xxxiv Introduction.

hearing the House voted 29 to 17 to allow the petitioners to present at the bar
evidence of any irregularities. This was done and on the following day the
House found that the sheriff of Kent, Hercules Couts, " was absent and intoxi-
cated with Liquor the greatest Part of the Time, from the Opening to the
Closing of the Polls ", and ordered by unanimous vote that the sheriff " be
taken into Custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms ..... [and] be Reprimanded by
the Speaker, at the Bar of this House ". Hercules thereupon confessed his
offence and the speaker declared that although " you have been Guilty of a
manifest Neglect of your Duty ..... and that you ought to receive very severe
Treatment in order to deter other Sheriffs ... in Consideration of your
low Circumstances, and in Compassion to your numerous Family ..... this
House is inclined to exercise Justice with the greatest Leniency, and in a
Manner which will least affect your unhappy Relatives ". After he was repri-
manded by the speaker he was ordered released upon payment of the fees due
to the officers of the House which amounted to £24: 8:0 (pp. 209, 220-221,
225-226, 313). It would appear that the election, which the law provided
should be conducted by the sheriff, was therefore irregular, but the members
returned from Kent were nevertheless allowed to retain their seats. The costs
accrued in connection with the Kent petition which amounted to £24: 8: 0,
were later charged against the petitioners, which indicates that Hercules did
not have the wherewithal to pay the expenses of the contest (pp. 313, 636).

Certain freeholders of St. Mary's County petitioned the House on Octo-
ber 4, complaining of an " undue election " in that county. The members who
had been returned from St. Mary's were George Plater, John Reeder, Jr.,
Henry Greenfield Sothoron, and Edmund Key. After an examination of the
witnesses at its bar, the House unseated Key by a vote of 28 to 10, none of the
St. Mary's County members voting. Most of those who voted against the
unseating of Key were members of the Proprietary party. Plater by a vote of
23 to 18 was declared duly elected, and Reeder and Sothoron were declared
elected without a recorded vote. The costs of the St. Mary's disputed election
were fixed by the Lower House at £13: 10:0 (p. 313), of which the unsuc-
cessful contestant, Key, was to pay £4:15:4, the petitioning freeholders
£3:3:4, and an unnamed individual the balance (p. 636). The House then
ordered a new election in that county to fill the Key vacancy, at which Key w^ras
elected in due form (pp. 217, 232-234).

On October 13, Josias Beall, contesting the election of Col. Thomas Cresap,
complained of an " undue election " in Frederick County, where Joseph Chap-
line, Edward Dorsey, Thomas Beatty, and Thomas Cresap had been returned
as elected. The house ordered the sheriff of Frederick County to appear with
the poll before its bar on October 27, the contest to be confined to the names
of those whose votes had been " controverted " at the time of the election,
although the extent of the enquiry was broadened the day following by a vote
of 22 to 20. On October 27, the house decided to reopen the entire Frederick
election, and October 29, postponed action until the tenth day of the next session
(pp. 234-235, 236, 247, 248), although from the record before us nothing
further seems to have been done either at that session or the next succeeding one.