The following blog is based on one of the more interesting cases investigated by the Brisbane CIB in the early 1950s. It was the only case in Queensland’s legal history at that time (apart from capital offences) where a person was tried three times.
The writer lays before you the story of a sting operation. The evidence of electoral forgery was conclusive, the prosecution case was sound. But would justice be served?
The trap is set
On Saturday, Labour Day long weekend of 1950, the Labor Party under the premiership of Ned Hanlon, went to the polls with a narrow margin. One of the strongly contested marginal seats was Bulimba.
Liberal Party executives had a suspicion that in past elections there had been vote tampering, especially in marginal seats… so they lay a trap.
The plan was simple. They arranged for twenty-two party members who lived in the Bulimba Electorate to lodge an application for an absentee vote. This involved completing a declaration form to the effect that they would be absent from the electoral area at the official time of voting. The form included their home address and where they would be at the time of the election.
The voter was supplied with an envelope that was numbered according to their number on the electoral roll. There was also a blank voting card on which to record their vote in order of preference. After completion, the voter sealed the handwritten ballot in an envelope, then placed it in the ballot box at the Electoral Office.
Forged ballots detected
When the votes were counted in the 1950 Queensland State Election, the Labor Party candidate in Bulimba won by a small majority. The final figures polled by candidates were published, as were the number of absentee votes at each polling booth.
In Bulimba, 23 absentee votes were recorded and published. They were all for the Labor Party, despite the 22 purposefully cast votes by members of the Liberal Party.
An objection was lodged with Election Tribunal and as a result the Government set up the Bulimba Election Tribunal. Justice Mansfield was appointed to investigate and ultimately had no reservations when he declared to the Attorney General: ‘This is straight out forgery!’
Note: The writer wishes to cast no aspersions on the Labor Party in this debacle, nor its leader, the Honourable Ned Hanlon, who won the Queensland State Election on 29 April 1950 with a clear majority.
| Robert Gardner MLA cleared of wrongdoing The seat of Bulimba has strongly supported the Labor Party since 1873. Although ALP candidate Robert Gardner was elected in Bulimba in the 1950 election, the election was ruled void, but Gardner himself was cleared of any involvement in the fraud. The scandal and ensuing investigations into the vote tampering continued for many months. Finally, a by-election was held on 14 April 1951 with ballot boxes under police guard. Robert Gardner won the by-election by a narrow margin. |
Forensics confirm forgeries
On December 13, 1950, Detective Constable Les Bardwell, a forensic scientist with the Brisbane CIB, attended the Bulimba Election Tribunal as a witness. He received 23 sealed envelopes together with specimen handwriting from the 22 electors who’s ballot papers were purported to be forged.
Using a microscope, Bardwell discovered that nineteen of the sealed envelopes had previously been opened and resealed. After steaming open all envelopes, he then compared the specimen writing taken from the 22 Liberal Party members (at the Election Tribunal) with the writing on their respective ballot papers. He formed the opinion that they were all forgeries.
Bardwell’s opinion was subsequently verified when the writing on the ballot papers was viewed by each of the twenty-two Liberal Party members. All denied having written the names of Gardiner (ALP), Marriott (Independent), and Hamilton (Liberal), in that order, on the ballot papers bearing their electoral roll number.
The Investigation begins
The police investigation formerly commenced on January 4, 1951, after the Elections Tribunal Acting Chief Justice, Justice Mansfield, declared that the election of the Labor Candidate, Robert Gardner, was void.
Inspector Bischof and Detective Constable Hamilton led the police investigation. By a process of elimination, the officers focused on the Principle Electoral Officer of Queensland, Bernard Joseph Maguire.
Photo by Stuart Cumming
Police forensic scientist, Detective Bardwell, compared the handwriting of approximately one hundred persons who could have had access to the ballot papers. All the specimens of writings consisted of approximately sixty words. Maguire’s specimen was included with these. Bardwell formed the opinion that Maguire’s specimen writing, which was written in his presence under dictation, was inconsistent. Maguire also showed an unusual amount of hesitation whilst writing.
A more detailed examination of Maguire’s specimen writing later gave the forensic scientist cause to believe that it was executed with a view to (1) disguising the writer’s normal characteristics and (2) attempting to confuse any person conducting a handwriting examination and comparison. A 2:30 pm on the 19th of February 1951, Detective Bardwell went to the Electoral Office with Bischof and Hamilton.
The investigators said to Maguire, ‘Detective Bardwell has expressed dissatisfaction with the specimens of handwriting submitted by you on the first of this month, and he is desirous of obtaining, if possible, some printing done by you, say before the 1950 General Elections. Is there any of your printing on any of your files?’
Maguire said, ‘I don’t think there is. I seldom print anything. I write most of my communications in the rough and they are then typed for my signature.’
Before his appointment to Chief Electoral Officer, Maguire was a draftsman employed by the Survey Office of the Queensland Government. With such a background, Bardwell reasoned that he would have above average block printing ability. Several of the forged ballots were written in block printing.
Bardwell continued searching Maguire’s office and eventually located his Electoral Claim Card which was filled out in block printing. He also located further printing on several file covers which Maguire admitted had been written by him. Before taking possession of these documents, Bardwell asked Maguire to initial them. Returning with these documents to his laboratory, he conducted a detailed comparison of Maguire’s printing and the allegedly forged ballot papers.
Bardwell soon formed the opinion that Maguire was responsible for four of the forged ballots. The remaining eighteen were written in such an obviously disguised form, that the author did not disclose any of his normal individual characteristics. He was unable to arrive at any firm conclusion, although the relevant legitimate voters had confirmed that their ballot paper had been forged.
Second opinion from handwriting expert
This investigation created state-wide and Australia-wide interest and speculation. Inspector Bischof, in his wisdom, suggested to the Commissioner that Detective Inspector Rodgers, the Officer in Charge of the New South Wales Police Document Examination Section, should also be called upon to examine the relevant documents. Rodgers was the most experienced and senior handwriting expert in Australia at the time.
When Rodgers arrived in Brisbane, Bardwell gave him all the documentation and allocated him a private room at the CIB. He also provided him with various pieces of equipment to examine the documents without any outside interference and in complete privacy. In conclusion, Rodgers agreed with Bardwell. Four of the samples were forged.
Samples of Maguire’s block printing on his Electoral Claim Card and sample of block printing taken under dictation by police appear below. James Maguire was charged withhaving between the dates of March 26 and May 5, 1950, forged a document purporting to be a ballot paper marked as the absent vote of an elector, name withheld, for Bulimba electorate at the Queensland General Election on April 29, 1950.
Note: neat even block writing.
Next Issue: The Maguire Trial – Part 2 – Jury Selection in the 1950s
Queensland Police Museum acknowledges ‘No Stone Unturned’, a collection of works by former Detective Inspector Les Bardwell, who preferred to be known as a field forensic scientist. Les believed that it was important to have first-hand contact with the aftermath of crime and violence. This story was written by Museum Assistant Debra Austin.
The Police Museum is open 9 am to 4 pm Monday to Thursday and 10 am to 3 pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb – Nov) and is located on the Ground Flood of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Email contact: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – The Maguire Trial Part 1” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode