attempted to do, he did not exercise proper, if any, care, nor did he observe the law in securing names of persons entitled to vote. had he been authorized to do what he | hereby direct that they shall be printed on the second and third pages of the cover of the blank books for registration of the voters of the various election precincts of Fayette County for the year 1915, and thereafter until ordered otherwise, and that assessors and assistant assessors have these matters specially called to their attention by large, bold type on the first page of the cover in language substantially as follows, viz.: "NOTICE. This case manifests an utter disregard of numerous provisions of the Act of Assembly, and particularly of 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 17 as set forth below in "Instructions and Directions to Assessors." As stated in our opinion at No. 145, December Term, 1914, "The law is ample, and a strict compliance would make practically impossible such conditions as are found in this case, and the County Commissioners should be satisfied with nothing less than strict compliance, and it is their duty to refuse to accept the return of any assessor that fails in any important particular. It has been held that small mistakes may be corrected." There is nothing complex, difficult nor complicated about the law regarding registration; it is plain, simple, and can be understood and executed by any man of ordinary intelligence with a commonschool education; a proper, faithful and honest execution will require considerable time and work, but that is no excuse for failure to comply. Until these investigations, we had no idea of how such law was being disobeyed by the assessors and assistant assessors, and disregarded by the county commissioners, nor the extent to which designing and unscrupulous men would go in such matter. A strong reason for our SO designating such persons is the fact that in these proceedings no one appears or raises a voice in defense or attempted explanation of the attempted false and fraudulent registration in these cases. The law can, and must, be obeyed, and properly, faithfully and honestly executed in the future; and with that end in view, and to avoid further irregularities and guard against, if not make impossible, such false and fraudulent registrations as have been shown in this case, and at No. 145, December Term, 1914, we hereinafter outline the provisions of our statutes regarding registration and crimes incident thereto, and we In so far as we may have authority, in the future we shall insist on a strict and proper enforcement of the law, and, with the assistance of the County Solicitor, will see to it that no returns of assessors or assistant assessors be received or accepted by the county commissioners unless they are in strict accord with the law in every important particular, and that the pay of assessors and assistant assessors be withheld until such returns are made. Laws affecting the right of franchise. are more important than those affecting property rights. The latter are of a personal character, while the former are of a public nature, and their violation may reach and affect not only the property, but the political and social rights. of every man, woman and child of the precinct, township, ward, borough, city, I county or state; hence the strictness of the law, the care required, and the severe penalty imposed on violators. 66 OATH OF OFFICE OF ASSESSORS. Fayette County, ss: (Assessor, Assistant Assessor or Register Assessor) of the election district of who, after being duly sworn, deposes and says that he will read, consider and carefully study until he understands the 'Instructions and Directions' herewith; that he will faithfully and honestly observe and carry out the same, as well as all the laws of the Commonwealth not set forth therein, regarding his duties, and will make return accordingly.. presented or filed by the elector to the contrary effect; such enrollment may be corrected or amended not later than ten days before any primary election by making out and filing with the Assessor proper certificates in that regard. In case the elector is not at his residence when the Assessor visits such residence, he shall leave a certificate of enrollment, blanks to be furnished by the County Commissioners, which the elector may fill out and give to the Assessor at some time prior to or on the 63d or 62d day preceding each primary when it shall be received and recorded. All certificates to be returned with the book to the County Commissioners. 4. All persons found to be legally qualified electors shall forthwith be assessed. 5. The Assessor shall, in all cases, personally ascertain by careful and diligent inquiry of the voter or of some known resident of the election district in which the voter claims the right to vote, upon what ground each person so assessed claims to be a legally qualified voter. 6. Opposite each of said names shall be stated whether said citizen is or is not a housekeeper; and if he is, the number of the residence, in cities or towns where they are numbered, with the street, alley or court; if they are not on which said house fronts must be given; also the occupation of the person at the time of the assessment; if he is not a housekeeper, the occupation, place of boarding, and with whom, at the date of the assessment shall be stated; and if working for another, the name of the employer shall be given. 7. The Assessor shall write opposite each of said names the word 'voter.' 2. He must make a list of all the quali-numbered, then the street, alley or court fied electors that he shall find, upon careful and diligent inquiry, to be bona fide residents of his district, together with the postoffice address and date when such dwelling-house was visited, entering them in the order in which such dwelling-houses are visited, grouping the qualified electors in each dwelling-house, or, if in a city or town, grouping them together by streets, alleys or courts. Not required to be in alphabetical order. 3. The Assessor, in districts other than cities, shall ascertain, if possible, at the time of making the annual assessment, by personal inquiry of the elector, the party politics, preferences or affiliation of the elector, and note and record the same; after such enrollment the Assessor shall insert the same from year to year until a certificate of enrollment is 8. Where any person claims to vote by reason of naturalization, the name shall be marked with the letter 'N,' and he shall exhibit his certificate thereof to the assessor, unless he has been for two consecutive years next preceding a voter in said district, which fact should be stated on the Registry List. 9. Where the person has merely declared his intention to become a citizen and designs to be naturalized before the next election, he shall exhibit the certificate of his declaration of intention, and the name shall be marked ‘D. I.' 10. If the person shall be entitled to be naturalized without making declaration, and intends to be naturalized at least one month before the next election, the name of said person shall be marked 'I. N.' II. Where the claim is to vote by reason of being of the age of 21 years and under 22, the word 'age' shall be entered. 12. If the person has moved into the election district to reside since the last general election, the letter 'R' shall be placed opposite the name. 13. Such list shall be known as the 'Original Registry List,' and the Assessor shall enter thereon the names of the male citizens 21 years of age and upwards, claiming to be qualified voters in the election district of which he is the Assessor. 14. The Assessor shall forthwith make duplicate copies, in ink or indelible pencil, of the said 'Original Registry List,' with the observations and explanations as aforesaid, and on or prior to the fourth Monday of May, viz., May 24, 1915, place copy on the door of, or on the house where the election of the district is required to be held, and return the other said duplicate copy to the County Commissioners on May 24, 1915, and retain the 'Original Registry List' in his possession for the inspection, free of charge, of any person resident in said election district who shall desire to see the same. 15. It shall be the duty of the Assessor to assess, from time to time, on the personal application of any one claiming the right to vote, the name of such claimant and mark opposite the name 'C. V.' and immediately assess him, noting, as in all other cases, his occupation, residence, the date of his assessment, whether a boarder or housekeeper; if a boarder, with whom he boards, and whether naturalized or designing to be, marking in all cases opposite the name the letter 'N,' 'D. I.,' or 'I. N.,' as the case may be, the applicant exhibiting the proper certificate if he is naturalized or designs to be. 16. The Assessor shall be at the election house from 10 a. m. to 3 p. m., and from 6 to 9 p. m. of the 63d or 62d days before the Tuesday next following the first Monday of November (viz.: August 31st and September 1st, 1915), for the purpose of hearing and acting upon applications to be made or relating to names upon said list, or that are sought to be placed thereon or struck therefrom; and it shall be his duty to correct said 'Original Registry List' by adding thereto, upon personal application, the names of persons entitled to vote not already thereon and by striking therefrom fictitious names, or names of persons who may have died or removed from said district. 17. In all cases, under 16 above, the Assessor must enter in his book, opposite the name of each voter, in addition to the names set forth in 16 above, the name or names of the person or persons, together with the residence of the same, who shall furnish information as to the residence and qualifications of each voter who has been assessed or as to the persons whose names shall be stricken from the 'Original Registry List,' and the said Original Registry List' shall be open for inspection by any qualified elector of the county or ward, as well as to the person claiming to be registered. 18. On the following day after the assessments have been completed, viz., September 2, 1915, the Assessor shall make return to the County Commissioners of the 'Original Registry List,' revised and completed, and they shall proceed thereupon to make out a complete list in alphabetical order of all persons so returned as taxables in said election. district and furnish the same, together with the necessary election blanks, to the officers of the election in such election district on or before seven o'clock in the morning of the election, and no man shall be permitted to vote at the election on that day whose name is not on said list, unless he shall make proof of his right to vote as required by law. 19. In voting districts where temporary voting places are or may be estab lished, the duties set forth in 16 above | resentation or attempt. Sec. 38, Act 1869, P. L. 64. shall be performed by the Assessor at his place of residence in said election district. 20. The Court of Common Pleas of the proper county, or any law judge thereof at chambers, on the application of any qualified elector of the ward or county, under oath, which oath may be made at any time before the day of election, shall call the Assessor and the complainant before it or him, by citation or rule to show cause, and shall hear the parties and dispose of the subject in a summary manner, as to law and justice shall belong, and shall, if need be, order the Assessor to correct the registry accordingly, and the said court or judge may enforce such order by attachment as in proceedings for contempt." 4. Any persons (Registrar, Assessor, Assistant Assessor, Political Committeeman, Political Worker, County Commissioner, Clerk, or any other citizen) who shall fraudulently alter, add to, deface or destroy any list of voters shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine of $500 and two years' imprisonment. Sec. 19, Act 1874, P. L. 40. 5. When the 'Original Registry List' is returned to the office of the County Commissioners it becomes a public record belonging to a public office, and any person who shall thereafter alter, deface or falsify such record by falsely and fraudulently adding thereto names or striking them therefrom, likewise any one who may procure others to do so, or who are in anywise concerned therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine not exceeding $2,000 and imprisonment not exceeding seven years, and if a public officer he shall be removed from office and the office declared vacant by the Court passing sentence upon him. Sec. 171, Act 1860, P. L. 1. If any Assessor shall knowingly assess any person as a voter who is not qualified, or shall wilfully refuse to assess any one who is qualified, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor in office and liable to a fine of $1,000 and two years' imprisonment. Sec. 19, Act 1874, P. L. 424." 40. 2. Any Assessor wilfully registering any false statement of an elector, or registering as the member of a political party one whom he knows not to be such, or excluding from a party registry or enrollment any voter whom he knows to be entitled thereto, and any elector who shall wilfully make false affidavit or statement to any Assessor with intent to procure the false party enrollment or registration of himself or any other voter, in any such case the party so offending is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine of $1,000 and one year's imprisonment. Secs. I and II, Art 1913, P. L. 1047. CERTIFICATE OF COUNTY SOLICITOR. I hereby certify that I have carefully examined the within and foregoing return of Assessor of the election and am satisfied the same is correct or substantially so, and that the said has district of 3. Any person having or attempting to have his name illegally, falsely and fraudulently placed on the extra assessment list for election purposes is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to not less than one year's imprisonment, and likewise any person who shall aid or abet carefully, faithfully and honestly enany other person in any such false rep-deavored to comply with the Instruc tions and Directions to Assessors' and with the law in all important particulars. County Solicitor." ORDER OF COURT.-Now, October 12, 1914, this matter came on to be heard; and now, October 15, 1914, upon and after due consideration, and for reasons set forth in opinion herewith and opinion at No. 145, December Term, 1914, it is ordered and directed as follows, viz.: 1. That the names of Bowle Jackson (and 68 others named in order filed) be and the same are hereby stricken from the Registry List of Redstone Township election precinct No. 1, and that Virgil C. Hess, Assistant Assessor of said election precinct, proceed forthwith to correct said Registry List accordingly. 2. That the insert referred to in 3 of opinion herewith, fastened in the Registry List between the letters V and W, containing a list of 251 names, being no part of the record, be taken, extracted and removed from the Registry List of Redstone Township election precinct No. I. 3. That the County Commissioners shall not include any of the said 320 names (being the 69 hereby stricken from the Registry List and the 251 included in the said insert) in, but must omit and exclude all of them from the alphabetical list which they shall have prepared and delivered to the officers of the election for Redstone Township election precinct No. 1. Attest: Proth'y. (See following case.) Legal Miscellany. Concise. During the trial in a Western city of a suit for damages growing out of the destruction of a building, due to the explosion of a steam boiler, there was put on the witness stand a quaint old chap who had been employed as a watchman in the said building. When he had been sworn to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, and cautioned not to repeat hearsay, and told that his personal experience was the only testimony that would answer the law, the old chap shifted his tobacco cud and looked very wise. "And now," proceeded examining counsel," tell us what you know about this explosion." "Well, sir," said the old chap, "I was takin' a bit of a snooze in a chair when I hears a hell of a noise, and the nurse says, 'Sit up an' take this.'" -Case and Comment. Point of View. A lawyer was arguing a case before a certain judge, between whom and himlistened for a while with ill-concealed self there was no love lost. The judge impatience, and then burst out with: Tut! tut! Mr. W., you have your points of law all upside down!" "I don't doubt that they seem so to your honor," replied Mr. W., "but you'll think differently when your Honor is reversed."-New York Tribune. O. C. ADJUDICATIONS. By Judge SMITH. Thursday, December 3, 1914. Samuel Bryan, Leacock. |
