transcribed by Pam Rathbone
Cleveland, Tenn., March 20,--Col. Meyers, counsel for Turney fell before the grand stand this morning when he declined to put either ex-trustee Randolph or W. S. Tipton on the stand. Two things he desired very much to prove was, that Randolph's books would show that hundreds of polls assessed for 1893 were never collected and that Mr. Tipton was never appointed a deputy trustee and had no authority to collect taxes. He has been claiming that he would prove a lot of rottenness by these two witnesses and thereby connect the August election which has been under investigation for the past six days.
A voluminous record will go before the legislature which proves none of the general or specific charges made against Bradley County by Peter Turney. All this evidence which only shows that there was trickery on both sides in the August election and none of which was illegal or criminal will be laid before the partisan majority in the general assembly and they will be expected to presume there was something wrong and to throw out the entire vote of Bradley County.
W. S. Tipton, counsel for Evans, made a motion this morning to strike out all the record in relation to Bradley County on account of irrelevance.
Chairman Caldwell denied the motion because it was not in proper form. Mr. Tipton also asked for subpoenas for witnesses to prove the validity of every ballot in the county which has been attacked by counsel for Turney. The application was was denied as Mr. Tipton had not included the names of witnesses wanted.
Col. Meyers has in his possession not only the official returns of Bradley County but also of all the counties where he has appeared as counsel for Turney. Col. Vertress has the official returns of the counties where he operates. These returns are properly supposed to be in the mystery box at Nashville.
