NKIIItASKA. 



559 



II. ll.i-iings; Superintendent of Public 

 1 1 i-l nn -I : in. Alexander K. (ioiidy ; Coiiimissjiiin-r 

 (if I'ulilic Lands mid Huildin^. A. It. Hum- 

 phrey; Chief Justice of tin- Supreme Court, 

 Ama-a d.lili; Associate Justices, Samuel Max- 

 well anil 'I'. I,. Norval. K\cept (Juv. Boyd, 

 Ihe-e ollicers art-all Republicans. 



Coiilcsl OUT State Offices. According to 

 official returns ( >f tin- election of IN'.IO, .lame- K. 

 l>"\d. tin- Democratic candidate for Governor, 

 1 71, :::'! votes, or 1,1-14 more than his 

 nearest competitor, John 11. Powers, the Inde- 

 pendent or Fanners' Alliance candidate, and 

 2,453 more than L. D. Richards, the Republican 

 candidate. For all the other State offices the 

 returns gave the Republican nominees slight 

 pluralities. As in every case the Independent 

 candidates had failed of election by only a few 

 thousand votes, they professed to believe that 

 their defeat had been compassed by fraud and 

 intimidation practiced at tne polls by their op- 

 ponents, and on these grounds they decided to 

 contest the election. Lute in November, 1890, 

 notices of contest were served upon Boyd and 

 the successful Republican candidates, and during 

 the following month a large mass of testimony 

 was taken in various parts of the State, bearing 

 upon the charges alleged by the contestants. 

 In the gubernatorial contest case testimony was 

 also taken late in December in behalf of Powers, 

 tending to show that the father of Boyd had 

 never been naturalized, and that the son, not 

 being a citizen, was ineligible to the office of 

 Governor. When the Legislature assembled in 

 January, all this testimony was ready for its ex- 

 amination. The first duty of that body in de- 

 termining the result of the election is prescribed 

 by the State Constitution as follows : 



The returns of every election for the officers of the 

 executive department shall be sealed up and trans- 

 mitted by the returning officers to the Secretary of 

 State, directed to the Speaker of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, who shall. Immediately after the organiza- 

 tion of the House, and before proceeding to other 

 business, open and publish the same in the presence 

 of a majority of cacn House of the Legislature, who 

 shall for that purpose assemble in the hall of the 

 House of Representatives. The person having the 

 highest number of votes tor either of said offices 

 shall l>e declared duly elected. Contested elections 

 for nil of said offices shall be determined by both 

 Houses of the Legislature, by joint vote, in such 

 manlier as may be prescribed by law. 



Pursuant to these provisions, the two houses 

 met in joint convention on Jan. 7. A resolution 

 was then offered by the Independents, proposing 

 that action upon the returns be suspended until 

 the pending contest over State officers should be 

 decided by law ; but the presiding officer of the 

 convention, Lieutenant-Governor Meiklejohn. a 

 Republican, ruled that no business could be con- 

 sidered or acted upon by the convention till the 

 returns were opened and published according to 

 the constitutional requirement above quoted. 

 This ruling was followed by scenes of confusion, 

 in which the Independents attempted to carry 

 an adjournment of the convention, but the 

 Lieutcnant-(iovenior refused to put the motion 

 therefor. The Speaker of the House, S. M. 

 Klder. an Independent, then refused to open and 

 publish the returns as required by the Constitu- 

 tion, and in this course was supported by his 



party associate*. A motion for a recess (not 

 adjournment) until the following day was finally 

 entertained and carried. When tin-' convention 

 reassembled on Jan. H, S|waker Klder wa- 

 with a mandamus from the State Supreme 

 Court ordering him to ojwn and publish the 

 returns, and, in obedience thereto, the canvass 

 proceeded, Boyd was declared elected Goxcrnor. 

 and the Republican candidates were declared 

 elected to the other offices. The proceedings .,f 

 the day were marked by disorder, and armed 

 officers of the law were in attendance. 



All the persons thus declared elected qualified 

 themselves, and all obtained immediate posses- 

 sion of their offices, except Gov. Boyd. To him 

 Gov. Thayer refused to surrender the executive 

 apartments, on the ground that he was not 

 eligible to the office of Governor. Other quarters 

 in the State House were, however, assigned him 

 while Gov. Thayer fortified himself in the exec- 

 utive chambers, and for a time each contestant 

 claimed to act as the State Executive. On Jan. 9, 

 at the time of his refusal to vacate his office, 

 Gov. Thayer filed in the State Supreme Court a 

 petition praying that a writ of qito warranto 

 issue against Gov. Boyd for the purpose of trying 

 the title of the latter to the office claimed by 

 him. On Jan. 13 the court ordered the writ to 

 issue, saying at the same time that, pending^ the 

 trial of the cause, it recognized Boyd as the 

 legal Governor of the State by virtue of the 

 declaration of the joint convention of the Legis- 

 lature, and that Gov. Thayer would lose none of 

 his legal rights by quietly submitting to the 

 situation. In view of this assurance of the 

 court, the latter, on Jan. 15, yielded up the ex- 

 ecutive apartments to Gov. Boyd. 



Meanwhile, in the Legislature the Independ- 

 ents had passed through both houses a joint 

 resolution appointing Jan. 20 as the day when 

 the joint convention should meet for the purpose 

 of hearing the contested election cases. On that 

 day Gov. Boyd and the other contestees sub- 

 mitted to the convention a protest against its 

 proceedings, on the ground that the joint reso- 

 lution under which it had met had not been 

 signed by the Lieutenant-Governor as President 

 of the Senate, nor submitted to the Governor for 

 his approval. The convention therefore passed 

 a resolution asking the opinion of the State 

 Supreme Court upon the question whether such 

 a resolution must be submitted to these officials 

 for their signatures, when, as in the present case. 

 they were both interested in the case as con- 

 testees. To this question the court, on Jan. 20. 

 replied that the signature of the Lieutennnt- 

 (iovernor and the approval of the Governor were 

 clearly necessary, according to the terms of the 

 State Constitution, and that such a resolution, if 

 vetoed, must be passed by a three-fifth vote of 

 both Houses in order to become law. The 

 Independents, on learning this, dissolved tin- 

 joint convention and decided to begin over 

 again. A new joint resolution, fixing Feb. 

 17 as the day for the meeting of the joint 

 convention, was introduced, but the in:: 

 bility of obtaining the Governor's signature 

 thereto was conceded. A few of the Inde- 

 pendents became disheartened at the prospect cf 

 passing it over a veto, and on Feb. 5 practically 

 gave up the fight by joining with the Democrats 



