Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-04-18
1000 Atlantic City Regis
trations; 1000 Votes
Illegal.
DRUGS AND POISON USED
ON WATCHERS AT POLLS
Assembly Probe Committee Pre-
sents Report to Assembly, De-
failing Startling Conditions.
From a staff Correspondent

TRENTON, April 18.-That 1000
names were illegally registered IN At
lantic county last fall and. that LOGO
votes were illegally cast election day
are among the conclusions reached by
the Assembly investigating committee
appointed at the beginning of the ses-
gion to probe charges of corruption III
that county.
That voters were drugged and as
saulted that they might not cast their
ballots as they wished is another find
ing of the committee which likewise
declares that there was wholesale pur-
chasing of votes. The leaders of the
Republican party In Atlantic are casti-
gated to this extent. The committee
says that they could have at least pre-
vented these outrases.
1t was signed by all the members
of the committee.
The report states that the testimony
of the 600 witnesses heard has been sub
mitted to the proper officers OF Atlantic
county for legal prosecution Of the Of
tenders, and the committee says 1t is
assumed that these officers will do their
duty.
II is further stated that the office
holders in Atlantic county were re-
quired to contribute to the Republican
campaign fund.
The report further says that much OF
the evil discovered could have been pre-
vented by proper election laws, and the
committee suggests that the Gerah
election bin and other election measures
now before the Legislature and which
are expected TO pass will provide the
necessary remedy.
The report Is vivid in every line. 1t
was submitted to the Legislature To-
day. 1t says:
Election Laws Disobeyed. "a
The committee finds from the. evi-
dence submitted in connection with q
number of the polling. precincts or At
lantic county that the election laws avs
were fagrantly disregarded; large
false registration was obtained, for
midable proportion of which was sue
cessfully voted on election day by
rnethods ranging from those which may
be described as careless and negligent
to those which can only be character
ized as openly fraudulent and corrupt;
confusion and disorder existed in
number of the polling rooms. challeng-
ers being interfered with In their work
and they and candidates We're actually
assaulted by election ofhcials or 9th
ers; votes were purchased, and repeat
ing was indulged in; that these meth
DDS, coupled in many cases with the
inefiiciency of honest election ofhcers,
resulted in an Illegal registration In
twenty-six districts in Atlantic City.
of which ten were covered quite thor
oughly in the investigation, of approx.
vote therein on election day of ap-
proximately 500, which, If 1t occurred
in the same proportion In all of the
districts Of the county tiD would % tSs mean
of about 1000 names and total illegal
vote of about 1000.
Although testimony taken concerning
municipaiitieg nr of the county near At
lantfc City disclosed irregularities
equally as startling as those that oc..
fair to conclude, in the absence of spe-
ciflc evidence, that such proportion
of illegal voting was maintained
mites for effecting the same were not
so great elsewhere as In the city of
Atlantic City, where large number
Of men are employees ba as citv hep anv an of
such men being more or less transient
in their residences, and many of whom
may or may not be entitled to vote In
difficulty of disputing the right of this
class OF men in individual cases to vote
that numbers of them are the more
~
purposes of corrupt politicians under
tho present election laws of this State.
Noteworthy ORenses.
Some of the more noteworthy Of
lenses against the election laws which
have been proved to the satisfaction of
the committee are as follows:
given water which had been previously
drugged and were made so Ill thereby
that they were forced to abandon their
rxyff n lIv-ox he nj
ing places. The person alleged to be
responsible for this act has been in
dlcted by the grand jury of Atlantic
IN In more than one precinct the judge
of election. would permit the deposit
ing of ballots in the box before the
been settled, and in numerous instances
over the protest of the other members
of the board of registry and election.
In another case the judge wrote upon
the registry book on election day the
name of man who had not been pre-
viously properly placed thereof, and.
judge frequently interfered with the
orderly methods of procedure as regu-
lated by the election laws, usurped an
authority nIe glbHen aim fyb,n ey tnose Laws
took to and in many cases actually. did
control the entire situation In his POLL
ienger arrested for merely refusinS to
withdraw challenge. and called y po-
liceman, who forcibly removed the
challenger from the premises toi the
street Another judge of eleAtion
twisted the ballots before placing Them
in the hox In such manner as tb be
able to identify them upon the cdint.
In several precincts liauor was Job
tanned and used in the polling plAces
both on registry day and election 1ay,
and in one precinct an election Iof-
flcer was intoxicated while on duty.
Ballot-boyes were sometimes lfe-
moved from the polling rooms and in
one case carried several blocks to the
second hoor of hotel during dinter
hour. away from the view of the GIN