Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-05-26
WHOLE NO. 500.

At Tue polls auJonlnp the enc above alluded To,
one 1f the Judges, minister Of the Gospel who
refused to accede to the demands of similar mob
Of some iUhr hundred armed and organized men,
was driven by violence FRI m his post and tho
vacancy" filed by themselves. Threats and viof
lent demonstrations were rife, and another clergy,
man, for the expression cf his opinion was as
sauted and beaten. The inhabitants Of the dis
riet, powerless to resist the abundant supply OF
arms and amuniticn, the organized preparation
and the overwhelming numbers Of these foreign.
ers left the polls without voting
In the Lawrence District where was the largest
camp Of these invaders, speeches were made to
them by lending residents of Missouri in which IL.
was said that they would carry their purpose if
need be at the point of the layonet and the bowie
knife, AID one voter was fired Mt he was dfiveh
from the election ground Finding they bad o
greater force than was necessary for that poll some
two hundred men were drafted from their number
and sent Oft under their proper officers to another
district after which they still pulled FROM this
camp over seven hundred votes, ,r
In the Fourth aud Seventh Districts along the
Santa Fe road, similar scenes enacted. The
invaders came together in one armed and organ
ized body, with trains OF tfty wagons beside
horsemen, and the light before election pitched
their camp in the vicinity Of the polls, end hat-
ing appointed their own judges III place Of those
who from intimidation otherwise failed to at
tend, they voted without any proof of residence.
In these two election districts where the CENSUS
show one hundred and fourteen votes, and last
fall seven hundred aud sixty-ive votes, although
Il large portion of the actual residents did not
vote upon either occasion In the Sixteenth Elec-
ton District hundreds of men came together rs in
other cases. crossing the river from Missouri this
/ day before election and encamping together, arms
ed and provisioned. made the fercest threats
against the lives of the judges, and during tho
night called several times at the house of one OF
them for the purpose of intimidating him, decar9
ing in the presence of HE wife that a rope had
been prepared to hang him; and although we arc
not prepared to say that these threats would have
been carried out, yet they served to produce his
resignation and give these invaders, in the substs
tution control Of the polls and on the morning
of the election steamboat brought from the town
Of Weston, Missouri, to Leavehworth, an acces
sion to their numbers Of several hundred more
who returned in the same boat after depositing
their votes. There were over nine hundred and
fifty votes pulled beside from one hun1r and
htty actual residents who were deferred OF dis
couraged from voting, while the census returns
show but three hundred and eighty-fve votes In
the district north earlier. Not less than six hum
dred votes were here given by the noh-residehts
Ut the Territory who voted without being sworn
as to their qualifications and Immediately after
the election returned to Missouri--some of them
being the incumbents of important public Offices
there. Indeed. well the character Of this
foreign vote understood that the judges struck
out of the prescribed form of return the words
"by lawful resident voters"
i've might Continue the list of these siekening
details until the blood of every freeman would
bO ii with Indignation, but it is useless. One
nstancP alpne will refer t.. In the XVIIIth
Election District, where TIE population was starce
ahd no great number Of foreign votes was needed
to UverpJwer it, d detachment from Missouri from
sixty ~ one hundred strong, passed in with q
tram of wagons, and amutiton, making
their camp, the night before the election near
MoOrestown, the place of the polls, without even
preext Of residence and returning Immediately
to Missouri after ;heir work was done, their lead.
or and captain being distinguished citizen Of
Missouri, but late the presiding officer Of the Sem
ate of the United States and who had bowic-knife
and yevolver belted around him, apparenly ready
to shed the blood Of any man who refused to be
enslaved. All these facts we are prepared to es.
tabliSh, it necessary, by proof that would be CONS
petent i'll Court Ut justice,
From n careful examination of the returns ws
are satisfied that over three thousand votes were
thus cast by the citizens and residents of the
States, and tnat very large portion Of the res!s
dents were deferred or discouraged from going
to the polls. If this condition of things is allows
ed to prevail reduced to the state Of vass,
al province, and are governed by the State of Mis-
souri,. -2
1t would be mere affcctation in us to attempt
to disguise the fact that the question of making
Kansas II free or slave State is at the bottom OF
this movement. and that the men who thts invade
AT soil and rob us of our liberties from, the
Pro-Slayery men Of Missouri, who unwilling
to submit the question to the people of the Terri
tory and abide the compact between the North
and South, which the Kansns-Nebraska bill ceu'
tains.
The compact we want carried olt. and by that
test we want the question settled IT 1t can be; but
there are few things that TIVE would not prefer to
the domination of Irresponsible invaders from Mis-
suuri That enactment is not only law which states
and individuals ARE bound to obey, but il is 4
compact between the North and the South-=d sol.
emu covenant between the sovereign States of our
Union, which none violate without bec6nfhg
recreant to the principles of honor and justices
without the betrayal Of eohhderte rtpusei-=with'
out such breaking Of plighted faith as in an ihdi'
Ividual would luad him 10 the earth with scuth,
and contempt and drive him from the society uf
honest men. The bill which Northern ststetmeh,
backed with Northern votes had obtained for
Southern rights, is made by men who invade ort
soil, the very Instrument for depriving US OF out
dearest privileges, and stabblng tu the heart thoss
who magnaninously gave it into their hands fof
other ends. 80
That hll is made to mean popular sovereignty
for them-seridum for The doctrine OF self:
government is t. be tramped under foot here of
all other places in the world on the very spot
which had 5ecn haoved and cunsecratcd to its .
ttu>t signal vindicatUn. The atars which had
been reared it this chosen ground, and dfound
which at least the democracy Of the whole Union
had sworn allegiance, and to which We had CONT
US pill grim worshipers in the Wilderness ars TO bs
ruthlessy demolished. The rUihpatt is 70 be base
Nv broken and the ballot of the freeman fin efecs)
torn from our hands almost before the ihk Of the
covenant Is dry. Not only, TOO, is the princpe
of popular sovereignty To be botted out but m9re
than this the ect of the contest is % dis.
appear. The question Of negro Stayefy Is to sink
INTO insgh;Ecance and the great pcrteutous issuc
is To loom up in its stead, whether OF not We shalf
be the slaves and fanatics who disgrace the non.
urable and chivalrc of the South shall De our
masters to rule us at their pleasure, ,,.., -;u,t
With n feeble and scattered coinmun'ty. just
e struggling into existence, without organ,zasicr
. and almost without shelter, we are Powerless tg
. resist an old strong and populous State, fuli OF
4 men and arms and resources, and we therefore
"nneal to YOU aud tFuGgh youto the people Of ths
states Remedy here we have none. ..i,-,.n u
4 Our Executive has with manly deterfhihatiof
/ and persistent fidelity stood by his people. snd
!, ,ndsavornq Il, carry ous the principles Of pops.