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Show BALLOT MOX STI FFINU. The Vote lor the Goddess of Liberty Becoming Be-coming lircUiiiK-Misn Merrill Leading. - Two attempts at ballot box stuffing were the features of today's voting for ttie Goddess of Liberty. The contest is becoming very heated, and at 2 o'clock this afternoon Miss Maud Merrill was leading by 77 votes. Votes were corning corn-ing in by tho half hundred ut a bunch, and Secretary Gillespie and two clerks were kept busy tiling them away. The fraudulent votes were fortunately fortunate-ly detected before they got into tho ballot box and were laid aside. They will doubtlessly bo thrown out by the committee, which will meet to count the ballots tonight. The spurious ballots had evidently been printed at some job otlice in the city aud they came iu in big bunches. There was over three hundred of them. The ballots had been printed oil long slips of paper and then cut. . Through this the fraud was discovered. dis-covered. Tho votes were all for two voung ladies and would have placed them very near tha top, if not absolutely abso-lutely in the lend. At 2 o'clock Miss Maud Merrill was leading, but she was closely pressed by Miss Ella Olsen. Miss Ellie McAllister was third; Katio Hardin, fourth; Winnie Kimball, fifth, and Imo-geuc Imo-geuc Williams, sixth. The changes from the previous day's vote was that Miss Maud Merrill went from third to lirst place, passing Miss Olseu and Miss McAllister. The committee that will count the vote is composed of one representative from each newspaper as follows: Geo. N Ifi't of The Times. E. J. Smith of the Tribune. James Anderson of the News, and Mr. Taysuni of the Herald Still "another fraudulent Goddess of Liberty ticket has been discovered. It is printed at a job office, as if taken from the Herald . On t he back is a par-wrranh par-wrranh beginning "Illinois Central S " etc. The Herald did not print these tickets, and they will not be counted by the committee. |