The San Francisco call., 1910-04-16
NEAR RIOT IN
Los GATOS IN
ELECTION WAR
DRY" Lawyer Badly "Man
Handled" by "Wets," but
Police DiSperse Crowd
Ballot Boxes FOrcibIy Taken
From Town Hall by the
Mayor and Clerk

SAN JOSE. April 15.-The summary
-'man handling" OF D. T. Jenkins. a
local attorney. by a crowd of anti-ad-
ministrationists last night. the removal
Of the ballots cast in Mondays muni--
cipal election under guard from the
town hail to the bank Of Los Gatos
and a prospect Of further and more
serious trouble has set Los Gatos, the
gem city OF the foothills" by the ears.
The bitterness of the fight between
the administration party, the "drys'
who have kept the town dry for the
last six years and the anti-adminis-
tration party. which favors hotel IL
censes and reopening Of the delivery
wagon and wholesale privileges, in
stead Of eliminating in the election
was only increased by it OF the hold
over members of the town board one
William Sporleder is wet" and the
other. c. H. Wheeler is dry" One
Wet" George W. Turner, a former
san Franciscan. and one dry" D. P.
SimOns. were elected Monday and an
other wet and another dry tied for
third place on the board with 272 votes
each. The tied candidates were R. P.
Doolan. a former san Franciscan. and
+. N Derrickson, one OF the strongest
OF the "drys." Doolan has arranged TO
bring a suit of contest and a recount
viii be held.
BALLOTS ARE GUARDED
on account Of the bitterness engen-
fddered by the election and its results.
and fearing an attemt would be made
70 change the ballots. Town Marshal J.
y. shore, wet placed a deputy to
watch the town hall every night since
the election.
Rev. f. A. Winning. fearing. he
says. for the safety Of the ballots in
the decrepit old vault in the municipal
building. after the official canvas %
the board Wednesday night. went TO
the hau opened the vault and, with
out light. took the elections records
out and started away with them. He
says he intended 10 keep them in his
home overnight and in the morning
place them in the banks vaule. While
leaving the town hail Winning was
arrested by the marshal The action
created a furore. The 'drys" de-
nounced the arrest as an outrage, and
rle vets were loud In their accusa-
tions against the prohibitionists. de-
claring they believed the latter were
trying 10 tamper with them.
The ballots were returned to and
locked in the safe, wet" and dry"
sworn
placed TO watch the hall night and
day. Winning was allowed his freedom
on his own recognizance. The town
board held especial meeting yesterday
morning at o'clock and decided the
matter was without its jurisdiction.
BALLOTS AGAIN TAKEN
Last evening Mayor D. P. Simons and
Clerk Winning went to the town hall.
forced their way through the guards
sistance made away with the ballots
gain. This time they locked them in
the bank vault At 10 o'clock last
evening, realizing that the ballots had
gain left his possession, the clerk
caused the trustees TO meet again at
the bank the vault was opened. the
ballots placed in a safe deposit box and
sealed and the box was put into the
vault. II was while attempting to
force an entrance into the bank that
Attorney .. T. Jenkins. a dry"
aroused the ire Of the crowd guarding
the bank building and narrowly es
capped serious physical injury. His
clothing was torn TO shreds. A riot
was only averted by the prompt action
of the marshal and his deputies and
the crowd was dispersed after no little
difficulty.
The prohibitionists contend that
Winning was wholly within his rights,
as official custodian of all public docu-
ments in removing the ballots TO any
place he considered safe. The vets"
hold that he has committed a crime,
as covered by section 113 Of the penal
code. which reads:
Every officer having the custody OF any
record map book. Of any paper or
proceeding ~ any court filed or deposited in
anv public office. placed in his hands for
any purpose. who is guilty Of stealing. will
fully destroying. mutilating defacing. alter
ing or falsfying. removing OF secretlng the
whole or any part Of such record. map. book.
uaDer Ut proceeding. or who permits any
other person 70 do. is punishable by i'm
prisonn1ent in the state prison for not less
than one nor more than Il years.
winnings probity or his motives in
the case are not questioned. but many
OF the vets" believe he was an un-
whiting tool in the hands of the pro-
hibition politicians
IMEITQ 0TNLITV