Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-06-08
FRAUD EVIDENCE
IN PETITION MAY
LEAD TO ARREST
Thirteen Signatures on Com
mission Government List Are
in Same Handwriting.
65 OUT OF 1873 NAMES
ARE MARKED DOUBTFUL
Leagues Boast That Names
Were Accepted Is Declared
Untrue by Probers.

An arrest may be made today in
connection with the special election
petition of the Commission Govern
ment League, which is now being in
'vestigated by the authorities to whom
1t was offered for filing.
1t has been learened that one of the
petition lists carries IA signatures,
13 of which are said TO be in the
same handwriting,
This discovery was made by one of
the clerks at work verifying the
names. The petition was immediate
~ taken to City Clerk James f. Con-
nelly.
The city clerk looked over the paper
and after a few minutes investiga-
tion turned to the clerk and stated,
THAT man will go to prison. Place
that petition aside; do not let your
eyes turn from it,
II will not give you the name of
the man who secured the alleged sig
natures" said the city clerk to an
Evening Star reporter, but 1 will
tell you the law will take it's course"
Aside from the finding of the al
legged bogus signatures the Commits
sion Government League was given
another setback Saturday On Sat-
urday the clerks passed seventy
three names and placed sixty five in
the doubtful list. These figures show
that about so per cent. of the names
gone~over Saturday are doubtful.
For the past several days members
of the Commission Government
League have been boasting that the
experts working on the names have
passed favorably on nearly all of
them. This outcome is challenged by
those who are working in the inter-
ests of the city.
1t is true that the clerks employed
by the league have found nearly all
of the names in their poll books, but
but these reported discoveries do not
affect the actual standing in the eyes
of the city clerk.
Mr.. Connolly will not give out the
names in doubt or the names that
have been possed on are o. K.
This week will see important doings
in the election bureau, where the
work on the petitions is progressing
Every available clerk at the City Hall
has been placed at work on them.
The work last week was slow owing
to the numerous committee meetings
which the clerks were forced to at
tend This reduced the force.
1t is expected that the work will be
completed by the end of this month.
The bank experts who are aiding in
the comparison of signatures are keep
ing up with their end of the work.
The names are compared as soon as
they are placed in the doubtful list.
The petition which was found this
morning with thirteen names alleged
to have been written in the same
hand will be given to the bank experts
for comparison. A warrant will prob
ably be issued If the ideas OF the ex-
perts coincide with the views of the
city clerk.
On the bottom of each petition an
affidavit is attached. This affidavit
contains the fact that the signer
knows every one who signed the pa
per and states that the signatures are
genuine.
If the facts, as believed today, are
folnded, then a warrant would be is
sued for perjury. 1t is known that
City Clerk Connolly will do all in his
power to see that every letter of the
law is obeyed.