Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1850-01-07

frauds ave been praciised upon the electiv
f,1l..i So III Virginia, and i'll most instances wit
coloring OF law to sustain them. say coto'
aig OF law because you or |, or any one else
may know OF 4 transaction, and we may belleV
Ii to be- from facts and circumstances, an unrea
and mere temporary transaction, IN which n
valuable consideration OF any description ma
passed, but vet it is matter OF record, and a
know The difficulty of going behind the record t
inquire into any document or paper. We are Il
familiar " it'll the flood of Pocket Deeds whic
rolled over'the State of Vrgini, in the memor,
bic contest for the Presidency i'll 1910, and whic
fastened such stigma upon tn, purity OF the e
'iective franchise III Virginia Both of the grea
parties of the State were engaged in this unhol,
business but the enormity bscameso great, all,
the purity OF all elections so tainted with thel
foulness that the public press OF the State be
,carne loul-mouthed against them, and the Lee
cislature, at the session Of 1912, attempted Il
cure the evil by the passage OF the act al,
ways given i'll charge to the Grand Jury. and
sAnown as ali act to prevent frauds III elections
The act was passed specially 10 destroy these
inilulitous AMI fraudulent Pocket Deeds y it
reached the disease. as far as Legislative enae.-
n,ent can reach tit eau only,be eradicated by
a Conventions striking the whole property quail
fication from the constitution and the laws. The
law of 1912 is avoided b. making these convey
as heretofore, though i'll point OF fact they are
the same rotten AMI disreputable frauds, s'the
swapping devil for WITCH Upon the re-
cords OF many of the Cour's of this Goninon-
wealth YOU can see deeds OF this description
where the names OF 10, 20. 80 Il I'll even more
grantees are grouped into one deed, and hun
dreds and thousands OF acres OF worthless and
sterile mountain lands are conveyed to them to
enable them to vote. In many instances, doubt
less, fifth, matter were clearly examined, no
such land 7eally exists. These frauds are com.
1nitted BY persons in high party times, and are
oftener Tie work of political committees, than
the protess3d parties to the transaction, for oc-
casonally we find some honest man finding him
self incorporated in one ofthes1 fraudulent deeds
without his knowledge Oh consent, coming out
and publicly tlanonncug the act, and refusing to
:iccapt the right Of suffrage 50 GracionatH and pa
frio.ia1Iy bestowed upon him . Let any one
read the eyileace brought out in several OF the
contested elections before the Legislature Ill the
past few years il they wish to become 9c4uaint-
81 with the stnpeadous frauds annually perpe-
trated upon the purity and legality OF elections,
BY these 70 Ing deeds. Under the laost favorable
view, thes, deeds are detestable and odious, but
10 a Ill to their oJiou5.less they are very often
made the instrument: in the hands OF aoa-rssi-
lss.s to vote dawn AMI sti.ie the resi- tent voice
and 81 isles OF /, county. Whare they cannot
find the maillin tsls,r Own cay,uty te I'll their
deeds, alrl accept their potIare3 Votes, they 60
sil.o other counties and confer the right upon IN
s5rupulnus parzaps, and cry 10 them Ito come
over ana hip us" Who in this section OF the
State is not acquainted with the angry euds to
which thsse deeds have given rise In the county
of Frederick /? Who is not familiar with tbs ar
my OF voters made few peais ago i'll 1amp
shire, and which became so notorious IN the
public Press of the State Who does net know
that the barren mountains OF Berkeley County
are literally singled it'll these raudnlen: deeds!
Alas where but a few years ago bright on1ens
Of splendid fortunes eilded the dreams of the
"Berkelev Coal Mining Company, "-now flies
the tlg Of an army of 'Pocket Deed patriots,
consscratetl by sPsciat grace with record in
Rark eley County Court One OF these deeds Is
50 precious that it ought to be enbalined, Ind
kept as holy relic of the glorious freehold, when
that iIlustrious badge Of Virginia ReIublicauism
shall have passed away.
Ihave already quoted Art. 81, Sec, II Of the
Constitution, defining the constitutional provi-
sions for voters. There are also other legal EN-
actments in relation 10 the riyh OF voting, to one
of hich invitea moment OF consideration You
are aware that il is provided thai any one owning
Getty acres of unimproved laud'' shall have the
right to vote. 1t matters not whether the lands
valuable vaueless, so there Is the requlsltequan-
tity of land fifty aeres and therefore It's, that SO
MANY voters are made out OF the worthless and
!, s,eyiie mountains of the State. The owners OF
the land conveying it,ana reserving to themselves
in the deeds :'al the timber, mines, minerals Sc,
Illainsy human nature rs we find ii III this world,
we all know, if these mountain lands were vaill-
able they would not be conveyed away by whole
sale.unlsss a valuable consideration were paid
for them But uses are made OF defective laws
upon this subject, which doubtless never entered
into the contemplation ofthose who framed them.
For instance, one of the provisions OF the law OF
suffrage i'relatiye to JOINT owners OF land under
either Constitution' reads thus: ':ln case OF
tenants in common, Joint tenants, Or parceners
IN possession reverson or remainder. having an
interest in land, the quantity or valae whereof Is
insufficient to entitle them all to vote, II some one
or more of them may lawfully vote III right o
other land in the same county, corporation: the
: others may vote in nle same maltner, as lille OF
they holding such other land had 20 in:eres
whatever in the undivided land" 1t was under
This section OF the election law OF Nlrglnla; that
the Rerke]ey Deed to which haze referred was
made state facts from 'lhe record>-they are
briefly these: II. in 1887 purchased three sew
eral tracts of land on Third Hill Mountain i'll
the County of Berkeley, and W hich We're convey
ed to him in one apid the same deed, and con
Gained in all about 1850 acres In 1876; Ii. anc
wife conveyed one undivided seventh part Ia
hont o2l acres) of this land to P. c. p. Agar
in 1912 H. and wife conveyed three undlvMet
seyenths more OF the same land (about o93 a
cres) TO Mr. K. citizen Of Maryland, making
nearly nine hundred acres of the 1850 acres
sold Agaia, in the month of April, 1874 JUS
six months before the Presidential election Of
that year, H. conveyed one undivided seventh
part of the same to thirty gentlemen, all of whom
voted at the Presidential election OF that year
,rrhe interest OF these thirty persons i'll the land
s(supposng for the sake OF the argument, that. II
had the right without consulting F.. Il X who
convey a. seventh of the arholc TO these 80 per-
sons lnuon a. division would be only about 22
acres acres Of unimpYoved land that is clearly the
only real interest which they have under The
most favorable view, and all that could be as
signed them, by suit in Chancery for divis