Evening star., 1931-12-06

Ballot box "stumng" was considerably
In vogue 30 years ago, and nowhere
Voting Frauds in gree ss q shsn ia'fs ia shils Ss
Philadelphia. os os'pnla; ma,.,ansr nne sta1 a.
1881, thus comments upon the practice
In that city:
The inventive genius Of Philadelphia
politicians has been sorely taxed to pro-
vide fictitious names for the registration
lists. It has been discovered that D
parrot which hung In q cage In the
saloon OF one Of the political strikers
WIS regularly enrolled as q voter in the
name OF P. Parrot and that the bird
voted regularly by proxy A picture of
the beer god, which ornamented the
| walls OF another saloon represented .
| voter on the registration lists By the
name of L. B. Gambrinus A ballot was
regularly deposited for this inanimate
citizen. These fabricated names were
1urnished to repeaters, who, at each
election, deposited ballots for the parrot
and the picture. In this way thousands
OF fraudulent votes have been cast
despite all the efforts Of the courts TO
purge the voting lists. Another scheme
OF the boss political manipulators has
been to omit the names of bona fide
citizens from the registration lists and
thus deprive them of their ballots. THE
reform movement of the citizens of
Philadelphia is growing steadily in
strength and crowuing the political
rings to the wall. New developments of
past fraud and rascalty are being
made, showing that that city has been
IS eorruptly governed as New York"
The trial OF Quiteau held the atten-
ton OF the entire country half a CEN
c,,;.,. tury ago, and the unusual
0uiNaus circumstances led TO much
Condnc+ severe criticism of the Cap
ital court. The Star of De-
cember 2, 1881, says:
Many Of the reports sent out from
Washington concerning the 0uiteau
trial are gross caricatures The pro-
ceedings are in no sense 'boisterous';
there Is nothing like obstreperous horse
laughter; and judge, jury and audience
are not on continuous broad grin, as
represented by some of the illustrated
papers. The audience is much above
the general character Of such assem-
blages, weeded out as 1t is by the ticket
system of admission; the laughter so
much commented upon is rather Of
subdued sort, and does not pcrvade the
entire court room. As 1t is usually
elected by the odd soto voee remarks
OF the prisoner, 1t Is apt to be confined
10 those in his immediate vicinity who
can hear distinctly what he SAYS. AT
most, the laughter Is nothing more than
that always witnessed In great criminal
trials, and which seems to come in rs
natures relief from the intense tragic
strain prevailing. The jury have the
appearance OF being rather unusually
sedate set Of men, and Judge Cox, it Is
hardly necessary to say to The Sta
readers, Ia the embodiment of dignity
and decorum on the bench. He has
been much censured for failing to put
q stop to Guiteaus utterances In the
court room BY gagging him or removing
him from the room, but 1t must be re-
menbered that the judge is responsible
for the conduct Of the trial so that the
verdict shall not be set aside as q uo-
lation OF the law which secures to the
defendant in a criminal trial the privi-
lege Of consulting his counsel and of
being confronted with the witnesses
against him. Were Guiteau either
gagged or removed from the court room
while his trial was in progress, 1t il the
opinion Of good lawyers that he might
be able to make this plea successfully.
Again 1t should be borne In mind
that Guiteau is in some sort acting as
his own counsel, and that In this ca
pacity he may claim the right to have
something to say. 1t Is evident slso
that Guitsau's shrewd and pertinent
suggestions and explanations have the
tendency to break down the theory of
insanity. On the whole, 1t Is probable
that Judge Cox's course in his difficult
task Of dealing with the prisoner will be-
ultimately accepted by the public as the
proper one under all the oircumstances.a