being consistent only to the purpose of finding a majority for Barstow or making one. It was further charged that gross frauds had been perpetrated under the cover of 'supplementary' returns, meaning returns received from sources aliunde, the certificates of the county canvassers. The town of Bridge Creek, in Chippewa county, which had never been heard of before, was found to possess startling electoral capabilities, having cast 128 votes, nearly all for Governor Barstow! A precinct in Waupaca county for which no one had yet performed the office of godfather, and which was designated only as 'Town 25, north of range 10, east of the fourth principal meridian,' developed a voting capacity that could only be accounted for on the theory that the bears had been enfranchised!"

The historian takes up the subject again on page 487, as follows: "The Supreme Court continued to hear the testimony submitted on behalf of the claimant Bashford. Some of the evidence was of a startling character. There were supplementary returns that were included in the count of the canvassers from Gilbert Mills and Spring Creek, towns in different counties, and over one hundred miles distant from each other. It was observed that the paper on which these returns were written was of the same kind, a peculiar, small white foolscap, much used about the capitol, but rarely seen elsewhere. The more inculpatory circumstance was that the indentions of the two half sheets of paper, upon which these returns were written, upon being put together exactly corresponded, showing that they had been originally joined in one sheet of paper."

This went to show that some of these returns were manufactured in Madison, sent north to be mailed and came back to the State Board as genuine returns and from precincts never heard of before. Having been defeated at all points, and after making a skillful and stubborn defense of a bad cause, Mr. Barstow and his counsel withdrew from the case, protesting against the rulings of the court, which they declared had their inspiration in partisanship, all the members of the court being Republicans, and prejudiced in favor of Bashford. The court proceeded with the inquiry. It found upon a recount that Bashford had 1,009 majority over

Barstow and declared that he was legally elected Governor of Wisconsin. Meantime Barstow bad sent his resignation as Governor to the Legislature, but as his title to the office was declared to be spurious, it is difficult to see what the resignation amounted to. Lieut.-Gov. Arthur McArthur, who imagined he became Governor as soon as Barstow resigned, by virtue of the Constitution, declared his intention to "hold the fort" at all hazards and against all claimants, but the Supreme Court held that as Barstow was not the legally elected Governor, McArthur's status in the matter was determined by his illustrious predecessor, and that he could not become Governor by fraud. After flourishing about for four days and some hours as the residuary legatee of William A. Barstow, McArthur gracefully and peacefully subsided, and Coles Bashford found himself Governor of Wisconsin.

It is a mistake to suppose that William A. Barstow was not a leader of men and that he had not many friends. It is also a mistake to suppose that he was naturally and inherently a bad and corrupt man. The enthusiasm which he inspired among his followers is well expressed in the following editorial paragraph copied from The La Crosse Democrat of March 7, 1854:

“Governor Barstow is a man untainted by the pedantry of the schools, and not having been cursed by inherited wealth, he is preeminently, of all the would-be political leaders in the State, the man of the people, having, by dint of untiring exertion raised himself, regardless of all opposition, from the ranks of the people, to the position he occupies!"

Col. E. A. Calkins, who was then editing a Democratic newspaper in Madison and probably knew as much about the character of the returns as any man now living, made the following statement in regard to that heated controversy. He was at that time a warm supporter of Governor Barstow, and what he says is therefore free from any Republican bias:

"The Democrats in that year (1855), while not exactly cock sure, expected or hoped to elect the Barstow ticket by a good, comfortable majority of several thousand, say from 3,000 to 9,000, the latter having been Barstow's majority in 1853. After election, as the returns came in it was seen that this expectation was wrong