The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-12-06
TIE 81 MEM0RIAh 4 NC OF CITIZENS OF BALTT-
MORE TO THE GENERAL ASSEuRTV az
MARYLAND IN FAVOR OF REFORM,

TIE MEMORIAL OF CITIZENS OF RAITL
MORE TO THE GENERAL ASSENRIV 6L
MARYLAND IN FAVOR OF REFORM,
TO the Honorable the Senate
and House of Delegates of Wa,,lopd.
The memorial of the Undersigned citizens Of Raj
umore respectfully represents:
mat Tor some years past, there has been grow.
i1S up, IN inns community, among certain portions
OIL ts inhabitants, spirit of resistance to the law;
ana OF reckleSsncsS in their open violation utterly
suoaerslVe OF good government, and fatal to the Sc
curly ana peace OF society. Your memOrialists do
hot ueem IL necessary, here to dwell upon all the
| manifestations of this spirit or to trace its nro
gress, lnasmuch as its DEVELOPMENTS have unbonni
ly, become matter of history and have not onIv i'm
paired the prosperity and sued the good name of
Baltimore, but have brought dishonor on the State
ana shame upon republican institutions Most
conspicuous among the varied demonstrations Of
Cne lawlesSness referred to, have been its treason
aGe assaults upon the right of sunrage-that ripbt
WHICH the people OF Maryland, when last in Con
| Venton assembled, declared in the words or
! their revolutionary ancestors to be stba boSt
| security OF liberty, and the foundation Of
! all Tree government" Your memoriaIists do
not speak the language of partsanshp or eyap-
geratlOn, when they deliberately and soemnly ron
resent to your Honorable Bodies that by the ont
RACES OF which they complain, every election osten
slby held in the City of Baltimore for the last our
years, mas been made, in greater or less degree
mocKery and mere usurpatiOn. Actual violence
armed, open and bloody, has for the most mart CON
trolled the polls those occasions excluding there
from, altogether, the naturaized portion ofthe vo
IerS, ana rendering the access thereto of native
porn citizens, perilOus ALWAYS, and to a great ev
tent impossible. In aid of actual violence and
leading to the same results, system of intimda-
tion, equally criminal in its purposes and extensive
IN lts operation, has etfectually closed the ballot
poN 10 the umid, the aged and the infrm so that
by the one method or the other or bv the eoncnr
renee OF both, and by the fraud to which both haro
gwen license and impunity, the people of this civ
dlIerlng IN political sentiments with the outlaws
who rule them, have been as effectUallv disfrar
chlsed, as If any other despotism had overcome
them. The organizations, by which these crraot
wrongs nave been perpetrated, have been ostenta-
uousIy public the individuals composing them for
the most part, among the most abandoned and des
perate men in the community, stained with rano,t
eu ana aggravated crimes, and well known to tba
authorities to be so, yet enjoying, to all practical
purposes, not only mpunity, but protection and IA
VOr. 1t VIII not therefore be matter of surnrisn
to your Honorable Bodies, that they have besi
tated at nothing in the achievement Of their ends
and that the proStration of the elective franchise
mas been brought about, whenever it was found
eXpedlent or necessary, even by the sacrifice of
human life INV y"
For state Of things so repugnant to civilization
ana humanity your memOrialiSts, under ordinary
circumstances, would hardly need redress from the
Legislature OF the State. RcprcsentinU as tbay
DO, IN their sOIictude for the enforcement Of tba
law and the protection and maintenance of pubic
and private right, large majority of the LEGAL
voters OF Baltimore, of all parties. they would in
less anomalous condition Of political affairs have
that redress altogether in their own hands Rrt
the misfortune of their condition is that in the
contest between the law and its violators tbn Off
GERS and ministers of the law have been and con-
uhue openly arraved AGAINST the law or sncratIv
and effectually engaged in UNDERMINING If win
system OF criminal Justice which, amid all its
defects, has heretofore been annie and efIicier+
enough, when honestly administered to detect and
punish CRIME the penal laws of the State have ceased
Baltimore q a to nvil,
police force powerful enough for every exirencv hn
hves and franchises of individuals and the peace
anu oruer OF the community are at the mercy of
banded ruihanlSm. There is not your memoriaI
lists respectfully represent and asscvcrata and f,.
some years past there has not been any efficiency
or fidelity, within the corporate limits of Balti
more, IN the administration execution of crimi-
nal justice, preventive rctributvc II election
after election, the good citizens of this community,
nave appealed, in vain, to the officers of the law
Tor rchet and protection. Their aupeaIs have bnnp
contemptuouSy sighted and the truth of their
complaints has been over and again ofinsvaIv do
med, in the face of demonstration and knnvIcdro
10 winch no eyes could honestly be shut Trpnn
every succeeding occasion the faithlesspess and
iheIhclencY OF the constituted authorities have
oeen made more and more manifest, until at last
even the mask Of loyalty has been thrown Off
ana those, to whom the enforcement of the laws
Is entrusted, have stood forth in open com
pllcIty and league with the outlaws corsrir
ing to subVert them. Such, your memorialists
charge, was emphatcaIlv and conspicn.,usIv tbe
case at the election prct ended to b., held in this
city on the 2nd of November last. Under the di-
rection of Judges of Election appointad for tbn
purpose and lending themselves to its consumua-
ton. the polls at the different wards were held in
localities near which muskcts and rifles had been
previously deposited, in large quantities with tn,
knowledge of the police, to supply the means of in
timidaton or murder. At a large majority of the
polls. the arms so provided were publicly and \ ~
greSsiyely produced, and, at some Of them. unscrn
Pul"uSly used. Two peaceful and unoTending cltj-
Zens We're murdercd-many Others painfully wound
ed, and a still larger number beaten insnIted and
maltreatcd. In the central ward Of the CITY with
in fifty yards of the Mayors office and in fnII yiev-
of the office of the Marshal Of Police and the central
police station, the polls We're violently seized unnn
almost Immediately after they were opened. bv
band OF armed and desperate men: the pcacrf1l
citizens who had assembled there were driven away
under voIley from rifles and pistols and the forci-
Bile possession thus acquired was maintained untU
the haIlot-boX was removed in the cv,ninr. He
gal votes were received throughout the citT with
out scrutiny or ScrupIc, in numbers almost incred
Bile, and with the most unbuShing and pronioatc
disregard of duty, while legal voters in LARGO nTn,
berS were beaten from the polls or prevented in
Suli greater numbers by intimidation and darTnr
from approaching them. In several of the wards
very many persons were dccoyrd into or seized and
confined in Oathsome dcns, and on the dav of cleo
ton iorcibly conveyed from poll to poll. and com
PEELED to vote the ticket of the clubs which had
them in charge, whilst many others were taken
from their dwellings by violence or arrested on the
ana forced to vote their
nation In one instance, in particular, in the pre-
clnct OF the second ward, voter who rntoou-
strated with the awless men who had
thus seized German citizen was shot
by the perpetrators Of the offence and has
since died Of his wounds. The large police fore. Of
the city was either purposelv kent away by tha
municipal authorities, or, when present cxertrd
itself to the utmost. in aid OF the rioters bv arrest
ing every respectable and laW-abiding citizen who
attempted to assert his rights or defend his person
he members returned to your Honorable Bodies
as elected and all the other public officers anpear
ing to have been chosen, on that dav. owe what il
called their election to the means which vour me-
mOrialists have detailed, and your memorialists do
solemnly protest, iu the name of the law and of
pubic decency, against the recognition of them or
any OF them, for single moment or in any wav.
as the choice OF the people of Baltimore for the
places which they claim. Your memoriasts here
by formally contest the election Of Coleman YclIott
to the Senate Of MARYLAND, and of Charles l.
Kraft Thomas Booze, Robert l.. Seth, William A.
Wisong, George Il. Berry, Frederick c. Crowley.
Robert A. McAlliSter Thomas NJ. smith Robert
Turner and Marcus DenisOn, and each Of them to
the House of Delegates Of Maryland. and do here
by further contest the election of each and every
individual and candidate returned as elected in the
city OF Baltimore, on the 2d day OF November last
of whose election and qualifications your Honorable
Bodies, or either of them. under The Constitution
and laws, may Judge. Your memorialists pray
that all the returns, in such cases made, NAV be
set aside, and that the claims and pretensinns of
each and every of the parties, named and deSigna-
ted as aforesaid, under by virtue Of said returns
may be declared null and of no effect.
But the vindicati0n of the right would ne in.
complete, were your Honorable Bodies not to pro-
vide, by suitable legislation. against the repatitiou
of the wrong, and your memOrialists there ore pray
that the General Assembly of MARYLAND will be
pleased to exercise its constitutional powers so that
the freedom Of the baotbox in Baltimore shall be
preserved hereafter, from the invasion of fraud and
violence and the pollution of official cOnuivance.
Nav it please your Honorable Bodies to pass such
laws will separate the police power of the State
within the corporate limits Of Baltimore. from the
partisan and personal influences which are made
dangerous by its connection with the municipal
government: to provide for the appointment and
regulation of Judges Of Election apart from such
influences, and tor the punishment of such offences
aud denquencies as they may he guilty of: to ailx
the ntamy and punishment Of felony to all ntim-
daton, violence aud fraud, which shall corrupt the
sources of government by tampering with the puri-
ty and freedom of the haot-box: to cause the divi
sion of the wards OF the city into suitable election
districts, and the ascertainment and registration of
all legal voters therein; to enforce the preservation
of the public peace, election days, by all officers
entrusted with its guardianship, and otherwise, bv
such further enactmeuts the wisdom Of the Legs-
lature may devise, to purify the admnistrat m of
justice; re-estabiSh the supremacy Of the laws; re
store the integrity of republican institutions among
US, and protect the lives and rights of our people
In praving YOUR Honorable Bodies to interfere in
the premises your mem0rialists torbear to enlarge
upon the stake which is held by the State at large
in the fairness and freedom of the elections which
take place in its metropolis. Your memorialists
justice of the General Assembly apart from other
considerations, for their deliverancc from politi
cal and social condition, the humiliatiup existence
of which cannot be questioned, with truth and tha