Evening star., 1945-10-10

| ing or returned to Wise with the
ballots" the report said.
The report also was critical Of
Pound precinct, where the judges
were declared very negligent and
derelict in their duties" The grand
jury said the poll books were de-
livered to a citizen, who had no con-
nection with the election, for de-
livery to the clerks Office at Wise,
and termed this an illegal act on
the part of the judges.
This citizen, William T. Child
Wright, is commissioner of the rev.
enue and an officer of the county,
and helped tally the vote on the
evening of the election" the grand
Jury Said. Although this man was
in; his Office by noon of the next
dsT and on succeeding days, he
made no mention of the differences
in the report and the actual count
in the Pound district.
Phone Calls Traced.
D. B. Hollyfield, deputy sheriff,
also helped tally the vote. He
knew the report did not agree with
the actual vote of the precinct, yet
did not call any ones attention
to the fact. The judges of the elec-
ton saw and read in the papers
the report of the election and could
easily see the difference, yet they
made no mention of the fact nor
called the discrepancies to any
ones attention"
The grand jury said that less
than an hour after the polls closed
in Pound it was known in Wise
that 418 votes had been counted
for Mr.. Fenwick, but we have not
been able to trace where this in
formation came from. We have
been able to trace two telephone
calls from the clerks Office and the
Jail on August 8 of a very signif-
icant and suspicious nature.
Precedent Blamed.
There has been no direct evidence
presented to us that would indicate
who changed the returns on the
Pound poll books, although the lapse
of time between the closing of the
polls and the discovery of the bal
lots in the clerks Office would have
given ample opportunity for more
than one person to do this.
Most of the above illegal acts
have been the result of precedent
and practice over a number of
years, possibly as many as 20 or Is,
according to information and evi-
dence which has been presented to
us, although no complaint seems to
have ever been called to the atten-
ton of the court of such practices
at any time"
The grand jury recommended i'm
mediate steps be taken ito elimi-
nate those irregularities which be-
cause of precedent and long stand
ing have occurred in the county, in
order that future elections may be
above reproach."
No Records of Handling.
The grand jury said the clerk Of
the Wise County Circuit Court, j. A.
Gardner, and some of his deputies
were negligent in their official du-
ties, but that there was no evidence
that w. B. Lay; deputy clerk criti-
cized by Judge Julien Gum in his
decision at Richmond, was any more
responsible for what had happened
than any one else. It asserted the
evidence presented to the grand
jury showed ballots and poll books
were in the clerks Office on August
13 when Clerk Gardner returned
from vacation, and that Mr.. Lay evi-
IDENTIFY had preserved them properly
while Mr.. Gardner was away.
After that time no special pre-
caution was taken to properly pre-
serve the records of the election and
the clerks office does not seem to
have proper records to show when
and how poll books and ballots were
handled from the time the election
was over until the canvassihg COM
mittee met and made their report, !"
the grand jury said.
In conclusion, we are convinced
that more than one person is in
Volved In changing the return from
Pound precinct, and disappearance
OF poll books, yet we have had no
evidence presented to us conclusive
enough for us to bring an indictment
against any one, as to the changes
of the return from Pound precinct,
nor have we had any evidence of any
kind presented to us that would in
dicate who destroyed or mislaid the
poll books from all but one of the
precincts Of the county"
DIT 1EA w. AL