JOURNAL OF THE SENATE OF THE Forty-ninth General OF THE State of Illinois. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1915, 12 O'CLOCK M. At a session of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, begun and held in the city of Springfield, on Wednesday, the 6th day of January, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifteen, being the Wednesday after the first Monday in January, it being the first session of the Forty-ninth General Assembly, Honorable Barratt O'Hara, Lieutenant Governor, and President of the Senate, appeared at 12 o'clock m. and called the Senate to order. Prayer by the Reverend Donald MacLeod. The President of the Senate announced the appointment of the following officers of the Senate, to act until the permanent officers are elected: Secretary-A. E. Eden. First Assistant Secretary-T. F. Russell. Sergeant-at-Arms-William Fahey. First Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms-P. W. Murray. Appointments made by President of the Senate as authorized by statute. Private Secretary-Robert Clark. Messenger-C. S. Close. Janitor-Ben Savage. Mail Carrier-A. E. Holtzman. Chaplain-Rev. D. C. MacLeod. The foregoing appointments were acquiesed in by the Senate. By direction of the President of the Senate, the roll of the Senators holding over was then called, when the following answered to their The roll of the Senators-elect to whom certificates of election have been issued by the Governor was then called, and the following answered to their names: When the Eleventh District was called, Mr. Thomas F. Byrne presented as credentials a certified copy of a paper filed in the office of the Secretary of State giving an abstract of vote in the said Eleventh Senatorial District at an election held on Tuesday, November 3, 1914, for State Senator in the words and figures following: STATE OF ILLINOIS. LEWIS G. STEVENSON, TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING: SECRETARY OF STATE. I, Lewis G. Stevenson, Secretary of State of the State of Illinois, do hereby certify that the following and hereto attached is a true copy of a paper filed in my office on the 18th day of December, A. D. 1914, in the matter of the canvass of the election returns in the 11th Senatorial District of Illinois. (Revenue stamp hereto attached.) The original of which is now on file and a matter of record in this office. IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I hereto set my hand and cause to be affixed the great Seal of State. Done at the city of Springfield this 24th day of December, A. D. 1914. LEWIS G. STEVENSON, Secretary of State. [SEAL] IN THE MATTER OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS IN THE 11TH SENATORIAL DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS. The undersigned, constituting a majority of the State Canvassing Board, sitting in the presence of the Governor to canvass and determine the result of the election for State Senator held in the 11th Senatorial District of Illinois at the general election so held in said district on the 3rd day of November, 1914, from a consideration of the proofs filed by the contestant Thomas F. Byrne, find as follows: That it is apparent from the affidavits filed on behalf of the said Thomas F. Byrne that the Board of Election Commissioners of the city of Chicago, in the preliminary canvass of the results of said election, elected to go back of the returns so made to the said Board of Election Commissioners by the judges and clerks of election in said 11th Senatorial District of Illinois, and that without proper proofs thereof having been made the said Board of Election Commissioners, in the preliminary canvass of said ballots, saw fit to add to the vote of said Percival G. Baldwin approximately sixty (60) votes, without any apparent reason therefor, and in the opinion of this board without sufficient cause, thereby making the total alleged vote of said Percival G. Baldwin appear in the sum of ten thousand nine hundred and sixty-three (10,963) votes. Said Board of Election Commissioners of the city of Chicago, in said preliminary canvass, also saw fit, for some cause which is not apparent, and in the opinion of this board without sufficient legal reason therefor, to deduct fifty (50) votes from the sum total returned by the judges and clerks of election as the vote of the said Thomas F. Byrne, thereby causing it to appear that the said Thomas F. Byrne, received but ten thousand nine hundred and five (10,905) votes. It further appears that in the 41st Precinct of the 32nd Ward, there were cast for said Bryne some thirty-three (33) votes which were not counted for him and which were not placed on the tally sheets; that the total number of men's votes cast in this precinct was two hundred and seventy-six (276), whereas the total number of votes counted for all the candidates for Senator in said precinct was two hundred and forty-three (243), and that the difference, amounting to namely thirty-three (33) votes, were received by the said Byrne and should have been counted for him. It further appears and was stated before this board in the presence of the said Percival G. Baldwin, and not denied by him nor denied by anyone for him, that in the said 41st Precinct of the 32nd Ward the said Baldwin was present during the count of the votes by the judges and clerks of election and personally handled and participated in the arrangement, classification and count of said votes, thereby giving opportunities for fraud, and whether it was committed or not this board is unable to say. This board is, however, of the opinion that the Board of Election Commissioners of the city of Chicago were not justified in adding sixty (60) votes to the vote of said Percival G. Baldwin and therefore find that the vote of said Percival G. Baldwin, instead of being to the number of ten thousand nine hundred and sixty-three (10,963), was and in fact herein states it to have been the sum of ten thousand nine hundred and three (10,903). The board further finds that the Board of Election Commissioners of the city of Chicago, in refusing to count for the said Thomas F. Byrne the number of thirty-three (33) votes so claimed by him in the 41st Precinct of the 32nd Ward, which were refused to him, acted without warrant of law, and that the said Thomas F. Byrne should receive said thirty-three (33) votes in addition to what is credited to him by the Board of Election Commissioners of the said city of Chicago. This board is further of the opinion, from the affidavits so filed before this board and which are not disputed, that there were some seventeen (17) other votes deducted from the vote properly due to the said Thomas F. Byrne and which he should have been credited with, making in all a total of fifty (50) votes to be added to the votes so certified as the vote of the said Thomas F. Byrne, and that as a matter of fact the vote which the said Thomas F. Byrne really received, instead of being in the sum of ten thousand nine hundred and five (10,906), [10,905], was in fact and this board so finds it to be in the sum of ten thousand nine hundred and fifty-five (10,955), and this board therefore finds that the said Thomas F. Byrne was duly elected as State Senator from the 11th Senatorial District of Illinois at the election so held on the 3rd day of November, A. D. 1914, for the term of four (4) years, and that his plurality in said election, over the said Percival G. Baldwin, was fifty-two (52) votes. Dated this 14th day of December, A. D. 1914. Secretary of State. Auditor of Public Accounts. State Treasurer. Attorney General. In my presence: Governor. Filed December 18, 1914, Lewis G. Stevenson, Secretary of State. Mr. Percival G. Baldwin presented as credentials a certificate from Lewis G. Stevenson, Secretary of State, attached to an abstract of votes for State Senator and Representatives of the General Assembly from the Eleventh Senatorial District of Illinois in the words and figures. following: STATE OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. LEWIS G. STEVENSON, SECRETARY OF STATE. TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING: Lewis G. Stevenson, Secretary of State of the State of Illinois, do hereby certify that the following and hereto attached is a true copy of abstract of votes given in the Eleventh Senatorial District at an election held on Tuesday, November 3, 1914, for State Senator. (Revenue stamp hereto attached) The original of which is now on file and a matter of record in this office. |