Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-01-27
The baltimore Election Frauds.

The baltimore Election Frauds.
I. will be remembered that after the re-
cent elections held in Baltimore, efforts were
made bythose essentially republican papers,
the Patriot and Clipper" to produce
the impression that the reform party had
grossly exaggerated the excitement and the
deeds of infamy perpetrated at the pols.-
The reform candidates, stimulated by COM
mendable devotion to uphold the elective
franchise, contested the elections Of those
who waded to a seeming triumph through
| the blood of innocent citizens, and in the
face ofinfamy and tyranny that was not par
alleled in the reign of Jacobinism in France
10 elicit the facts. witnesses from the
various wards in the city were summoned
to testify before magistrates as to what they
saw, heard and suffered at the various polls s.:
these witnesses were cross-examined by
Know Nothing COUNSEL and all the facts
thus brought out make up between three
and four hundred pages, closely printed -
From the extracts we have seen in the
"Sun' and American" we must confess
that we and the people generally have had
but faint idea of the deep degradation aud
turning infamy which belong to the Know
Nothing party of Baltimore. And this opin.
ION derives strength from the fact that a
great number Of the men who gave this tes-
tlmony are gentlemen whose social position.
probity. and general integrity and inteli-
gence are readily acknowledged and appre-
ciated, and ought to be accepted as disin-
terested witnesses BY the opposition, as a
large number of them are Old Line Wings
and Disguised ex Know Nothiugs.
From these extracts we learn that scores
OF men, including many naturalized citizens.
we're decoyed, forced from their ordinary av-
ocations, upon which families were depend
ing for Subsistence, and locked up in mis-
cradle cellars, or ''coops," until the day Of
election, when they were led in small squads
to various polls, and some Of them made to
vote the Know Nothing ticket half dozen
times. While in the hands of these outlaws
and rufhans, they we're menaced, beaten,
kicked, and subjected to every species Of
insult and injury which Know Nothing de-
monism could inhict. This mass Of testi-
nony, indicating the most fragrant violation
of the elective franchise that ever disgraced
the annals Of American history, has gone to
the Legislature Of Maryland, where, it is to
be hoped, action will be taken to rid Balti-
more of this heavy incubus of shame and
disgrace, that has blotted her name and
made it by-word and reproach throughout
the civilized world
The most lamentable feature evolved by
this testimony is the completely of men III
authority, whose sworn duty was to sustain
the laws Even Mayor Swami has been
subject to just suspicion and instead of pur
suing hightoned course, due alike to his
official position and sworn duty, he refused
the cooperation Of the best men in the city,
and hence stained his official robes with
blood and infamy. Such. too, are the means
by which H. Winter Davis and Morrison
Harris are now claiming seats in the House
of Representatives---th former an acknowl-
edged enemy of the South, and the latter
setting himself up to reprove men vino VIC
late the decorum and dignity Of the House.
Baltimore must rid herself Of such meas
ures and such men. and frcwn upon such
dlsreputabe sheets as the Clipper and Pa
trit, before she can assert her claim to the
support Of the South in trade and coin
merce.