Evening star., 1945-09-29
Fenwick Loses
Court Decision
On Nomination
Judge UphoIds Collin:
Contest, Throws Out
Wise County Votes
Ey the Associated Press.


RICHMOND, Va, Sept. 90
Lewis Preston Collins of Marion
today became the Democratic
nominee for Lieutenant Cover
nor of Virginia when Judge
Julien Gum in the Circuit Court
of the city of Richmond upheld
his contest of the nomination
of Charles r. Fenwick of Arling-
ton in the August 7 primary.
In his contest Mr.. Collins had
charged fraud and irregularities in
Wise County, where, he said, fewer
than 1000 persons participated in
the primary, whereas more than 81
500 votes were reported officially
1907 for Mr.. Fenwick and 122 for
Mr.. Collins. This resulted in a plu-
rality of 3185 for Mr.. Fenwick.
Mr.. FenWick was nominated by an
official State plurality of 572. Judge
Gum, in his order today, threw out
the Wise County vote, leaving Mr.,
Collins as the nominee.
Crooks and Ballot Thieves"
Judge Gums opinion said Wise
County was "impregnated with polit-
ical crooks and ballot thieves ."
Handing down his decision in a
packed courtroom, Judge Gum
said:
Il am most reluctant to enter
this order. because in doing so,
am denying the registered wish of
those citizens of Wise County who
voted in the primary, but under the
law I am forced to do So An order
to that effect will be entered upon
presentation"
Mr.. Collins attorneys began
draft of an order which would make
him the nominee.
Text of Courts Ruling.
The text of the opinion:
This contest ends in this court:
there is no appeal, therefore, it has
given me the most serious concern.
The contestants have been repre-
sented by most able counsel, and
their presentation of the case shows
that they have been painstaking
and diligent in ascertaining the
facts relating to the action.
L may say right now, that am
persuaded that neither candidate
was cognizant of the violation of
the law by the officials in Wise
County.
These gentlemen are recognized
as being of the highest character
and unimpeachable integrity, and
they would not be a party to any
violation of the election laws, nor
would they be recipient of fraud
in the procurement of nomination.
Reviews Contest.
CAS- a result of the primary held
on August Z, 1945, the candidates for
Lieutenant Governor were Lewis
Preston Collins, Charles r. Fenwick
and Leonard G. Muse.
Col. Charles r. Fenwick, having
received the greatest number of
votes, was declared the nominee for
Lieutenant Governor.
Lewis Preston Collins became
convinced that the election held IN
Wise County was illegal. so retained
counsel to represent him. These
gentlemen applied to the clerk of
Wise County for permission 10 ex-
anime the poll books and documents
pertaining to the election. and their
request was denied, in which the
clerk was justified, because under
the law no one has access to the poll
books unless by order of the court.
Mr.. Collins counsel came to. this
court and obtained an order permit
ting them to make an examination
OF the poll books. Upon their return
to Wise County Court House they
were informed that the poll books
had disappeared.
Clerk on Vacation.
"The clerk of that county left on
the day of the election for a vaca-
ton, and his deputy, William B.
Ley. was in charge of the clerks
office, and as such under the law
was 20 receive the returns from the
various precincts of the county.
He testified that he was in the
treasurer's Office on the evening of
the election when three poll books
were brought to him. He took two
OF them to the clerks Office and
left one in the treasurer's office, for
what reasons I am unable to say,