faced serious allegations brought forth by Republican-sympathizing newspapers that he had raped a teenage maid, Nancy Neff, in 1876. The papers alleged that Neff had become pregnant, giving birth to a child that shortly died afterwards. After giving birth, Neff was alleged to have contracted smallpox and sent by Budd to a hospice to die, but not before Budd had forced her to relinquish all her property to him. Budd fully denied all the allegations, branding his betrayal of Neff as an "infamous falsehood" imagined by Republican party machines. Budd did not deny he knew Neff, yet claimed instead that he had always acted as a brother to Neff and in no way harmed her. Despite the serious charges, Budd's campaign remained largely successful. He gained favorable attention during the campaign by personally quieting a runaway team of horses, as well as helping extinguish a fire in Willows. In the final results, Budd edged out Republican Party challenger Morris M. Estee by 0.4%, or roughly 1,200 votes. The strong third place showing of Jonathan V. Webster of the People's Party at 18% helped tip the vote balance into Budd's favor. It was the first gubernatorial election where the Australian ballot was used in California. Due in part to his narrow electoral victory, Republicans alleged Budd had engaged in voter fraud. The California State Assembly investigated these claims through a special committee. The Assembly committee's findings concluded that no evidence of vote wrongdoing could be found. Governorship Budd became the 19th Governor of California on January 11, 1895. In the early stage of his governorship, Budd encouraged improvements to the Australian ballot, consolidating or eliminating superfluous state departments and positions to save revenue, and amend the Constitution of California in order to create stricter qualification requirements for State Railroad Commission members. Budd desired a Railroad Commission substantially less influenced by the Southern Pacific and other rail monopolies. During his governorship, Budd pushed legislation through the California State Legislature in 1895 to create the Bureau of Highways, an agency to construct and manage maintenance to the state's growing road network. The Bureau of Highways would later evolve into the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The following year, Budd authorized the purchase of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, making it the first state highway. Budd's push for future legislation, however, was slowed by the Legislature, which was controlled by an increasingly hostile Republican