Evening star., 1927-03-25
SMALL UNSEATEO
BY MD. ASSEMBLY
MuIIikin Declared Prince
Georges Delegate in Elec-
ton Dispute, 94 to d.

gr a STAFF Correspondent of The star
ANNAPOLIS, Md. March 20
Frank Small ir.. Republican, of Upper
Marlboro, a member of the Marylan"
House of Delegates, was unseated ias1
might bv a vote of "a to 4. when the
lower house adopted a resolution oi
its election committee declaring heht
Roberts Mullikin, Democrat, OF Laurel
Md as the regularly elected candidate
from the Prince Georges County dele-
CATION at the elections last November.
After announcing the vote, Speaker
F.. Brooke Lee, Silver Spring, Mont
eomery County, instructed the ser
ceant.at arms Of the lower house to
inform Mr.. Muullikin to present nm
self before the House, which ne later
did and was sworn in.
The favorable vote, however, did
not COME until after a long. one-man
fight conducted by Delegate Paul Ber-
man, Republican, fourth district OF
Baltimore City. on his minority re-
port containing a resolution, Wnlcn'
il adopted, would have sent the pal
lots back for another count, with a
the office of the attorney general OF
MARYLAND be present to make de-
cisions as to the ballots that should
be counted and those that should be
rejected.
Speaking on his report and resolu-
ticn, Berman charged that the re-
count was a farce, it was done in
great haste and without care and con-
sideration. He alleged that there was
uniformity of decision as to what bal
lots should be counted and what
should be rejected, but alleged that
the decision was always in favor of
a questionable Mullikin ballot and con-
sistently against a Small ballot. He
charged that chaos reigned in the
rooms of the committee on elections
during the time the ballots were being
counted.
Count Called Unfair.
Delegate George L. Edmonds, Rock
vile, chairman of the Montgomery
County delegation. asked Berman If 1t
was a correct count. Berman parried
with the reply that the count was a
mistaken ono and said he did not
want to g'H the impression that
there was ~rlly cheating. DR.. Ed
monds theJ sAked Berman if the lat
ter was pre snt at all the meetings of
the commissyn of which he is a men,
Der, and Ga a reply in the affirma-
tive, but with the added statement
only until he saw that the count was
being unfairly made. DIR. Edmonds
then asked him if he thought it was
fair count, and received a negative
reply, whereupon the Montgomery
County chairman asked him to state
to the House why it was not fair.
Berman replied it was unfair because
OF the rejection of certain ballots.
Delegate Robert /. Lednum. Demo
crat, of Pocomoke City. said that Ber-
man was Of no assistance to the COM
mfttee in making the count, standing
over the men calling the ballots and
continuously finding fault. He said
that he offered to let Berman call the
ballots. but the latter refused. Mr..
Lednum also told the House that the
other Republican members of the
committee said that the count was a
fair one.
Fair. Says Poverty.
Delegate George c. Peverly. Me-
chanicsville, chairman of the elections
committee, told the House the count
was a fair one. 1t was an honest
count and was not made in haste.
Robert r. Lauder, Democrat, of
f1dFre ue dTdCe, ROBERT r.. fOTu,
Democrat, Of the fourth district OF
Baltimore City; James T. Kennedy.
Democrat, of the sixth district of
Baltimore City, spoke in opposition to
the substitute, when Majority Floor
Leader James J. Lindsay, jr., of Balti-
more County, told the House that
/, what farce there was in the commit.
tee during the count was created by
Berman. He told the House that both
Small and his attorneys told him they
were absolutely satisfied with the
count, and Speaker Lee said that he
was told by Small that the count
was fair. The minority report was
rejected by a vote of rs to I9. with
nine Republicans excused from voting.
When the vote was taken on the
resolution presented by the commit
tee Berman voted in the affirmative
to seat Mullikin.