Fraud in Arkansas—or Prejudice in Washington?
At four o’clock in the afternoon of Monday, December 15, the special House Elections Committee convened to consider charges of fraud arising out of the election of Dr. Dale Alford over incumbent Brooks Hays in Arkansas’ Fifth Congressional District. The witness was a John F. Wells, who identified himself as the publisher of a weekly newspaper in Little Rock. An hour later, the committee asked Congressman-elect Alford to take the stand, learned that Wells’ testimony was the first detailed knowledge he had had of the charges; that he was happy to cooperate in any investigation of them. Wednesday morning, at eleven, the Committee met in executive session. After five or ten minutes discussion, it recommended by a 3-2 vote (two Republicans and a Northern Democrat against two Southern Democrats) that Dr. Alford “be asked to stand aside and not be seated,” pending a full investigation.
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