The Kansas herald of freedom. [volume] (Wakarusa, Kan. Territory) 1854-1860, 1859-02-05
From tie National intelligence
To the People of the Uni,ed s,a,ss

|
Jones, Eco, one of the delegates from
johnson county, in the Territory of Kan
sas, to the convention which framed the
Lecompton Constitution, one of its most
ardent advocates, and also, as will appear
from his own statement and the returns,
one of the judges ofthe election of October,
1857, whose name purports to be affixed
to the notorious pretended returns from
the precinct of Oxford, in said county:
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Nov. %, 1858.
10 the Editor of the Democrat: Upor
the returns of an election held at the Ok
ford precinct. in johnson county, Kansas,
in October, 1887, my name appeared a.
one of the judges. never put it there,
nor consented that any one else should do
so. The first l knew of it was from the
Lawrence Herald of Freedom. 1 might
have made this statement sooner, and
probably should, but for the persuasion Of
friends and the excitement which pre-
vailed at the time of the transaction
| did not choose to expose the affair vol
unfairly at the time, though l should no.
have hesitated to have done so if had
been called on by any tribunal having
jurisdiction of the matter. In September
last communicated the above statement,
in substance, to the St. Louis Republican
from Westport, Missouri. came here to
ascertain whether it had been received
and was unable to do so. Upon calling
upon one of the editors of that paper this
morning he declined to publish any state
ments in the premises. 1 therefore submit
this statement in the Democrat, and trust
it will receive place in its columns. do
this in justice not only to myself but to
the country. / am aware that my conduci
is blameable, but would nevertheless have
the case properly understood. What the
threats and curses of my enemies in Kan.
sas failed to obtain in times of great ex-
element, 1 now voluntarily give. 1 am
not disposed to implicate Others, and will
not do so except it be in self-defence.
By publishing the above you will do
me great favor. Respectfully,
BAIT JONES.
The extraordinary character of this let
ter naturally excited grave doubts as to
its authenticity; but it is now ascertained
and admitted to be genuine.
1t will be remembered that the returns
from the Oxford precinct were rejected
by our joint proclamation, issued at Le-
compton on the 10Th of October, 1857. For
this official act we were violently de.
nounced by the great body of that portion
of the press of the United States, which
subsequently sustained the Lecompton
Constitution; and the genuine character of
the rejected returns was vehemently as.
serted, on that occasion, both in and out
of the Territory.
Reference to the proclamation will show
that these returns was rejected because
they were clearly illegal and invalid under
were beyond all doubt simulated and
fictitious" The legal objections stated
were clear and obvious. First, these re-
turns were net authenticated by the oath
of any one of these Judges or clerks, al
though the laws of Kansas equired such
an oath to be taken by all of them, as an
imperative prerequisite to valid election
return. Second, the paper presented to
us and rejected, was not one of the original
poll books required by the law, but a
mere statement of the votes pretended to
be given. la our proclamation we distinct
ly disavowed any authority to go behind
the returns, for the purpose of judging the
qualifications of voters, or of purging the
polls, or of rejecting returns, formal and
valid on their face, for any reason short OF
actual forgery. Under our respective oaths
of Office, we might have been constrained
to reject the Oxford papers as illegal and
valid upon their face, even if, in other re-
spects; they had been correct and genuine.
The simulated and fictitious" character
Of these pretended returns was evident to
us upon the face of the papers; yet we
deemed it important, in so grave matter
to visit the Oxford precinct; and we there
ascertained, with positive certainty, that
of the sixteen hundred aud tweuty.eishi
votes purporting to have been given, moi
one tenth had in fact been polled, and
that nearly all the names attached to the
statement were palpable forgeries. We
knew that village of some half dozer
houses, IN precinct of most meagre pop.
ulation, could not have given 1928 votes
and our averments in that respect are ex.
clusively proved by census, since takei
BY authority of the Legislature, showing
the entire number of voters in the precinc
to have been but forty-three. At the
election held in August last, under tn,
auspices of the present Federal Admins
tration. when the whole vote given in tn,
Territory was larger by many Thousands
than at any preceding period, the who'll,
return from Oxford was but 20, instead O
1928, as when rejected by US. A simila
insignificant result was exhibited at tn,
election in October, 1858. And, finally
to remove all doubt, one of the most activ,
partisans of the Lecompton Constitution
one of the judges whose name purportet
to be signed to the pretended returns 0
October, 1857. after silence of more thai
a year, now admits the forgery and de
clares that his name was affixed to tn,
paper neither by himself nor by his au
thority.
The calumniators who denounced u
for rejecting these acknowledged counter
feits, must now either retract the assault
made upon this ground, or by adherence,
to their attacks, or even by silent acqui
essence, become themselves accomplice
in this nefarious transaction.
Upon the face of the Lecompton Con
stitution it appears that this Oxford for
gerry was incorporated into and made
part of that instrument, by the Legislative
apportionment avowedly based upon it
while the schedule of the same instrumen
prepared all the machinery and provides
all the means and appliances for repeatini
and multiplying similar frauds under tn
proposed State organization, all of whicl
were subsequently proved to have bee
efficient for the purpose designed, by tn
successful preparation of numerous gi
gantic frauds in the pseudo State cleo
tons Of January and December following
From information recently obtained e
which at the time we had no suspicion
we do not now doubt that if the commit
tee of the House of Representatives ha
made the investigation ordered by tn
resolution of the last session, they woul
have disclosed the fact that the censu