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Show Pttbtdy's Prtpotttrons Comtett. There are indications that the star of James H. Peabody in Colorado is on the wane. Peabody, the Republican nominee for Governor, was defeated on the face of the returns by Alva Adams, Democrat. Peabody was occupying the Gubernatorial chair and threatened to hold on by fair means or foul. He claimed wholesale frauds against him. His proposition to hold on to the office of-fice and thus force Adams to make a contest was so preposterous on its face that even a partisan Legislature Legis-lature could not be brought to stand for it. Therefore There-fore Adams was awarded the certificate of election and took the oath of office. Then the Legislature got up a law whereby Peabody Pea-body was enabled to contest the election and have the contest tried before a commission of his own choosing. Evidence is being introduced before the Peabody commission that hardly bears the stamp of probability. proba-bility. Witnesses have been introduced who swore that thev voted from fiftv to one hundred times on election day, for a consideration, going about from uoll to poll in Denver, and sometimes voting several times at the same poll. judging from the statements of her own citizens, , Denver bears the palm for election frauds, repeating repeat-ing being a specialty of some of her voters, but that ?. man could pass from place to place on a busy election elec-tion day and cast one hundred votes is hardly within with-in the bounds of physical possibility. The introduction introduc-tion of such testimony has not strengthened the case of Peabody. He has carried his fraud charges beyond the bounds of reason. Such conduct is bound to react. Men who really desire election reform and the punishment of those guilty of frauds against the franchise cannot stomach the Peabody plan of pro-rfdiner. If Adams was the beneficiary of frauds such as charged by Peabody, then the remainder of the Republican Re-publican ticket on which Peabody was running, including in-cluding the Presidential electors who cast the vote of Colorado for Roosevelt, beneficiaries with him of the same frauds, for it is charged that these fraudulent fraud-ulent ballot in the main only "scratched'' Peabody. Adams, on (he face of the returns, had about 10,000 majority over Peabody, whiletthe Roosevelt electors had about the same majority over the Democratic electors. If enough fraudulent ballots were cast to give Adams 10,000 majority, these same fraudulent ' ballots' cast for the Republican electors gave the State's electoral vote to Roosevelt when it should have gone for Parker. There are indications that Peabody's overstepping overstep-ping of the mark has already begun to. react upon him, and it is doubtful if he can secure enough votes even in a Republican Legislature to wrest the seat from Adams. The Telegram is not a partisan of Adams or of the Democraticc party, and has a hearty detestation of election crimes, but it sincerely trusts Peabody will lose in his preposterous contest. |