The Mena weekly star., 1912-01-18
ELECTION OFFICERS
 FREED OF CHARGE
Johnson County Commissioners De- clared Not Guilty by Judge, Because of Technical Er-
 TOT in Indictment.

Clarksville, Jan. i0.-After Pros ecuting Attorney w. P. Strait had practically finished presenting the case of the state again B. A. Owens, A. w. Robinson and c. c. Flake. election commissioners of Johnson county, charged with filing false certificate of the vote case for state senator in Johnson county in the election of 1910, Judge Hugh Ba- sham took the case from the jury and instructed that a verdict of not guilty be returned. The court | took this action after it had dis covered several errors in the sec ond indictment, which was return ed against the three com Imissioners Monday. The errors occurred in the copy of the alleged false certificate incorporated in the indictment. Because of these diff ferences the court refused to admit the certificate as evidence, and Prosecuting Attorney Strait an- nounced that he could go no fur ther, as he had to rely upon the certificate for conviction. The at torneys for the defense then moved that the jury be instructed to find for the defendants, and Judge Ba- sham granted the motion. Follow ing this action of the court, Pros |ecuting Attorney Strait prayed an appeal to the Supreme court.
 Covington Represents Defendants
 Senator Webb Covington, to whom it was alleged the commis- sioners gave votes which should have gone to w. D. Fakes. his Re- publican opponent, appeared as one of the attorneys for the defendants.
 Charges Against Commissioners
 The charges against the election commissioners in brief was that the absti ect which they filed gave Covington a total of go votes more than he was entitled to, and took abo't f24 votes away from Fakes. The trial, which had been expected to be one of the most sensational ever held here, provsd to be a big llasco. The actual introduction of evidence on the part of the state occupied only about two hours this afternoon The greater part of the day was devoted to the securing of a jury, and the opening statements of the attorneys were begun at 3:30 o'clock. At 5:30 the defendants had been acquitted.
 When Prosecutor Strait endeav- ored to introduce as evidence the abstract together with the alleged false certificate of the commission CTS as to it's correctness, attorneys for the defense called Judge Bash am's attention to the fact that the certificate was dated September i2, 1910, while in the copy of the cer- tiflcate contained in the indictment the date was given as September t7. Upon examining the indictment and the certificate, Judge Basham found the word election com lmissioners" following the sigma lures of the three commissioners in the certificate ilad been omitted in the copy containnd in the indict- ment, also that the character K" appeared in the original certificate but had been spelled out in the copy of the indictment. Prosecut- or Strait contended that these diff lferences were immaterial. but Judge Basham declared that an in- dictment purporting to give a copy lof the alleged false instrument lmust produce the latter verbatim. He thereupon excluded the certifl- Icate from the jury.
 What Judge Basham Said.
 "There may be several ways. I think, in which the state has failed lin this case Judge Basham said. l"For one thing, no witnesses have Ibeen produced from two of the
 townships mentioned in the indict- Iment; aside from all other things. however, the court under the law lis compelled to with 1raw the cer- ltillcate. owing to tho fatal differ
 ences between that document and Ithe copy in the indictment