Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-17
Poe;t;cA tn
Pe~~eqeOaio
BY the Ex-Committeeman

The name of the Town Meeting
party has been pre-empted for the
state election next November by no
less than four groups of men who
have filed affidavits in the Dauphin
county court and at the Department
of the Secretary of the Common
wealth. Two of the pre-emptions de-
clare the exclusive right to nomt-
nate candidates under that name for
the state at Ia. ge. while the others
specify the right to elect q Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, Secretary Of
internal Affairs and congressman
at Large.
Three of the statewide pre-emp-
t;cnS were made by Philadelphians,
the first being filed October 4 by
men active in the Town Meeting
movement. November IA a group
OF Harrisburg men did the same
thing and Philadelphians also filed
prescriptions for the state at large
on November l i and 16.
The name OF the Town Meeting
party was pre-empted in the Third
Montgomery district to-day. The
name has been pre-empted in In
zerne, Dauphin, Lackawanna,
Schuylkill and Montgomery counties
this week as well as in some smaller
counties earlier.
Officials of the State Department
stated to-day that inquiries failed to
show that may more poll books and
duplicate returns of votes cast by
soldiers were to come in. The time,
however, does not expire until No
Nember 20. The making up of eX-
pense accounts is under way
Town Meeting party lawyers, it
is said, will attack the soldier and
sailor vote. when it is produced No
Vember 23, before Judges Martin
and Finletter, in the election court,
in Philadelphia. Affidavits and let
ters written by soldiers or sailors,
in which the alleged activity in be-
half of the Ware candidates by the
election commissioners is described,
are being prepared for presentation
by the court. The commissioners
were appointed by Governor Brum-
baugh. At least two of the commits
sioners will be subpenaed, and the
independents will attempt to place
them on the witness stand to relate
how they supervised the vote at the
camps.
Former Representative Daniel
]. Shern has denied he had IN
fluenced sailors at the Cape May, N.
j. barracks to vote the Republican
ticket Mr.. Shern was the commits
sicner who supervised the vote
there: There is absolutely no
truth in the reports I tried to helm
the Republican ticket" he said. II
did nothing illegal.
Although state leaders from all
parts of Pennsylvania are at Phila-
deiphla to-day for the McNichol flu
neral, 1T mas been determined bv
Senator Penrose that he will have no
council of war until Monday. The
senator and others have deprecated
the talk of McNichols successor while
he is unburied. Auditor General
Charles a. Snyder and City Solicitor
John p. Connolly, mentioned for
leadership, have refused to talk
about it.
Secretary of Internal Affairs
Houck and Representative James Il.
Woodward, of McKeesport, who is a
candidate for the nomination, are
both in Philadelphia to-day for the
funeral.
The Philadelphia Evening Bull
letin in its interesting article on Nc
Nlchol says: There were only two
pubic Offices that he occupied in
the course of his career-a seat in
Select Council years ago and n seat
in the State Senate-and in each he
was in the forefront of its leadership
because of strong sense and the ma
tural faculty of impressing his
Judgment on those around him. He
was not an easy man to trip up, even
when he was crude in experience,
and men who were Shower and
thought themselves ADLER than he
was, frequently found that his un-
derstanding got into the heart of a
perpleXing question more quickly
than theirs, throwing them com
pletely into the shade"
Proof that nearly 1000 ballots
cast in the election on November &
were thrown aside by election boards
and not counted, was obtained yes
terday by the Town Meeting party,
says the North American. In the
first twenty-one wards of the city
records furnished by Henry f. Wal
ton, prothonotary of the Common
Pleas Court, showed a minimum
average of eighteen votes invalidat-
ed in each division. Members of the
Town Meeting legal committee esti-
! mated last night that in the 4S1 divi-
SloilS Oh tneSe wards nearly 9,OOU-hal-
lots had been thrown out"
The Town Meeting party has
overthrown the first majority credit
| ed to a Republican by the unofficial
! election returns in Philadelphia. The
victory was won in the twenty-sec-
ond ward, and was for director of the
! poor, n minor plum. Unoficially,
| Pringle Borthwick, Republican, was
! elected, but a comparison of the vote
! in the ward, and the checking up of
! the tally, showed he was beaten By
John Marsden, Town Meeting party,
| by nine votes.
The Democrats having captured
all the county offices in Berks, an
nouncement of the distribution of
patronage has been eagerly awaited.
| Coroner-elect Schmel has appointed
Constable John Smith first deputy
and DIR. n. u. Dunkelberger deputy
| for the Kutztown district. Prothono-
| tary-elect Hintz has named w. e.
Bechtel as legal adviser and John G.,
Rhoads as deputy. Both are of
! Reading. Recorder -elect Meek has
chosen p. Morris Strauss, of Mohn-
! ton, as legal adviser and Charles w.
| Swoyer and Henry f. Kemp as depu-
! ties.
The Philadelphia Republican
l 1fN Nla af.I. L..