A FALSE RECORD OF A VOTE.
Mr. WRIGHT arose to a question of privilege. He said his name was recorded as voting against, the apportionment bill, when the fact was that he was not in the Senate when his name was called and did not vote.
Mr. CLAYPOOL moved to correct the tally paper and the record of the vote so far as Mr. Wright's vote affected the same.
Mr. BEARSS said he knew Mr. Wright was not in his seat at the time his name was called.
Mr. RAY said if gentlemen will hide in the corners and closets and dodge about to defeat what they all acknowledge to be a fair and just measure, they should not complain.
Mr. BEARSS said he was out to defeat the passage of the bill. He intended to do so if he could.
Mr. MARCH said such action was fraud and forgery and if the Senate bolstered up the conduct of its Principal Secretary, it was equally guilty of committing a fraud and a forgery.
Mr. DUNNING said the Senator had the right to have the tally paper corrected when it was a falsification of the truth so far as his own vote was concerned, though such falsification was no doubt unintentionally. He thought the Senator's own statement ought to be conclusive.
(The Principal Secretary, in explanation, said he heard distinctly some one say "no" when Mr. Wright's name was called, and made the entry accordingly. He supposed it was Mr. Wright that gave the vote.)
Mr. BEARSS said he and Mr. Wright went out of the Senate Chamber during the reading of the bill, and did not return until some time time after it had been announced that the bill was passed.
Mr. RAY moved to amend the motion to correct the tally paper, in regard to the rote of Mr. Wright; and to show that the Senator from Henry (Mr. Mellett) was in the Chamber, and not voting.
Mr. JOHNSTON made appoint of order. The time to correct the tally paper was on the reading of the journal in the morning.
The PRESIDENT (Mr. Shields in the chair) overruled the point of order.
Mr. RAY spoke to his amendment. In contemplation of law the journal was being made all the time. He desired the whole proceeding to appear of record. He was willing, although the proceedings was irregular, to have the tally paper corrected in regard to the Senator from Jasper; but he insisted that the Senator from Henry should be noted also as present and not voting. He would make the Senator himself a witness. It would not alter the result in that event.
Mr. MELLETT contended that he was not in the Senate at the time the vote was taken. He was in the lobby, and he contended that the lobby was no more a part of the Senate Chamber than the library room below was a part of it.
Mr. WILLIAMS said that at the last session the gentleman's friends always counted those in the lobbies as present and not voting. It was their invariable rule. He favored the amendment to the motion.
Mr. COBB read from the journal of last session when Senator Miller entered his protest against the passage of the bill to reduce the prices paid for public printing and also another case. These Senators in both cases were without the bar, and entered as present and not voting. That Senate refused to correct the journal and he believed they were right.
Mr. MARCH read from Gushing on parliamentary law to show that the bar was the limit of a Legislative body.
Mr. BROWNS, of Randolph, moved to amend the amendment by adding that the Senator was within the room, but without the bar of the Senate when the vote wan taken.
Mr. LANDERS stated that during the time the vote was being taken, he saw the Senator from Henry walk out, and immediately after he saw the Senator very comfortably seated just outside of the bar reading a newspaper.
Mr. WOLFE wished the motion an amended to pass. It would show the facts as they existed, and the Chair could decide what effect would be had. He did not desire, the passage of the bill as it stood, and only voted for it because he saw the minority on the floor bolting to defeat the bill.
Mr. MELLETT was satisfied with the position the amendment placed him in.-- He was represented as comfortably reading a paper outside the bar, and he did not dispute the statement.
Mr. WILLIAMS moved to refer the whole matter to a select committee.
Mr. COBB would vote for the reference, if that would be satisfactory to the minority. He would tell gentlemen, however, who were striving to obstruct legislation, that for himself he would not vote a dollar of appropriation until this bill and other needful measures of legislation were passed.
Mr. CLAYPOOL would go home and leave his district unrepresented, if bills were declared to be passed as this one had been.
Mr. WILLIAMS would withdraw hit motion to refer, if the vote could be taken without further debate on the motions and amendments.
The amendment was laid on the table by yeas 23, nays 20.
Mr. WOLFE offered the following:-- That upon the vote taken on the question page: 174[View Page 174] of the passage of Senate bill 111, the Senator from Jasper is recorded by the Secretary as being present and voting in the negative, and the said Senator afterwards states to the Senate that he was not in the Senate Chamber when the vote was taken; it is therefore ordered that the record be corrected so as to show that the Senator from Jasper was not present, and did not vote on said question. That upon the question of the passage of the same bill the record does not show that the Senator from Henry was present and failed to vote when his name was called; the fact being: that, said Senator was present in the lobby of the Senate Chamber when the vote was taken, and he failed to vote when his name was called. It is ordered that the record be corrected so as to show that fact.
This was accepted by Mr. Ray, and agreed to by the Senate.
Mr. JOHNSTON offered a resolution, which was adopted, that the House return to the Senate instanter, bill 111 of this body.
