The Hartford republican., 1915-09-17

iOu OubuI W iudht SedTCHlil
e Investigation into the conduct of a
candidates for Governor or othe
state Office and II any candidate @
friend of any such candidate used an
money in this county to corrupt tn
voters find out obout Il, and even
the evidence is not sufficient to wal
, rant an indictment. let your repor
. show the facts so that the people ma
| know them. Ascertain the price o
the circuit judgeship and what
candidate for county Judge or cir
cult judge was required to contribute
to the corruption fund. and whethe
or not candidates for the legislator,
and for assessor contributed and how
upon these matters. Let the peopl,
of the county know just what ha.
been done. 1t will have a good effect
even il no man is punished.
Remember that every man who
was a candidate before the primary
on any ticket. had signed and sworn
to statement to this effect: l will
not knowingly violate any election
law or any law definite or relating to
corrupt and fraudulent practice in
campaigns or elections in this state.
That requirement was placed in the
law by the last legislature and it was
the idea of the legislature that if a
candidate violated that oath he could
be indicted and punished for perjury
or false swearing. If you find that
any of the candidates violated that
oath you can indict them for il, and
even If the evidence does not warrant
an indictment. but does convince you
that the oath was violated, let the
public know who violated it. If any
OF the men who were voted for vio-
lated that sworn statement you
ought to place brand on them that
will last for all time. The sworn
statement of the candidates for state
offices are filed with the Secretary
of State, those for county offices with
the County Clerk
After the Election Gambler.
There is another class of election
offenders that you should not neglect
l have always held that gambling on
elections is very close kin to bribery.
and that one step towards securing
clean elections is to punish those who
by betting, hope to influence votes.
Betting on an election is a more seri-
Gus offense than ordinary gambling.
The punishment for betting on an
election is a fine of 500. The law
also provides that the money won on
an election shall be forfeited to the
Commonwealth and may be recovered
by an appropriate action.
"Only one witness is required to
make an indictment for betting on
an election. and if this grand jury
will indict the men who made bets on
any of the races in the recent primary
and will ascertain who won money
and what amounts and instruct the
Commonwealth Attorney and Coun-
ty Attorney to sue to recover the
money won for the state, you will
hear less talk of betting on elections
in the future.
"If you can get the evidence to
make indictments for betting with
out calling and using as a witness
either of the parties to the bet you
should indict both of them, but il it
is necessary to use one of the parties
as witness you have the right to
do that and then you can make the
against the other party.
Second only in Importance to !
indictments for bribery will |
be your work in making indictments
for betting on the election. Don't ,
neglect your duty. Punish the gam
blers for breaking the law and wrest
their ill-gotten gains from them for
the state.
May Expect Criticism.
when you undertake this impor-
tant work you may expect certain
men and certain influences to criti-
Else you and hamper you in every
possible way. but am sure that such
conduct will not deter you from do
ng your duty. II you ignore what
was done in this primary election.
corrupt as 1t is known to have been.
you may expect your primary for
county Offices to be held two years
rom now. to be even more corrupt.
,ut IL you can indict those who re-
'orted to corrupt practices in this
,lection they will not dare to resort
N similar Dra ctices In tha future