealed to the dis
trict court. a~
the board used the following figures
and deductions: When the original
petition was tabulated there appear
ed to be 1449 names thereon. In the
canvass it was found that in five
places the names of witnesses to the
marks of men who could not write,
had been counted. Deducting for
these errors left 1444 names on the
petition. OF the seventy challenges
of names made by the attorney for
the Mahaska Federation "a were sus-
tanned. This reduced the number of
1920, just 2SS more than the neces-
sary 1882 to make the petition suffi-
cient.
Then the Federation presented 294
Withdrawals. These were carefully
canvassed by the board and for var
ious reasons 16 of them were de-
clared to be invalid. This left 27S
to be deducted from the 1920, leaving
only 1142 names to be counted, as
finally remaining on the petition.
This is 40 less than the necessary
1882, and the board held that the pc
tition had failed.
The attorneys for the petition pre-
scented affidavits of 81 men who had
signed withdrawal papers, but who
declared that they wished to be count
ed upon the petition. Following the
ruling made on Monday the board
refused to recognize these affidavits
and held that when a man had asked
to have his name withdrawn it
should be considered as withdrawn,
and would not be counted on the
petition. The attorneys for the petit
ton say the case will be appealed to
the district court for a decision on
this point. If they can establish the
right of a man to keep his name on
the petition after he has asked to
have it withdrawn they have a
chance to make the petition suft1ci-
ent, as they have 81 such names,
whereas the petition was defeated
before the board by only 40, leaving a
margin of 27. ...
The Auditor was instructed to pre-
serve all documents and records in
the case, and to produce same only
by order of court, thus safeguarding
any action that may follow. The
notice of appeal has not as yet been
filed.
The official record as made by the
Board of Supervisors is as follows:
Official Record.
"The board met on the 18th of De-
cember, 1910, at 1 o'clock p. M, pur-
suant to an adjournment of the reg
ular November, 1910, session of the
Board.
"On December 21st, being the date
set for the canvass of the general
statement of consent for the sale of
intoxicating liquors in Oskaloosa,
Iowa, filed with the auditor on De-
cember 7, the petitioners and con-
testants both appearing before the
Board by agreement the canvass OF
said statement OF consent was con-
tinued until Monday, Dec. 26, at
o'clock a. m. ...
"The Board met pursuant to adj
journment on December 26, 1910, at
8 o'clock a. m. and proceeded to can
vass the said statement of consent.
The various papers introduced by
both parties were marked Filed by
the Auditor and the Auditor was irec-
by the Board to retain the same in
his custody until further orders were
received from the District Courst,
and the board continued the canvass
of the said statement of consent on
the 9th and completed the canvass
at 3 o'clock p. m. on Dec. q.
"And the Board, after carefully
canvassing the petition, finds that
the same is insufficient. To all of
which the petitioners at the time ex-
cepted. Signed:
r. w. Moore.
John Cleveland.