New-York tribune., 1921-11-07
Wolf Refutes
Terror r'Charge
OF Hylan Aid
Special Deputy Investigating
Complaints of Illegal Reg
istrationDenies Attempt TO
Tamper With East Siders
Clean Voting Sole Aim
Pushcart Peddlers Accuse
City Officials of Threats
in Effort 10 Get Ballots

Alexander Wolf, Special Deputy At
torney General Investigating com
plants of illegal registration and colo
nization issued prompt denial yester-
day of the charges made by Mayor Hy-
Ian's campaign manager that his ap-
pointmcnt was for the purpose Of "ter-
rorzing" East Side voters.
The charges, signed by John Fl. De-
laney, appeared yesterday morning.
They said that Mr.. VOLTS appointment
as Special Deputy Attorney General
was form of intimidation for which
there were grounds for protest. He had
been appointed, Mr.. Delaney continued,
at the request Of the coalition leaders
and had directed his activities against
Democratic voters on the East Side.
Wolf Explains Duties
"I was appointed by the Attorney
Generals Office" Mr.. Wolf said yester-
day, mot to cover any particular dis
trict, but to investigate all complaints
from whatever part of the city re-
ceived as an officer OF the state. 1t is
the duty of the state to do this at every
election. | have asked for no compen-
sation for this work and have neglected
my law practice to attend to it. If nee
essary. ! shall continue it after the
election in order to do my part to keep
the result of the balloting free from
fraud.
"Thc Attorney Generals Office here
has sent out six hundred subpnnas in
the last few days, covering the entire
city, and only half Of the persons sum-
great majority of the complaints upon
which these subpRnas were issued did
not come from political quarters, but
from householders who learned that
certain 'boarders' had used illegally
their addresses for registration pur-
poses. If a cry of fraud is raised, why
do Mayor Hylan's hackers feel that it
is directed at them?
Because of the character of the men
who have applied to the Board of Elec-
tions, in answer to advertisements for
inspectors at the polls on Election Day,
the Federal Department of Justice has
assigned men to help in the canvassing
in districts where the local boards have
not sufficient help. This is the first
time that this has been necessary. The
Department of Justice agents will see
that the votes are properly counted and
will take the places of members of po-
litica clubs who apply for places on the
local boards and then cripple them by
failing to report for duty" r.
Intimidation of Peddlers
Intimidation on the part of city Off
cials connected with the Department Of
Public Markets has been reported by
pushcart pedders, Mr.. Wolf said. These
small merchants have been told that it
was to their interest to see that Mayor
Hyan was reelected, they said, and
some of them complained that they had
been threatened with the loss of their
pushcart space if vote for Hylan was
not cast on Election Day
There were rumors throughout the
districts below Fourteenth Street and
in the midtown section yesterday that it
was going to be a trough" election.
Threats have found their way to the
Special Deputy Attorneys General that
if prosecutions are attempted in elec-
ton fraud cases the consequences will
be unpleasant.
II expect to have about one hundred
lawyers sworn in as special deputies on
Election Day. Mr.. Wolf said, land to
have them stationed in the districts
where colonization has been going on.
There is going to be strong effort
made to keep the polling places clear of
to disturb the orderly casting of the bal
lots will be arrested The Special Dep
uty Attorneys General will be on hand
prepared to deal with all attempts to
hamper the voting"
Prepared for Trouble
The sharpest watch for trouble Will
be kept In the LIST to Sth Assembly dis
tricts and in the 18th, 18th, 18th and
Goth
In the latest instances of illegal regis
tratlon that came before the Attorney
Generals Office here were found those
of school janitors who permitted por-
tcrs to register from the schoolhouses.
postoffice clerks whose registration ad-
dresses did not tally with their ad-
dresses on file with the postoffice and
of seven negroes who registered from
lawyers Office in the Lenox Avenue
section, where, they said, they were
sleeping in chairs and on desks until
Election Day.
Regarding the letter written by
Abraham Tuvim, Socialist candidate for
Assembly in the 4th District, to Gov
ernor Miller complaining of conditions
there, Mr.. Wolf said that some of Mr..
Tuvim's charges were true, but that he
had found on investigating them that
difficult foreign names simply had
been misspelled. Mr.. Tuvim charged
that from 800 to 1000 illegal regstra-
tions had taken place in the 4th Dis
trict.
Upon the request of the Attorney
Generals Office at Albany Mr.. Wolf
probed an attempt to colonize on a
large scale in Hunter Township, Greene
County People living in New York
City, New Jersey, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts and Connecticut, who
owned summer places in Hunter, had
been approached and asked to take ad
vantage of the nonresident law, the
complaint said, and to vote the Demo,
cratic ticket in Hunter. Thirty-tw of
the names were of New Workers. Only
eight were registered here, but the en-
tire list will be challenged if they try
to vote in Greene County.