Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-11-19
OUTSIDE VOTES
GWEN STANFORD
LINE Of At TACK
Hobson Aims to Inn
peach Those Cast by
Voters Not Residents.
All Who VotedforHo
son Called to Put For
getters for Stanford.
Special to The Tribune.

Special to The Tribune.
Stanford, Nov. 17.--In order to
prove that Guy G. Miller and his wife,
whose faulty memories had prevented
Stanford or Hobson for permanent
county seat of Judith Basin county,
counsel for Hobson put on three wit
nesses Friday afternoon for what was
termed q process of elimination.
Seeking to show that the votes OF
the NIillers. which are alleged to have
been illegal on the grounds OF non
residence in Judith Basin county. were
cast for Stanford, plaintiff called to
the stand J. S. Lemar and Mr.. and
Mrs. Albert A. Smith. all of Arrow
voted for Hobson, which precinct had
returned only three votes for that
place while 92 had been returned for
Stanford.
This class of evidence was not ad-
mitted until another long argument IN
which defense objected to the line OF
testimony, but at the same time held
it was not strongly averse to the
opening up of this channel, as counSei
probably would find occasion to take
advantage of the same methods II IL
should be compelled to put ID ae-
fense. The court oyerruled motloh
by defense to strike out Witness
Lemar's testimony, but with leave TO
renew the motion later.
Moved to Idaho; Vote Stanford
For the purpose of attacking the
absent voters ballots cast by Charies
p. Smith and his wife, the plalntlff
examined o. c. zimmerman, Of Cotfee
Creek. who testified that the two had
left farm near Arrow Creek, October
81 1920. with the intention OF gong
to idaho for permanent location. Smlth
had informed the witness he was not
coming back and had turned over MS
farming impleme ents to the witness 70
be sold and applied upon an lndeDted-
ness owing Zimmerman. .e.
Am attempt was made by the plaintiff
TO Introduce as evidence the application
of John T. Griffith for an absent
voters ballot, this application having
been found attached to the West
Garneill register and tally sheets II
the office of the clerk of Fergus
comfy. The plaintiff sought to attack
this application, but an objection OF
the defense that it had not been SET
out in the complaint and that, the de-
fense was taken by surprise, the court
declined to accept the evidence.
Ballots CareIessiy Kept
Hugh Dawes. judge Of election, had
testified that Griffith's was the only
absent voters ballot cast at West Car
neill. This witness testified he thought
this ballot had been placed IN the en-
yelope with the other voted ballots,
but admitted he had not seen it when
the ballots were produced in court. lie
could not say if the pouch had been
tampered with after it had been sealed
nm but claimed he had met with diff
ficulty in sealing it, as it was filled to
capacity by the ballots.
The court called brief recess, dur
ing which all the bundles of ballots
were examined to locate the missing
ballot, No. 40, which was found rolled
up with the ballots on referendum
measure.
John e. Moran, clerk of Cascade
county, and Harry C. Donaldson. clerk
of Chouteau county, we're called by
plaintiff and both testified that while
their respective counties made use Of
envelopes similar to those returned
from West Garneill precinct, many had
come in from outside election precincts
in a mutilated condition and that they
had resorted to the use of canvas bags
or paper bags of stronger material to
obviate such conditions.
Records Not Safeguarded
l.. J. Lehman, clerk Of Fergus
county, was again on the stand to tes-
tify as to the rough handling to which
this and other Judith Basin election
pouches had been subjected in their
transportation from the Lewistown
court house to Stanford for use at this
trial.
He had previously testified, when
called by the defense, to lack Of care in
the guarding of election records in
Fergus county, that since coming to
Stanford he had found in the Judith
Basin court house large number of
Fergus county registration books for
the primary election of August, 1920,
which had in some inexplicable manner
been removed without authority from
the office Of the county clerk in Lewis |
town. He assumed they might have
been picked up by mistake and shipped
to Stanford with transcribed county
records.
Didn't Vote on County Seat
John w. Pew, rs, rancher residing !
16 miles northeast of Stanford, was |
called by the glaintiff as one of the
voters who was not entitled to vote on !
the county seat question. Mr.. Pew, !
however, testified that he did not re-
member of having voted on that ques- |
ton and did not believed he had done /
90 as he RECALLED having voted the large |
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