Board of Public Works.
It is known that the northernmost District if those three into which the
State is divided for the election of
Commissioners of the Board of Public Works was, at the of the recent elections, nearly all within the enemy's lines.
It happened that the member for that District had to be elected at that time.
Dr. Kidwell, the late member, inclined a re-election, and became a candidate for Congress in opposition to
Mr. Russell, of
Wheeling.
The question as to who should fill be office was necessarily left chiefly to the There were several persons voted for after a good deal of unavoidable delay, it is that
Mr. Benjamin F. Beall, of
Jefferson county, has the largest vote out of the considered at the
Capitol.
Properly returnable.
The
Enquirer states that the army vote has been ruled out as not provided for by law with reference to this office.
The same paper states that
Mr. Geo. W. Murphy, of
Shenandoah, intends to contest
Mr. Beall's election on the ground that the disturbed state of the district prevented compliance with the law in forwarding returns within the time specified.
He claims to have received 300 votes in
Shenandoah, which have not reached the Department.
The Executive, acting under the law, has awarded the return to
Mr. Beall, and he has been duly commissioned.
He is an intelligent gentleman; has been for some years connected with the
Virginia press in the
Valley, and has proved his devotion to the
Southern cause in this war by the sacrifices he has made in sustaining it. He entered the service and continued in it until honorably discharged from physical inability, and has since been a refugee, separated from his home and family.
His integrity, intelligence, and good practical sense, will make him a trustworthy and useful officer.
It is true, he is elected by a very small vote; but, as far as we have observed, small votes have proven quite as successful in making good elections as large ones.
It is not by any means certain, had the polls been opened everywhere, that any better man would have been returned.
