594 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 8,

election, was perpetrated by the sheriff or while the
ballots were in his charge, and the sweeping acquittal
of the Democratic Supervisor and his party of all im-
putation of either fraud or negligence.

The facts adduced in evidence will justify no such
conclusions. If indeed they do not strongly impugn
the honesty of the supervisor, they certainly raise
much question as to his prudence and at least, as
readily boar the inference of guilt upon his part or
that of his party, as upon that of the sheriff.

The facts are these, viz: The supervisor received
the ballots at Plum Point on the morning of Friday,
October 30th, and immediately took them in a wagon
to Prince Frederick, where he arrived at about 11
o'clock, A. M.

He then took them out of the wagon and deposited
them in the printing office of Briscoe & Bunting The
Sheriff was there at this time, but the packages were
not delivered to him. The packages containing the
ballots remained in said office from that time until
Saturday morning about 10 o'clock, when the Super-
visor formally delivered to the Sheriff packages pur-
porting to contain official ballots for said precinct (of
which fact, however, there is absolutely no proof),
who, at 11 o'clock A. M., placed said packages in the
charge of Captain Frazer, who delivered them to the
Judges of Election of the Second Precinct, at a time
that does not appear from the evidence. (See tes-
timony of Dalrymple, the Supervisor, and Sheriff
Howard. )

The ballots, therefore, were in the custody of
the Supervisor from Friday morning at 11 o'clock:
until Saturday morning at 10 o'clock, and from Friday
afternoon until Saturday morning at 10 o'clock were

by him permitted to lay loosely on the floor of a
Democratic newspaper office.. This of itself was not
an evidence of that jealous care of an official ballot,
which afterwards characterized his advice to the
Judges to receive none but an official ballot, nor of
such caution as the public have a right to expect of a
public officer intrusted with such responsible and
sacred duties, and who, in performing the same, prac-
tically holds in his hands the will of the people, or
its only legally recognized means of expression.