The log cabin Democrat., 1914-04-02
>THE RAPE OF POINSETT.

rob Judge Kirby Of hlS nomination for the United States senate is the most astounding and audacious ln- stance of political burglary ever at tempted in the state of Arkansas or any other state.
 If Senator Clarke possessed in any degree whatever the elements of greatness attributed to him by his friends, he would have instantly de- nounced this outrageous steal and conceded the nomination honestly won by his successful opponent.
 This state has so long endured the domination of Eastern Arkansas po- litical thieves that it has become rather accustomed to having to over come padded votes and ballot box stufing by these crooks, before the majority of the honest Democrats have a chance to nominate the men of their choice. As was foreseen by everyone this corrupt bunch of rob bers were under the control of Sen ator Clarke in the late primary cleo Eon. They responded to their ut most. Holding out until the last min ute, they returned tremendous ma jorities-majorities representing more than the entire voting strength of the counties, in some cases-for Sen ator Clarke, in the hope of defeat ing the honest peoples choice.
 In the midnight hours of, Monday night it was seen that in spite of. all the ballot box robberies perpetrated in Eastern Arkansas, Judge Kirby, on the face of the official returns, had still won the nomination by majeri- ty of 184. Something had to be done. The Clarke forces turned to the tool who seemed most likely to do their bidding. The choice fell upon L. Clyde Going of Poinsett county. Go ing had just come out of the shadow of jail for corrupting jury. He would be willing to be the "goat.' Over the long-distance telephone they appealed to Going. "We must have 500 more majority for Clarke they told him.
 Poinsett county had already by it's official returns sent in vote of l. 296 for Clarke to 615 for Kirby, 2 majority of 671 for Clarke. These figures had been telegraphed to the Gazette by it's correspondent. But Going called up the Gazette and told it that the vote in Poinsett coun- ty was 1,621 for Clarke to 45O for Kirby, a Clarke majority of 1,171. He did this by taking 165 votes from Kirby and adding 335 to Clarke's vote, making net change of 800. The Gazette refused to accept Going's figures, but later he got his band of political highwaymen together and wrote up a certificate which they brought with them to Little Rock yes terday. Seeing that they did not need to go quite so strong, when they ar rived in the capital city they cut off 100 of the fraudulent votes they had stolen for Clarke, and left his net majority in the county 1,071, instead of 1,171, as Going had declared it stood shortly after midnight Monday.
 So that the official vote in Poin- sett county stands 1,521 for Clarke and 450 for Kirby, total vote in the county of 1,971. But the case-harden- ed thieves went a little too far. It was ascertained from certified state. ment issued by State Auditor l.. l.. Coffman that in 1913 only 1,537 per sons paid poll taxes in Poinsett coun> ty, of whom LAP were whites and 95 negroes. If every man in the en- tire county white, black, Democrat, Republican, Bull Moose and Social ist-had gone to the polls on Wednes- day of last week, they would still have lacked 434 of the number which Going is attempting to certify as vot- ing. sl-.sss ssss rz fsSfsE
 Ordinarily, whatever charges of corruption have been brought, the Log Cabin Democrat does not believe tn contesting an election. But if Judge Kirby would supinely submit to such an outrageous robbery, he would be guilty of craven cowardice and would be unworthy of the people who supported him. He ought to fight to the last ditch against this band of seoundrels. He will fight-and in his fight he will be aided by thousands of