Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-07-13

Eumed~ personal charge by sending
Mackenzie King to Colorado and haG
formulated his much advertised Colo
RADIO plan.
| They were committed, says the court
long after all disorder had ceased, ant
when the federal troops were in charge
of the district.
To corroborate its findings, the Su.
preme Court quotes the admissions Of
E. H. Weitzel highest field officer fol
Rockefeller. who personally ordered the
Democratic candidates kept out Of the
eight closed precincts on the ground
that they were agitators!
The whole case is summed up by the
court as follows:
No Precedent.
I'VE are unable to find precedent
where like, or similar conditions, have
been considered as in this case. where
in private corporations have assumed
to deny the public character Of an cleo
ton and to arbitrarily take charge OF
and; conduct the same as if it were
the sole private business of the cor
poration.
These companies plainly connived
with certain county officials to secure
the creation of election precincts,
bounded so as to include their private
property only, and with lines marked
by their own fences, or guarded by
their own armed men, and within
which were only their own employees.
Denied All Rights.
They excluded the public from en-
trance to such election precincts. label
ed the same as private property, and
warned the public that entrance there
on constituted trespass. They denied
the right of free public assemblage
within such election precincts, and
likewise the right of free or open dis
cussion Of public questions therein.
They denied the right to circulate
election literature or the distribution
of the cards of candidates within such
precincts. They secured the selection
of their own employees exclusively as
judges and clerks of election, and by
the location of precinct boundaries no
other than their employees could so
serve They apparently made the. reg
istration lists from their pay rolls.
They kept such lists in their private
places of business and in charge Of
their employees.
"They prohibited all public investiga-
ton within such election precincts as
to the qualifications of the persons so
registered as electors of the precinct.
Through their employees acting as
election officials, they assisted numer-
GUS non English speaking persons to
vote by marking their ballots for them,
in plain violation of the law. They
provided other English speaking
persons with a fraudulent device by
which such persons might be enabled
to vote the Republican ticket, without
being able to read either the name of
the candidate or the party ticket for
which they so voted.
"They coerced and intimidated their
employees in many instances.
1--WE find no such example of fraud
within the books. and must seek the
letter and spirit Of the law in free
government. as a scale in which to
weight such conduct.
This is the courts summing up of
review of the evidence which bristles
with amazing instances of corruption
and intimidation perpetuated by the
company in close cooperation with
Sheriff Jeff Farr. known as the king
Of Huerfano county" This is the same
Farr who deputized strike guards who,
he admitted, might have been, for all
he knew, "red-handed murderers."
Amazing Admissions.
Most amazing Of all is the admission
Of the attorneys for the Rockefeller
Farr combination, in their brief quoted
by the Supreme Court, that:
TT is matter of present. or of only
past history. that the Rebuff
Iican party Of the whole state, from
the candidate for governor down, and
particularly those in Huerfano county,
ran on what they were pleased to call
q law and order platform This
meant or was taken to mean that. the
sided against the strikers.
Indeed this was the open attitude OF
The Republican party in the strike dis
trict."' ~ t@-t!f' 4. W. III
This is brazenly offered as justifica7
lion for the Rockefeller -Farr methods.
i OMeialso Were Employes. aa
:. Every Judge, clerk or officer of cleo
tion with the exception of a}saloon
keeper was an e1nploye of the coal
the court finds. The one,
exception was saloon \ keeper and
partner Of Sheriff Earr! Remember that
Rock efelleri and; his agents protested
that their interest in the campaign was
{ After describing the process bySwhich
economic mastery was used to seize
political control the Supreme Court
ny b
+ aThus were the public election dis
EFfeks and the public election machip
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