Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1877 — The Ballot Put to a New Use. [ARTICLE]

The Ballot Put to a New Use.

Popular suffrage has been put to a singular test in the village of Awa, Japan. The neighborhood was harassed by a midnight robber, whom nobody could detect. The head of the hamlet summoned the entire male population under his control, and directed every man to write the name of the person whom he suspected, and to deposit the ticket in a box. Fifteen ballots bore the name of Abe Taniliei, the rest being blanks. The man -whom everybody suspected was to overcome with astonishment that he made a full confession.