Page:Journal of Florida Secession Convention.djvu/25

 Mr. McIntosh moved that the resolutions offered by Mr. Ward be received and referred to the respective Committees;

Which was adopted. Mr. Beard offered the following resolution: Resolved, That seats immediately without the bar be provided for ladies visiting this Convention; Which was adopted. A motion was made to adjourn to 10 o'clock to-morrow;

Which was lost. Mr. Folsom, from the Committee on Credentials, made the following report: The Committee on Credentials, to whom was referred the matter of the contested election from the County of Holmes, beg leave to report: That Richard D. Jordan holds the certificate of the proper officer of said county, which upon its face entitles him to a seat in this body. That the same officer, however, further certifies that the votes of one precinct in said county, to wit: Harrell's precinct, or precinct No. 5, were not canvassed or counted by him. It further appears by testimony, and is admitted by both parties to this contest, that had the votes of said precinct No. 5 been regularly canvassed and counted, it would have appeared by said count, taken in connection with the returns from the other precincts in the county, that R. R. Golden, the contestant in this case, had received a majority of one of all the votes of the county. Without the votes which were polled at said precinct No. 5, the occupant of the seat, Richard D. Jordan, had a majority of eleven votes. But counting the votes polled at said precinct No. 5, the contestant, R. R. Golden, has a majority of one as above stated—the said Golden having received at precinct No. 5 twelve votes, and the said Jordan having received no votes at that precinct. It further appears before the Committee, that the returns of said precinct No. 5, were delivered by one of the Inspectors of Election at said precinct to the said Richard D. Jordan, the occupant of the contested seat upon this floor, on Wednesday after the election, at about 11 o'clock, A.M., but that the same were not delivered to the Judge of Probates by the said Jordon until about 10 o'clock A.M. of the next day. That from the place where said returns were delivered to said Jordon, to the county site where they were to be delivered, was about eighteen miles; that there was sufficient time between the delivery of said returns to said Jordan, and the time at which the returns of the county were canvassed, to have admitted of their delivery to the proper officer before he had canvassed the returns of the county. The Committee have not concluded, from the facts in their possession, that Mr. Jordan, the occupant of the seat, withheld the