Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-12-05
COBOuN| NOW HAS
MAJORITY OF ONE
RESULT o FRECOUNT OF VOTES IN
WARD ONE.
COUNSEL FOR COLE. HOWEVER.
HAVE STRENUOUSLH OPPOSED
RECOUNT OF BALLOTS, AND RE
SUIT MUST AWAIT FINAL DECI-
SION OF POINTS INVOLVED.

Assuming that the recount of the bal
lots east in the last city election from
wards 1 and /. which has been made by
District Judge Hopkins, is held legal
over the protest of counsel for the de
Tense. Louis Cobolini has been elected
mayor of the city Of Brownsville by a
majority of one. BY the recount of the
poll in Ward /, yesterday afternoon. the
present mayor. A. b. Cole. who was tied
with l.. Cobolini from the returns in
ward 4. recounted on Tuesday. lost one
vote thus breaking the tie and causing
his opponent to forge ahead by the mar
gin of one The count yesterday gave
Cole 241 votes and Cobolini 231 in Ward
/. the returns formerly being 2f2 and
237 respectively.
Counsel for Mayor Cole will most
seriously object to the introduction of
this recount. however. and it remains to
be seen just what Judge Hopkins ruling
will be on the point. The recount of
DOlH boxes Has DtcH ONtT int piotVSl ~
the defense.
According to an authoritative state
ment from attorneys representing the
state in the case. they are as yet uncer-
tain as to whether recount of the re-
naming two boxes will be asked for.
The morning session of court was tax
en- up with testimony of witnesses for
the state while the afternoon session
as used up entirely in counting the
votes in box /. The task occupying over
four hours.
Tomas Tijerina, county inspector Of
hides and animals. was the first witness
called for the day When questioned as
20 the residence of PantaleOn and Refu-
gio Cortez. he stated that their residence
for many years was at the San Pedro
ranch He also testified that he saw the
said persons ut the first ward polling
place and saw them enter the polls.
When questioned by the deIense witness
-ould not positively state whether the
CorteZ's were not residents of Browns
Vile prior to the election. Witness also
saw Pedro Aguilar approach the polling
lace although he lived some distance
from the city.
Quintero Garcia Bali. manager of the
tate. about twelve miles from the city,
testified as to the residence of Pante-
leon and Rcfugio Cortez on ranch
which he managed but could not state
whether they have homo in Browns
vile.
George Crum civil engineer testified
that Pedro Aguilar had lived some dis
tance from Brownsville on goat ranch
for about eight wears. but could not pos
itively state whether they had recently
lived in this city
Miguel Tijerina. resident of Matam-
oros who witnessed the voting at one OF
the wards during the election, testified
that he saw Severe Ayaia, who had pre-
viously lived on ranch near Matamoros
approach and enter the polling place
Two would he voters testified that they
would have voted had they been allowed
the privilege. The poll tax of CrisantoS
Garcia was offered by the state as evi-
Garcia and Limo Quintero ''votcless"
voters
The afternoon session was taken up
with the recount of the ballots as stated
above. The marking Of the tickets in
several eases, caused some amusement to
the court and the few spectators present.
I'm one case the voter had failed to mark
any name in the entire field and Judge
Hopkins humOrOusly remarked that the
voter most assuredlv voted straight
ticket" The presence of the names of
both Candidates Cole and KOwalski un-
der the Independent columns brought
confusion to the minds of several voters.
they failing to cross out either one of
these names after they had scratched
the democratic list. or. in some instances
crossing out Candidate Coles name.
would then leave Kowalski and Cobo-
lini's names both untouched. Kowalski
polIcd twenty votes in Ward l.
Several of the ballots taken from the
two boxes have been counted with the
understanding on the part of the court
that decision as to their validity would
be made by Judge Hopkins later. So
far the number of ballots over which
question has been raised has been about
equal on both sides. there being no an,
parent advantag.
Many advantages are claimed by the
A