Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-04-30

The facts connected With the election of the
Border r uffan Legislature are briefly but clear
ly set forth in statement presented TO the
Committee on Elections by Ex-Governor Rec
der of Kansas. Let every one read it. lie
proceeds to state the facts which he stands rea-
dy to prove, as follows:
"That Immediately before the S0th day of
March 1856, being the day fixed for the cleo
| ton Of a Legislature for the Territory of Kan
sas, large bodies of men without pretensions
of residence in the Territory, came over from
the noighborirg counties of the State of Mis-
! souri,, armed and organized into companies,
With their proper leaders, and supplied with
| provisions, fodder, accommodations for camp
ing, ammunition, and in one case at least, with
4 artillery, That they marched into the Terri
tory with banners and marshal music and en-
camped in parties in the vicinity OF different
election polls shortly before the said election,
for the purpose of preventing the people of
/ the Territory from electing Members of the
Legislative Assembly as provided by the Act
4 ofCongress, of taking the power into their own
/ hands and By intimidation or violence taking
| possession Of the polls, and themselves going
! Legislature some Of whom. thus elected,
/ we're non-residents Of the Territory.
ssThat the country having been recently set
+ tied, and the people as yet few and sparse and
comparatively unknown to each other, unorga-
nzed, and unproyided with resources of any
kind, were ofcourse compelled to submit.
THAT in the First Election District thercl
! rro-,D -, AZ &
these invaders on the ground, who declared
that they came to vote and would vote at all
hazards of life aud property, and accordingly
did vote, outnumbering the inhabitants, and
by their violent conduct lettering them from
voting.
'.That in the Second Election District a par
y Of several hundred of these persons, on be-
ing refused leave to vote without testifying to
their residence, made an effort to dcmolish
the house in which the election was held, and
finally, by threats and violence, drove the
Judges from the ground and substituted others
from their own body, while the actual residents
of the district generally retired TO their homes
and declined voting.
s.That in the Third Election District sever
al hundred of them took possession Of the polls
with similar manifestations of violence and
intimidation, substituted election officers from
among themselves and took the entire control
of the election, the inhabitants retiring from
the ground.
'In the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh
Election Districts, similar bodies of men ap-
peared at the polls with more OF less of mill |
tary organization, and more or less OF intimi- |
dstion and violence; in each case voting for |
Members ofthe Legislature as though they re- |
sided in the Territory, and producing result |
different from that which would have happen I
ed if the elections had been controlled by the
qualified voters of the districts.
s.Tha. in the Sixteenth Election District the |
election was controlled by large number Of
some of whom had como in or
ganized and armed day or two before the c.
lection, and established themselves in camps /
near the polls, and who returned to their homes
in the State of Missouri Immediately after the
election; and some OF whom had come from
Platte County, Mo-, by the steamboat in the
forenoon, voted, and returned hsmc by the
same boat in the evening. And thus over e.
lcVen hundred votes we're polled, Of which not
over three hundred were cast by acturl inhab-
itants Of the Territory. In the Thirteenth T.
lection District very few, if any, Of the actual
participated, in consequence OF the
presence ola large body ofstrangers, who took
the control of the election and polled nearly
the entire vote.
= In the Eighteenth, Ga small district Of some
..-s,s. E.p-e.,ss Piles '"a'l rI4dadady Of
strangers appeared on sHssss q Ps2!s
the number of about sixty, who vS'1yis, and
after took up their line Of march
out ofthe district, and toward Missouri, their +
leader being the Hon. David R. Atchison. In
the Eleventh, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Elec-
ton Districts, the undersigned will eudeayor I
to prove, and believes he can prove, similar
illegal voting.
''on the day fixed for passing upon the re-
turns OF these elections, to wit, the 9TH day of
April, complaints were made TO the Governor
from some of the districts, setting forth these
facts, and there appeared to be defects in some
of the returns. Seven of the said districts
were set aside, and in the remaining cases the
returns being IN form and no complaint being
made OF Illegal votes, as provided in the Pro-
clamation, certificates of election we're granted
according tothem. The facts in regard to the
ncontested districts have come to the know
ledge of the undersigned since that time, and
he has also learned that the reason why the
same were not contested was, that the inhab-
itants we're prevented by intimidation and fear
ofinjnry to life or property from doing so, con
sidering it unsafe to assume the position OF
con Dne Ntbp was acfivp