The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-03-22
Dish { OlF CROW ].
GULPED DOWN
BY The TIMES
Bartholou, Makes
The Sheet Take
III Back =

- Ai8D4CR
81 The Following letter in this morn.
ing's Times is selt-explanatury: &
Editor Fairmont Times:
Your account or what trnnspfred at
the election In the First ward on Sat
urday is very erroneous; and does
great Injustice to number of. people
md especially to Morgan D. Orr. and
the writer. Instead las stated In your
news itemI OF all the election laws
being violated. none of the election
laws were violated. When Mr.. Orr and
Mr.. Barthesow two OF the commission
ers or election appointed by council.
and the clerks selected by the COM
mlssioners. arrived at the polling
place, they found a great crowd pres
ent. Mr.. Shaw. who Is Notary Pub
lie. Immediately swore In the three
commissioners: and then was him
self sworn in by Mr.. Orr as one of the
clerks; and then Mr.. Shaw administer
ed the oath of office to MIR. McIntire
rs the Democratic clerk. There was
no disturbance or objection offered,
until: after the commissioners and Mr..
Shaw. had been sworn in, and until
Mr.. sMcIntire Ind almost finished fax
ing the oath as clerk. 1t was then
claimed by persons in the crowd that
they had elected other persons for
clerks. and wanted them to act in.
stead OF MIR. Shaw and Mr.. McIntire
who had been selected blythe Com
mfssloners ana already sworn in; the
oath to each OF the commissioners and
to each OF the clerks being administer.
ed In the presence OF the whole crowd
there assembled Mr.. Orr then, on
! the part of the commissioners re-.
qliested the crowd to vacate the cleo
tlon ROOM which the crowd did 9nfter.
1t was given to understand It was In
violation of law to further Interfere.
fs'';After the crowd had left the room,
the commissioners permitted z. c.
Scott and Z. .f D.. Holden, both belong
Ing to the ..wet" faction to act as chal-
lengers. Mr. George II. Richardson,
| one of the commissioners was of the
wet" faction. This gave the s""wetsr
representation on the election board
of three out OF the seven. The "drys"
had no challenger to represent them.
When the ballots were counted. the
board permitted the challensers to as.
sist. and every ballot was read and
the vote announced by Mr.. Richard
son. Every decision upon counting
the ballots was unanimous. The.
election was SO fairly conducted that.
Mr.. Richardson declared at the close
of the election that he believed 1t
would be impossible to conduct an,
election fafrer than the one conduct
ed there. Mr.. Scott and Mr.. Holden
as well as the other member OF the
election board gave expression to the
same sentiment.
So that your paper has been mfsin-
formed. Some people from reading
the account published by your paper;
have the idea that the persons who
served ms election officers were not:
the ones lawfully appointed for that,
purpose. and that Mr.. orr and Mr..
Bartheiow and the clerks appointed
by them. forcibly took possession OF
the polls. and served as election Of
fcers and threw out the regularly
appointed officers. Tie reverse of
this is the case. The regularly ap:
pointed election officers held the
election. The attempt to throw out
these regularly appointed election Of
fcers; failed OF It's purpose; and an
honest election was held so far MS
at least as the work inside the polls
was concerned. Whatever violations
we're accomplished outside, was be-
yond the reach OF the election officers
nnd for which they are not responsi-
ble ~ ii. ~ 5
Your informant was also mistaken
when he said there was mo drinking
among the crowd that attempted to
change the election officers. Several:
were drunk and some were too drunk
to know how to make out their bal
lots: and there must have been some
place to got the drinks.
You owe 1t to your paper and to- the
truth to; publish this plain statement
OF the facts. y
~ ~ Respectfully yours,
F, BRUCE BARTHELoW.s5
W. 5u-VrHrrua- -s mir ~