Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 38, Number 256, 4 September 1913 — Page 1

i AND SUN-TELEGRAM VOL. XXXVIII. NO. 256 RICHMOND, IND THURSDAY EVENING, SEPT. 4, 1913 SINGLE COPY 2 CENTS Labor Union Council Against the Voting Machines; County Council Passes Appropriation 2nd Reading

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Workingmen Condemn Pfcm For Purchasing The Voting Machines

Petition That the Board of County Commissioners Delay Any Definite Action on the Proposed Purchase of Such Machines Until a Thorough Investigation of the Proposed Action Has Been Made by the Citizens of Wayne County to Determine Advisability.

CURT RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE LABOR COUNCIL AT A MEETING LAST EVENING

Resolutions Were Also Passed Declaring That the Integrity of the Ballot in Wayne County Has Been Threatened by the Proposed Introduction of Voting MachinesSuggest a Mass Meeting of Citizens be Called to Enter a Protest on Threat of Menace to the Ballot.

The following resolution was adopted by the Richmond Central Labor Council last night: Richmond, Ind., September 3, 1913. Board of County Commissioners, Richmond, Ind.: Whereas: It has been brought to our attention that an appropriation has been made by the Wayne County Council and is now entirely In the hands of the Board of County Commissioners for the purchase of voting machines for Wayne County, be it Resolved: That the Richmond Central Labor Council unanimously protests against the hasty action of both the Wayne County Council and Board of County Commissioners in changing the present system of voting from that of the Australian ballot to that of voting by machines without having made a pretense at consulting the citizens of Wayne county, be It further Resolved: That the appropriation of $21,000.00 for the purchase of these machines is inexpedient; first, because it will double the cost of elections, necessitating increased taxation which is of vital concern to all taxpayers; second, because of the uncertainty of reliability in the accuracy of these machines to register votes correctly; be it further Resolved: That the Board ot, County Commissioners delay any definite action on the purchase of voting machines until a thorough investigation of the proposed change has been made by the citizens of Wayne County. James J. Coyle, Chairman. B. M. Thomas. E. T. Bass.

. f Condemning the actions of the county commissioners in askng for, and the county council for authorizing the expenditure of $21,000 for the introduction of voting machines in Wayne county elections as being ill advised and hasty, Central Labor Council in a special meeting last night unanimously voted to adopt resolutions calling upon the board of commissioners to delay further action looking to the purchase of voting machines until the labor organization in conjunction with the citizenship of the county, has an opportunity to make a thorough investigation of the reliability of the machines and their practicability ! Suggest a Mass Meeting. Resolutions were also passed declaring that the integrity of the free ballot in Wayne county is threatened and that a mass meeting of all the voters of the county should be called some time in the immediate future to protest against any action on the part of the commissioners that might deprive citizens of their right of unrestricted suffrage through the substitution of a mere machine for the simple and trustworthy Australian ballot.

"I'm satisfied that the machines are unreliable," excWosA Will Reasor at the conclusion ov'an address protesting against the use of machines that might be employed to deprive the majority of its right to rule. Machines Not Reliable. "I know of one case," said Mr. Reaeor, "where the machines were proved unreliable beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt. In an election in Columbus, Ind., I know it to be an absolute fact that 1,169 votes cast in a special election in that city were not registered at all, and consequently not counted. This was sufficient to turn the election. When an appeal from the official returns of the election, as Indicated by the machines, was made, the county commissioners who had authorized the purchase ol the machines, upheld the machine-made vote, denying the expressed wishes of a majority of the citizens, who could have expressed their desires in unmistakable tfashion by the Australian ballot." "I have experienced two elections with voting machines, and I have had (enough," said Lucius Harrison. "The j first time I ever voted on one of them was in the Sixth ward In Indianapolis, j Every one kr.ew how I would vote on (the particular question to be decided. Standing behind the machine while I 'voted was a man, whom I learned later !was an 'expert. Before I entered the j booth, some one stamped loudly on tthe floor twice. Stamping on the floor i when the ordinary ballot was being iused would not bother me, but in a case like this, when after I had push,ed the necessary buttons and pulled Ithe required lever, there was not the (Slightest Indication or any perceptible .proof that I had voted at all, I must confess that I doubted the infallibility of the machine, particularly when there was an 'expert behind It who could plainly hear signals from outride the booth. One Trick of Machines. "At a later election nine machines in districts Inhabited by laboring men got out of order at 5 o'clock on the evening of election day. The men higher up did not care to have the fUhor rote counted and the machines

providentally refused to work. So at one place 200 men stood in line waiting for the machines to be repaired and at 6 o'clock went home without being gfven an opportunity to vote, at all. "Even if the machines do work right, I question whether the vote could not be handled almost as rapidly with three separate booths under the present system. Remember, every minute a machine is out of commission as the result of a breakdown some one is losing a chance to vote. The election hours are from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening. There is no extension of those hours because a machine happens to have broken down for an hour or two. The three booths at a polling place under the Australian system never break down. And when the rush hour for voting comes, and it is the workingmen who have to do most of their voting during the closing hours of election day, it is three booths to one, an average of two hundred votes to more than six hundred, in a comparison between the Australian balloting system and the voting machine." Machines Poor Economy. That the men who advocate the use of the voting machines on the grounds of economy are short-sighted in their business views, was the .contention of R. G. Leeds, who stated that in arriving at the figures showing how their use will cause an attractive saving in election expenses, the advocates of the machines have neglected to take into consideration interest on money invested or the item of depreciation. Mr. J. M. Davis, representing the Empire voting machine, issued a statement in 1909 which claimed to show that by the use of the voting machines the cost of county elections would be reduced by $2,124.70. The agent at that time was advocating the use of twenty-seven machines and stated that the cost of holding an election with these would average 543.19 per machine. Mr. Leeds stated that he had the cost of voting by machines investigated in Marion county, where the machines had been in use at that time

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No Item For Voting Machines Found in Published Estimates According to the State Law, All Estimates for Expenditures for the Following Year Must be Published by the County Auditor, Just Prior to the annual meeting of the County Council. However No Item for Voting Machines is Contained in the Legal notice of 1914 Estimates, Issued Last Month, as is Specifically Provided for. Additional proof of the secrecy with which the campaign to force voting machines down the throats of Wayne county voters was waged has come to light from a study of the published statement of the county auditor estimating the expenses of the various departments of the county for the coming year. According to the state law the estimates of all expenditures for the following year must be published by the county auditor before the annual meeting of the county council, which makes the appropriations. Obeying this law, County Auditor Bowman published in the Palladium on the twentieth day of August, this year, a statement of the commissioners' and county officers' estimates of county expenses for next year. NO VOTING MACHINE EXPENDITURE CONTAINED IN IT. Not one item of these estimated expenses deals with an appropriation for the purchase of voting machines. Yet just 13 days later when the annual meeting took place, a majority of the county commissioners were prepared to ask for the appropriation to buy voting machines and a majority of the members of the county council were prepared to vote for the appropriation!

The deviousness of this procedure fits in with Commissioner Albert Anderson's statement that he knew nothing about the question of purchasing voting machines until the day before the annual meeting of the county council, Monday. Auditor Bowman Says Usual Precedent Followed. County Auditor Bowman this morning said that the action of the commissioners in not publishing in their estimates an item for voting machines

was in accordance with past proce- the board, or pursuant to its order, dure. He claimed that the voting ma- during such year for any and all purchine appropriation was a special ap- poses whatever."

THAW ON STAND TELLS STORY OF CANADIAN FLIGHT Matteawan Fugitive Fears W. T. Jerome Will Kidnap Him in Vermont. (National News Association) COATICOOK, Quebec, Sept. 4. Fighting in the last ditch against deportation from Canada, Harry Kendall Thaw, the fugitive from the Matteawan asylum for the criminal insane, was arraigned before a board of inquiry composed of representatives of the Canadian department of immigration today. Although Thaw had been warned by Attorney W. K. McKeown that the decision of the board probably would be against him, he was more cheerful than he had been several hours early. . The board of inquiry is composed of E. Blake Robertson, deputy superintendent of the department of immigration, and immigration inspectors T. D. Williams, David Reynolds and T. E. Garceau. Thaw on Stand. Thaw was the first witness and made a good impression. He said he left Matteawan for Pittsburg .by a round-about way in order to circumvent his pursuers. He went to Rochester, New Hampshire, by motorcar. He wanted to reach the first railway point in Canada where he could buy a through ticket to Pittsburg. He learned after purchasing a ticket at Rochester that he could make better time by taking another route, so he bought a second ticket at Beecher's Falls. Beecher's Falls happened to be the last station on the Maine Central railroad, so Thaw got off the train i there and engaged a man to drive him over the border. He intended, he said, to make his way to Coaticook and buy a ticket for Pittsburg. He was arrested on the way. At this point Thaw was temporarily excused from interrigation along this line and alienists for the department of immigration began their examination. H. Johnson who drove Thaw across the line testified that he crossed the border at Peabody's line house. The low, cautious tone used by Thaw frightened him and he refused to go on, he said. Thaw and his com. panions including Roger Thompson, alighted and hired a carriage from Octave Nadieu to drive them to an inn at Barford, owned by Benjamin Cadiux. Cadiux was on the stand (Continued on Page Six) THE WEATHER STATE AND LOCAL Cloudy tonight and Friday. TEMPERATURE Noon S3 Yeieraay. Maximum Minimum i . 98 j

propriation and that he thought publication of estimates was required only for regular appropriations. He further claimed that the commissioners had been considering the purchase of the machines for the past eight or nine months. The state law provides that "every board of county commissioners shall prepare a separate and similarly itemized estimate of all money to be drawn by the members of said board, and of all expenditures to be made by

Speeding Car Turned OverA Boy Injured

Driver, Kenneth McClure, Escapes With" Few Bruises, but His Passenger, Edward Fraumann, was Painfully Hurt Being Pinned Beneath Car Machine is Wrecked.

Speeding along South Fourteenth street at the highest rate of speed his four-passenger Ford was capable of making, Kenneth McClure 710 North Thirteenth street, lost control of the machine and after skidding for a half block, it turned over, painfully, but not seriously injuring Edward Fraumann, 526 South Thirteenth street, a passenger, who was pinned under the overturned automobile. Both young men were employes of the McKee Auto agency on Main street. McClure was not injured. McClure was speeding the machine, which is the property of the McKee garage, and when he struck the cross walk at South Fourteenth and C streets, it began to skid. He became excited and lost control of it After he had gone a hundred feet, the rear wheels sliding from one side of the street to the other, he attempted to release himself and jump. However the impetus of the car threw the rear wheels around and the machine

Veregge Will Today Sustained by Court

Judge Fox Orders Estate Distributed Under Terms of Testament-Case Was One of the Most Complicated Settlements the Court Ever Had to Make a Ruling Upon.

Judge Henry C. Fox construed the will of Eliza Veregge, deceased, this morning, failing to sustain the demurrer filed by attorneys for the Dickinson Trust Co., and ordering the estate of the decedent, now under the management of the trust company, to be distributed according to the provisions of the will. This decision closes the final chapter of one of the most complicated settlements ever made in the Wayne circuit court. The will was executed May 24, 1906, and Mrs. Veregge died August 8, 1912. The last will made by Mrs. Veregge was shortly before her death though thi3 was declared invalid in the Wayne circuit court last winter on the grounds that the testatrix was of unsound mind and undue influence was used upon her in making the will. The original will, execute din 1906, was then probated. Purchases Rumely Stock. According to the provisions of the first will fifty shares of stock in GaarScott and Co were bequeathed to the Dickinson Trust Co., which company was requested to hold the shares In trust and distribute the di rid ens on

Provision is made under the law for considering special appropriations. If Auditor Bowman, however, is right in saying the commissioners have been considering buying voting machines for over eight months, then they had plenty of time to prepare for an item in their estimates for a regular appropriation for the machines. Considered as a special appropriation the voting machine proposition popped up overnight, practically, to take its place with the regular appropriations prepared according to law for the consideration of the members of the county council at their regular annual meeting.

jumped into the air, alighting bottom side up. McClure was thrown clear of the car, but Fraumann, who was seated next to him, was pinned under, the badly wrecked machine. Women who saw the accident were too excited to give any aid although one telephoned for the city ambulance. Men later released Fraumann from the wreckage. Physicians examined both the young men and it was found that Fraumann's wrist and hip were sprained. He was badly- bruised. Except for a few bruises, McClure was not injured. McClure claims that he was unable to stop the machine because one of the brakes was not working. After the accident he was badly frightened and was taken away from the scene in the ambulance. The machine was badly wrecked, but can be repaired. The radiator front was crushed in and the top demolished. The floor of the car was crushed In. An examination revealed nothing wrong with the brakes. the stock to her three children, John Henry Veregge, Ida Minnerman and Winfield Veregge. After the will was executed Mrs. Veregge sold the stock in Gaar-Scott and Co., receiving $12. - 000 in cash and 106 shares of stock in the Rumely Co. With the money Mrs. Veregge bought bonds from the trust company amounting to $5,569 and also purchased fifty shares of preferred ! stock in the M. Rumely Co., paying for the latter $4,853.89. At the time of her death she still possessed $1,168 08 in cash.

In spite of the depreciation of the,tneir nBe ln Wayne county."

value of the stock of the M. Rumely Co., her estate now in the hands of Dickinson Trust Co. is worth, approximately $10,000 which ia to be immediately distributed to John Henry Veregge, Ida Minnerman and Ida Gunderm an who inherited the share her father, Winfield Veregge, would have!

received had he lived. obtain such a possibility, for the reaHad the decision been the reverse son, if a voter after voting fails to the funds would have been kept in j turn the crank at the end of the matrust by the Dickinson Trust Co.. and chine, his vote is not recorded, for as the sum of approximately $200 would I understand it. the turning of the have been distributed annually to the crank records the vote, turns the indi-

three heirs. n

Up to Commissioners Is The Question of Buying The Machines

Ordinance Appropriating $21 ,000 for the Voting Machines Was passed by the County Council Yesterday Afternoon on Second Reading, and the County Board Must Now Decide Whether the New Method of Voting Shall be Introduced to Voters of Wayne County.

JUNIUS KNIPE WAS THE ONLY COUNCILMAN WHO DID NOT VOTE FOR APPROPRIATION

William Quigg, a Member of the Commercial Club Committee Which Recommended the Purchase of Voting Machines by the County, Stated Today That in Reality the Report Was the Personal One of' the Chairman, E. M. Haas, as to His Investigation of the Machines. Taking the second vote yesterday afternoon the county council placed at the disposal of the county commissioners an appropriation of $21,000 to be used in purchasing voting machines. The purchase of the machines rests with the commissioners. They may now advertise for bids at their next meeting Saturday morning. What action they will take could not be learned today, as the commissioners are in Detroit inspecting roads. The council in making the appropriation yesterday afternoon voted as on the previous day, all casting their ballots for the appropriation except Junius Knipe. Mr. Knipe said that he did not know anything about the machines, that he had never seen one and that he would not vote on the question at all. '

It Was Report of Haas. That the report of the Commercial club on voting machines filed with the board of county commissioners and signed by E. M. Haas, Richard Sedgwick and W. H. Quigg. was in reality the personal report of investigations of ' Mr. HaaS, Is the statement mad a by Mr. Quigg this morning, in discussing the action of the board of directors of the Commercial club in recommending the purchase of the machines. "The report which was filed with the commissioners, I understand, was the old report of 1909 brought down : t0 date It was submitted to the ( board of directors at its meeting Modday evening by Mr. Haas and unanimously adopted. It was signed tho next morning before it was sent to the commissioners by Mr. Haas, Mr. Sedgwick and myself, not as members of any committee but merely as directors of the Commercial club," said Mr. Quigg. "I am not very familiar with the voting machine proposition, but I have no reason to dispute the report made by the Commercial club, as I suppose that it was the result of a just and fair investigation. Usual Procedure Followed. "So far as the statement that the matter was handled in so-called secrecy by the club is concerned. It is always the case that matters under consideration by the directors are withheld from the public until some definite action on the subject has been taken. In the consideration of the gas proposition, however, public meetings were held because it was necessary to learn public sentiment in regard to the matter. In the voting machine matter, the action of the board had been determined years before, by the report which had been adopted by the club." Charles W. Jordan, secretary of the Commercial club, says that it is unfair for the opponents of the voting machines to make the assertion that the item of depreciation should be charged to the cost of the machines. Statement by Jordan. "They are to be paid for out of the money that they actually save us," he said. "It is certainly fair to suppose that they will be the means of saving us enough money during their life to pay for their actual purchase price. Then 7vhen the .are worn we ouy otner macnines on tne same terms. All that can fairly be charged against the machines is interest on the money Invested." Oppose Voting Machines. "There is no mistaking the senti ment of the shop in which I work re- ! gardlng voting machines." said Alfred Bavis, an inspector in the Hoosier Drill plant today. "Every man to whom I have talked regarding the matter was strone In his stand against "What do I think of the voting ma - chine Well, if I had the power of voting for or against their adoption. I should vote emphatically against them. There is nothing that can be said in their behalf that offsets the possibilities of disfranchisement of many voters "It does not need manipulation to jcator showing the number voted, and)

automatically unlocks the machine for the next voter. Where The Danger Lie. "Should a voter fail to so unlock the machine, a half dozen men may go In to vote and there is enough vibration in the keys to leave the impression that they are voting, yet by their not knowing that the turning of the crank Is a part of the performance, and necessary to properly record their votes, they walk out In sublime ignorance of the fact that they have NOT voted, hence their disfranchisement. "The possible financial saving to the county by their use is a myth. Were it a fact, however, it should not be allowed to weigh against the ponsibility of one single person being deprived of his vote. One County's Experience. "I believe that it was in 1908 that Bartholomew county experienced considerable trouble, in fact, fully onethird of the votes cast In one precinctwere not recorded on the machine and could not be counted. When the delicate mechanism of the machine is considered there is no guarantee that any man's vote will be counted, for its delicacy and fragility suggests the possibility of it soon being put out of commission, and the constant repair bill offsets possible saving, to say nothing of the inconvenience of having to go. ln many cases, twice the distance to vote. "My experience with the voting machine suggests that their creation was fo- the sole purpose of perpetuating the power of the political 'Chicken Hawks' who are ever reedy to devour their prey. If for no other reason than the fact that Perry Freeman Is behind their introduction In this county, I would have my misgivings about their induction. Should Keep Hands Clean. "If the Commercial Club does not want to have their possible influence in the community minimized, they should keep their hands clean from any shady transactions as this. "May God speed the day when the referendum and recall will be a practical reality, so a stop can be effectively encompassed to such transactions as this one. "We as citizens have a great duty before us; let us do it unflinchingly."

FINGERS TORN OFF IN MEATJGRIHDER Orville Lynn, Whose Hand Was Amputated, is Now Rapidly Recovering. Orville Lynn. 414 South Fourteenth street, the boy whose fingers were ground off in a sausage grinder at J - ianerB mel maraet several weexs ia6. ta able to leave bis home, his i wuads having healed sufficiently that j ne ls now employed as a collector for the meat market. Lynn's fingers and hand were so badly lacerated that physicians found it necessary to amputate the entire hand at the wrisf and the boy will not be able to use his left arm for several months, until the skin tissues form over the wound. He was feeding the sausage grinding machine when his fingers caught in the blades and were ground off before he could release himself, "'

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