The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-29
NO INTENTIONAL WRONG.
A statement az to the voting. Lists In
Smyth County.
+ Special to The Times Dispatch

Especial to The Times Dispatch;
the recent trial OF j. L. c. Anderson.
Treasurer of Smyth county. on the rule
issued against him by the circuit
Court, recent publications have peen
misleading. During the recent heated
paper articles were published tendlng
TO reflect seriously upon Mr.. Ander-
sons conduct of his office. the INFER
ence being drawn that lie mad improp-
erly and Intentionally placed large
number of names on the voting lists
for partisan advantages. BY reason
of these published charges. the court
instructed the grand jury at the NO
yestigation OF the facts and report It's
finding, which was done.
The grand jury reported ga names
which were on the voting list Lor l9lo,
and which were returned delinquent
for one of the years-l907. 1905 and
1909-and 1000 names of parties VINO
had not been assessed for one or more
of the three years above named. me
trial was had last week, and resulted
in n verdict of guilty of gross neglect
of official duty
The facts as / recall them, as they
appeared in evidence, were as follows:
OF the pa names above mentionel, all
except fifty-four We're satisfactorily
explained, the grand jury itself having
as to that list made twenty-eiEht ms.
takes as to certain names, some OF
which were not on lle NotiHE, ilcN, anu
others not returned delinquent as to
capitations, as charged In making
the nfty-four mistakes, an average of
eighteen per year, in dealing with 5000
voters each year. it is submitted that
it is no more than will almost un-
avoidably occur in any office having SO
many transactions to deal with, and
especially at times when parties ana
party workers are crowding the ofice,
all anxious to pay before the time
limit expires.
AS to the 1000 list, something like
400 We're young men, who could not
have gone on the commissioners book
for the year in which it was charged
they We're not assessed; about 100
names were repeated in each of the
three years, and the grand jury ITSELF
made 227 mistakes either reporting
the names of men who We're not on
the voting list at all, or We're in fact
assessed, the lines and pages of the
commissioners books given in each
instance where they were assessed. The
great majority Of the other names re-
turned by the grand jury in this list
were satisfactorily explained BY Mr.
Anderson. The law as to making ur
voting lists and receiving taxes, as
| defined by the court, was different
| from the views under which Mr.. An.
| derson and party workers on botE
| sides had been acting in this county
| The work thrown upon MI. Anderson
| just at a time when he was busiest
|
records of his office, the voting ant
| delinquent lists for the past three
years has been immense. and II he nae
| had further time other names Nigh
be satisfactorily explained. Those no
explained as errors OF the grand jury
| or otherwise We're admitted by Mr.
| Anderson as errors of his office, made
| either by himself or some of hi
1 crept in Mr.. Anderson was unable, t
explain, but stated emphatically tina
! he had never placed on, or omitted
from, either list. or received none.
tentionally, and no attempt was mad
1 to contradict this statement or in
! validate his testimony.
] Judge Fudge, Commonwealth's At
torney of this county. who closed tn
he mad known Mr.. Anderson all HI
I life, and that there was nothing in hi
! life, or in the evidence in the case, t
cause him to doubt or question eithe
/. the integrity or. honesty of Mr.. Ander
4 son, and that, in his view, there wa
/ not in the evidence any foundation 70
1 the statement that Mr.. Anderson ha
acted in any instance to favor his oW
party, but that, so far as he knew
there We're as many Democrats as Re
publicans, who had been improperl
placed on the voting list. There wa
not the slightest evidence. so far a
/ can recall. that Mr. Anderson ha
ever at any time attempted to pad tn
voting list in favor OF the Republica
party, SO that see no warrant. frol
the facts in this case, for any state
ment that tho verdict in this case I'm
, pairs the election of Mr., Slemp 9
anybody else Many public official
are called upon to perform onerou
and exacting duties, and, although
Democrat myself. l believe that ever
such official. even though Republ
can, should be given justice throus
the press, and am-sure this will /
done when the facts are properly III
derstood. a. W. H.
Marsh--smith.