Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Post image for Illegal Registration of Voters.

Illegal Registration of Voters.

November 5, 2010

New York Times

November 5, 1860

A warrant was issued yesterday by Justice QUACKENBUSH for the arrest of GEORGE K. COOKE, the Democratic member of the Board of Registry for the Eighth District of the Fifteenth Ward, on a charge of having violated the Registry law. An affidavit has been made to the effect that COOKE, while acting as Registrar on the 17th ult., caused his name to be placed on the list of voters for that District, giving No. 308 Bowery as his place of residence. It was subsequently ascertained, however, that he resided at No 373 Fourth-street, which is not in the Eighth District, and that he had also been to the registering-place of the Ninth District, of the same Ward, and had his name registered there. NAPOLEON B. HOBBS, a clerk for LORD & TAYLOR, is also charged with an offence similar to the one of which COOK is accused. On the 30th inst. he caused his name to be registered as a legal voter in the Eighth District of the Fifteenth Ward, and went off boasting that he should vote for “The Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws.” As, however, he had not lived in this State one year, having come here from Baltimore, Md., in March last, he was unqualified for voting at all, and his arrest was effected on the ground that he had willfully violated the law. Justice QUACKENBUSH required him to funish bail in $500 to answer. The penalty, upon conviction of the offences charged, is not less than one year’s imprisonment in the State Prison.

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