| OCR Text |
Show I THE SCHOOL BOARD MUDDLE I The Plain Facts Regarding Same. Was I Dr. Thomas Criticised Justly or Does I the Boot Fit Another bbbbbt H The Journal's article on tho school H muddle in the Fifth ward makes it lm- H peratlTe that we give our readers the , following facts that they may hare a 'H clear Idea of the situation of that H school election: These facts are taken H from the minutes of the board of edu- H cation and as seen by one present at H tho meeting: H The law speolflrs that the board of H education shall meet as a board of H canvassers to canvass the returns of H- school elections in cities of the first H and second class. That the canvassing H board shall canvaw tho returns and de-H de-H termlne from them' tho numberof votes H for each candidate, etc. The board met H the jfrst time at noon the Monday fol-H fol-H lowing the day or election and had no H difficulty until the Fifth ward returns wcro taken up. Al members were 1 present excepting Mr. Benson and all .H members present voted without pro-H pro-H test fct that time.' ' The' returnrlas H shown from the tally list in the Fifth H gave Mr. Henderson 205 votes and H Mr. McLaughlin 204 votes there being H an extra mark In one of the squares H opposite Mr. Henderson's name. The H poll book showed 405 people voted and H the judges certified to the following H facts: There were 405 people voted, H In several of the envelopes we found Hk more than one ballot all for the same V candidate. In such cases the excess H ballots wore destroyed, but, ncverthe Bvfl less, when the 'ballots were counted fl, there were 204 for each person or three B more votes than there were people B voted. From this certification, it was apparent that each of the candl-B candl-B dates received an equal number(of B votes and that there were 408 votes B counted. The canvassing board did m not know just what to do In a muddle 1 of this kind so passed a motion, to re-B re-B fer the matter to some attorney for B an opinion. l Oploiloi Subnlttel. H The following Friday night they B again met with all members present. B The opinlou of the attorney was read B by each member personally and then B the president read the opinion aloud B la the presence of all members. It B wasr moved to file the opinion, with H practically no comment upon the H opinion further than to say that a tie H was declared, there was no way in, M which to decide it and the present B member from the Fifth held over. m Jacqies, Acts. B Mr. Jacques at onoe moved to award 1 the certificate to Mr. Henderson from B the fact that the tallv sheet (a part of Kwfl the returns) gave Mr. Henderson one fl majority. Mr. Thatcher seconded the M motion. Mr. Jacques stated, that In B his opinion tho question had to be do- VA elded in court and to award Mr. Hen- B derson (lit certificate was the quickest VmV way to net the question before the B court. Mr. Thatcher spoko up and H said ho had legal advice on tho matter B and bolloved the case must go to court and that the motion was. the proper YJifcray to get It there. Mr. Jacques was Hffisked by the president If his desire j'H was to take It to court Irrespective VAwa of the desire of the two contesting B candidates; his reply was ad cmphatlo H Yes. Mr. Benson then asked Mr. H Jacques If ho was willing to bear half H the expense of court proceedings and , m Jacques, In his usual sanguine man B ncr, repllc'd that the democratic party B was ready to assist Mr. Henderson in : H the expense and that he would put up B his slmro and further stated that ho H was of tlio opinion that the republican u'wVfl party would put up part of the expense bbU BBBsMZd.' for Mr. McLaughlin. Dr. Thomas suggested that the board get ao opinion as to what constituted con-stituted the returns and whether they were to consider' only the one 'tally list or in fact what constituted consti-tuted the returns. He stated at that time that if the board was required to take the one tally sheet alone as the returns he wduld vote to award Mr. nenderson the certificate. This suggestion was finally adopted and a further recess taken. -On the following follow-ing Monday night the board again took up the matter and an opinion was read from the attorney to the effect that the returns consisted of both tally sheets and both poll books. Mr. MoNell, the. presiding tadp'of election, was present with the other poll book and tally sheet. The tally sheet was examined and found to contain con-tain 203 votes for Mr. Henderson and 204 vo&t for Mr McLaughlin, giving to the latter, one majority. Mtre MiHIe. This complicated the muddle. One tally list gave Henderson one majority and the other gave McLaughlin one majority. The poll book certification was 'the only other evidence, and as before stated that book gave 204 votes to each- candidate with a total of 408 votes. After somo discussion Mr. Jacques Insisted on his motion being put. In view of all these facts he and Mr. Thatcher voted to award Mr. Henderson a certificate on the facts as set forth in the returns. After the.motion had been put and declared lost by the chair, Mr. Thatcher objected ob-jected to Mr. Thomas' vote. It is a pertinent fact that at no time during the past week or at any time before had any objection been made to his voting and aotlng as a member of the board. It Is also a fact that Mr. Thomas was acting and had remained a member of the board at the earnest solicitation of all the members as well as at the solicitation of numerous citizens. Mr. Thomas had offered to resign but was prevailed pre-vailed upon to, remain and aot as a member. No objection had been offered of-fered by any member of the board to his acting until Mr. Thomas refused to award Mr. Henderson a certificate of election that did not rightfully belong be-long to him. Mr. Benson moved to declare the result as shown by the returns re-turns a tie and the motion was put'. The democratic members otcd "No" and Mr. Thatcher again protested Mr;. Thomas' vote, but the chair ruled that in as much aB Mr. Thomas had been a member of the board up to that time without any protest, and In fact with tho approval as far as stated of tho entire board, he did not feel that tho protest was made for any other .reason than to secure a deadlock in the board and so overruled the same. The three republicans then voted to declare the election a tie. Change of front. Now as to tho solution of .the mat-tor mat-tor as offered by Mr. Thatcher. He suggested that there was a way to settle the matter and suggested that the board place 408 votes, 204 for each candidate, in a box and have the clerk draw out three, and then award the certificate to the successful candidate. Mr. Thatcher stated that he had not before thought of such a plan and therefore took that opportunity of presenting It. Mr. McLaughlin stated continued on page 4 ,-? L. ' i .;.c- ..V. .IjIWrj') |
