| Show OBSERVING DESERVING OF CRIMINAL prosecution THERE ought to be some determined prosecutions of officials in idaho no other proceedings would meet the situation it is certain beyond a doubt that american citizens who were gifted electors under the territorial statutes were peremptorily refused the right of suffrage and were not allowed to deposit their ballots on the day of election the officers referred to not only neglected but absolutely refused to perform a duty enjoined upon them by law and by their official oaths they ought to be punished for their crimes in the provisions concerning elections the following appears any registrar who corruptly registers any person whom he knows Is ia not entitled thereto or ref refuses uses to register anyone complying comply ine with the provisions pio visions of this act and wham he knows to be a qualified elector also aty any officer connected with the administration of this law who will wilfully ally does any act in violation vo lat on ot 0 t th the e provisions av I 1 slon I 1 8 hereof 1 defeats d at an election ff t I 1 0 or 0 r renders an elec n unfair or deprives electors of their votes otes upon conviction thereof before aby aay court of competent jurisdiction must be punished as provided fr felony 11 revised statutes of idaho see Kec every person charged with the performance of any duty under the provisions of any laws ot of this ter herrl 1 iw tor re relating to elections who he ful neglects or refuses to perform herfor YA P is punishable by bv tine line not ex exceeding c bedin on I 1 one thousand dollars or by I 1 imprisonment mp ris in the territorial prison pris on not exceeding e x live five years or by both b 0 t b 11 sec se C the registration officers are authorized to register all qualified electors who apply to them at certain times time mentioned in the ahe law they may ex a as to their qualifications and are required to administer to them the oath which to is popularly known as the test oath I 1 these qualifications are distinctly named in tile the statute when an applicant is shown to possess them by his bis answering the questions allowed by law and by his subscribing to tile the elec tors oath he must be registered the only clause in tile the law authorizing a rejection is this jk it if any applicant refuses ty answer r all questions give all iB formation under his co control atrol take all oaths and do all 11 other sets acts and things required of elm him by law his application must be reacted by the registrar onia i vu fi known that hat a number nf dersons persons who had belonged to the mormon Mor roon church withdrew and dissolved cheif membership in that organization iza tion for the purpose of an effort to deliva themselves from the political bondage which they suffered solely became they belonged to 10 that thai church tile the burden ot of that bondage g e under the heels of d r ell y and utterly unprincipled officials in some of t tie the p precincts and aad countie idaho Is indeed grievous to be boop aud those of our friends who are dib to severely censure the ian who seceded will have to know something soffi ething af the condition of affairs there before tioff ire they can justly judge tile the acts acta of tue se ceders by the ott decision elsion of judge berry in the helm case these seceding mor mons were adjudged legally entitle to vote yet registrars in some pre to t 0 administer to them the electors oath in other places they administered the oath and wen arbitrarily placed their names on tile the rejected list when the law was cited to them they stated they bad received their instructions and would follow them law or no law those instructions were given by a rec reckless reck lesy klest anti mormon attorney a candidate ua on the anti mormon ticket who impudently framed a list hat of questions unknown to the law and even anen they were answered instructed ted registrars and judges of election as they claim to reject the applicants anyhow and ana to 0 o pay no at to ex hormosa ll 11 the law authorizes the judkas of election on day to register resi ater applicants applis ants under certain conditions at the polls palla one of these is that the applicant has taken tile elector Is oath be tore fore sunie sume person qualified by law to administer calls but in case be has not then the judges of election may administer it aheu no qualified elector is enga engaged gep in depositing 1 ins his ballot A county commissioner who was a candidate for reelection election re positively refused to administer the oath to applicants yet one of his duties under the law is to ad lomi step oaths A justice of the peace when applied i 10 0 skipped from his precinct and did not return for three days nor until just as the polls closed so that he had bad time to vote judges of election positively refused to swear voters or permit those who had bad taken the oath to deposit their ballots I 1 I 1 atone precinct the judges of election ahu were ail of forbini birth one unable anable to speak plain othera au tramp who bad wen in the territory barely long ion enough to kote ote himself refused votes in this wise the leading le adina judge self constituted as such after either administering the oath or receiving proof that it had been legally taken would say 1 I move we reject this thia vote 11 tina this was seconded and carried by the other two in every instance where the elector was an ex mormon of recent withdrawal one young man said to them respectfully ally gentlemen 1 am an Ame american born citizen my lather father fought in the war of 0 1812 my grandfather fought ln IB the war of the revolution I 1 am 1 a qualified elector I 1 have taken the test tes oath eath I 1 am not a member of th ane mormon church I 1 demand the riga right to cast my ballot it was coved and carried by these three foreign born ignoramuses ignoramus es that his rejected and add it il was witti with the other ex mormon votes none noie were received but the ballots ol of antl anti Mor J I 1 Is not apt this a shameful condition of affairs ought not such liw law defying to be prosecuted there Ther ewas was a widespread wide spread conspiracy to prevent q qualified electors under tue the laws from voting because it was suspected they would vote against dubois and the anti mormon rings inthe lower counties such stich arrested by the score for the purposes of ot obstruction st and intimidation if they had promised pro mosed not to vote en the was waa learned they support they could have been released without further trouble this was promised them an of 01 it are beyond quest question iob now will the officers who ar aye charged with the th enor enforcement cement of the laws of idaho take saps to punish the perpetrators of these outrage u upon on Ameri american cip citizens or will mey they confine their off official iclal efforts to the work ol of hunting down cormons mormons Mor mons alk suspected of living with their plural wives its it is a crime against the moral law as it is against the statutes of the territory td to conspire against the rig rights gats ot citizens and to defraud voters of the exercise of the franchise it Is tar far worse in intact fact in principle and in law than the constructive for which so many mormons Mor mons molus have been thru into the penitentiary what hat I 1 arff 1 the authorities ot of idaho going to do about it we warn thern them that tola iniquity i if suffered to go on unchecked will work evil to others than ane class of 0 voters who have been k thus defrauded if of justice justic enow now t the h e 8 same ame or similar tactics will be resorted to by these criminal in other instances when the tide of votes threatens to turn against them something so rueth iua should be done in this matter and it should he done vigorously and with determined perseverance the most moat conclusive evidence of these facts will be when wanted from competent witnesses stationed on the spots where these outrages we were re committed candidates Candida dateo tep on the onelda oneida county taxpayers ticket have been cheated out ot 0 their election by this means they are not mormons cormons Mor mons 11 there arre mormons cormons Mor mons or persons ahu nad had recently been mor imor moos mons 11 on either ticket the se ceders were not seeking for or office they were only snuggling for their political righta they were viaLl for the privileges of frei freemen mea I 1 in 0 their reject rejection iori fair men who would baye bave been elected to 10 office were defeated anti and it appears to us that they ought to ave manhood and courage enough to contest the election if they have not force enough to institute cri criminal against tho ot of feeding feuding officials who rendered the elect lob unfair we call the attention of the it kadina of idaho to the crimes at the election aleci on laws that aare A ere perpetrated in the southern counties during the recent political contest conten and express the unqualified pinion opinion that if candidates candid atea atio have bien been defeated through conspiracy and fraud do not step forward and take action in these matters they deserve defeat and ought never more to receive the suf frages or support of respectable and fair winded minded american citizens in idaho or elsewhere |
