Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-07-26
AN IMPORTANT DOCUMENT.
Authentic Hisssry e the Kansas 1Fesblss.
MAJORITY REPORT OF THE HOUSE, IN.
s8 vE9T10ATfN0 COMMITTED.
PRESENTED JULY 1, 1886.

PRESENTED JULY I, 1886.
CONTINUED.
WANT of space compels US to omit several Ions
tables Of details.-ED. TINES.
Your Committee report the following facts no
| shown by the tables:
Of the twenty nine hundred and FIVE voters
named in the census rolls, eight hundred ant
thrty-o lone are found ON the poll books. Some o.
the settlers were prevented from attending thu
election by the distance of their homes from thu
polls, but the great majority deferred by thu
open avowal that large bodies of armed Nilsson
rians would be ut the polls to vote, and by thu
fact that they did so appear and control the cleo
ton. The same causes deferred the Free Stat,
settlers from running candidates in several dis
tricts, and in others induced the candidates t.
withdraw.
The poll books of the lind and VIII Districts
were lost, but the proof is quite clear that in the
lind District there were thirty, and in the WIFI
District thirty -eight legal votes, making tota
of eight hundred aud ninety eight legal voters oil
the Territory, whose names the census re-
turns and vet the proof, in the state in which we
obliged to present 1t, after excluding illegal
votes, leaves the total vote of 1910, showing 8
discrepancy of 4l2. The discrepancy is account
ed for in two ways: First, the coming in of set
tiers before the March election, and after the
the census: or secondly, the disturbed state OF
the Territory while we were Investigating the
elections in some of the districts, thereby pre-
venting US from getting testimony in relation IL
the names of legal voters at the time of election.
If the election had been confined to the actual
settlers undeterred by the presence of non-resi-
dents, or the knowledge that they would be
present in numbers sufficient to out vote them, the
testimony indicates that the council would have
ha,o oEs in fnuOr If NJ; ka,,-
sas Free State, elected from the LIST, lind, Hid,
iVth and With Council Districts. The result in
the With and Xth, electing three members,
would have been doubtful, and the With, With
and TX would have elected Pro- Slavery members.
Under like circumstances the House of Repre-
sentatives would have been composed of fourteen
members in favor of making Kansas Free State,
elected from the lind, lid, IVth. With, With,
With, IXth and Xth Representative Districts.
The result of Xilth and XIVth representative
districts, eectins five members, would have been
doubtful, and the ls;, With, IXth and XVIII dis
trcts would have elected seven Pro- Slavery
Members.
By the election, as conducted the Pro Slavery
candidates in every district but the With repre-
sentative district received majority of the votes
and several of them, in both the Council and
House, did not ss reside in'' and were not s'nhabi-
tants of "the district for which they were elected,
as required by the organic law. BY that &C, it
was declared to be s'the true intent and meaning
of this act to leave the people thereof perfectly
free to form and regulate their domestic institu-
tons in their way, ubject tn the Constitution
of the United States.'' So careful wis Congress
of the right of popular sovereignty, that to secure
to the people, without single petition from any
part of the country, they removed the restrict ons
against Slavery imposed by the Missouri Com
promise-And yet this right, so carefully secured,
was thus BY force and fraud overthrow by
portion of the people Of an adjoining State.
The striking differ between this Republic
and other Republics ON this Continent is not in
the provisions of Constitutions ami laws, but
that here changes in the admnistr alton of those
laws have been made peacefully and quietly thro'
The baliot-box. This invasion is the first and
only one in the history Of our Government, bv
which an organized force from one State has
elected n Leg islnture for another State or Terri
tory, and as such it should have been resisted by
the whole executive power Of the National Gov
eminent.
Your Committee are Of the opinion that the
Constitution and laws of the United States have
invested the President and Governor Of the Ter
ritorv with ample power for this purpose. They
could only act after receiving authentic Informal
ton of the facts, but when received, whether be-
fore or after the certiic ties of election we e
granted. this power should hive been exercised
to its fullest extent IL Is not to be tolerated
that legislative body thus elected should us sumo
or exercise any legislative functions and thor
enactuents should be regarded Us null and void
nor should the question of its legal existence as
a Legislative body be determined Ivy itself, that
would be allowing the criminal to jui ge Of his
own crime. In section y, of the organic act it
is provided that +" the persons having the highest
number of legal votes in each of said Council
Districts for members Of the Council shall be
declared by the Governor to be duly elected to
the Council, and the persons having the highest
number Of legal votes for the House of Repre-
sentatves, shall be decla, ed by the Governor du-
ly elected members of said House, The pro-
clamation of the Governor required verified
notice OF contest, when one was made, to he
fleu with him within four days after .he election.
Within that time he did not obtain information
TO force fraud in any except the following
districts. and i'll Theses there .terial defects
in the returns of election. Without deciding
upon his power to set aside elections for force
and fraud, they were set aside for the following
reasons.
In the lat strict, because the words, "by
lawful resident voters" were stricken from the
return.
In the Cd district, because the oath vas admin
istered Nv q. W. Taylor, who was not authorized
to adm mister OATH
In the Sd district, because material erasures
from the printed form Of the oath were purpose
ly made.
In the 4th district, for the same reason.
In the 7th dIstric., because the judges were
not sworn at all.
In the lth district, because the returns show
the election to have oeen held viva rocs instead
of by ballot.
In the 18th district, because the words 6 BIZ
lawful residents' were stricken from the return.
Abstract of the Returns Of Election Of May y, 1885.
PLACE. PRo-SLA. ESTATE.