Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-09-13
VOTE AGAINST
At METUCHEN
Commission Government Pro-
position Is Lost.
spsotal to The EVENING NEWS.

1890
M~etuchen, Sept. 13:-The brainy
borough voted on commission gov
eminent yesterday and turned the
proposition down by 81 majority. A
very light vote was polled, there
being 96S ballots cast, twenty-one
Of which were rejected. A most re-
markable thing about the election
was that very many people who
wanted to vote for the proposition
voted against it and did not dis
cover their mistake until too late
and some have not discovered 1t yet.
Metuchen has had many contested
school elections and primary cleo
ton and the procedure has always
been that If a voter wanted to vote
against a men he crossed his name
out. Following the former method
some of those in favor of commits
sion government took It for granted
that they should cross out the other
proposition and this they did. This
recorded a vote for it. Aside from
this it IS admitted by the advocates
of the movement that the fight was
too short and that the voters did
not have time to thoroughly con-
oANCl INC new pan anu iGbAiCl LAoAI
run the risk Of getting that with
which they were unfamiliar with,
they voted to keep what they al
ready had. 1t is also stated that
the eleventh hour publication of a
circular greatly exaggerating the
cost under the new plan greatly in
jured the cause as taxpayers seldom
vote for anything they think is going
to boost the expense bills. The ad-
Vocates of commission government
rushed to Railway Monday night and
prevailed upon former Mayor James
B. Furber to open his newspaper Of
fee to print a circular proving that
commission government was going
to prove cheaper and the printers
worked until 2 a. m. on the job.
The circulars were not properly dis
tributed in time to be of much use
in the fight, however.
Assault Newspaper Man.
Former Postmaster Truman T.
Pierson yesterday swore out a war
rant for ex-Chief of Police John T.
Gedney, charging him with assault
and battery. Mr.. Pierson alleges
that while he was passing along
NIH4l DlICtL III HUNT VI the pOilllS
place in Election District No. 2, he
accosted by Gedney who jibed
him about his stand in the commits
sion government fight and asked
him if he had any money to bet on
the result. Pierson said he was not
betting and Gedney retorted that he
didn't dare. Whereupon Pierson
asked him how much he was betting.
Gedney named the figure and Pier
son says he said, ooh John it would
be a shame to take the mayors
money" This r1led Gedney, who is,
by the way, a member OF the Metu-
chen police force, and Gedney land
ed several good blows on the news
paper mans jaw. The news writer
made no resistance, but objected
strongly to Chief Marshal Fouratt
permitting such a thing to occur in
presence. Feeling ran very high
against the two police officers and
it is rumored that there had Been a
deliberate plot to get" Pierson.
Color is given to this rumor by the
fact that Mr.. Pierson, in his writ |
has been the cause OF the au-
,horities insisting on certain reforms
n the police department which the
writer has pointed the light of
publicity on. The police are much
opposed to the man. Many Of the
best people of the community call
the assault cuwardly and unwar-
ranted and a committee of citizens
urged Pierson to take the steps that
he did. Recorder Weber gave the
accused a hearing this morning and
held him for the action of the grand
jury. Mayor Wilson gave bail for
Gedney's appearance and it is known
that the matter is to be pressed and
that other steps are to be taken.