The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-08-11
AFFAIR. H K..,ucLy.
Correspondence of The Cincinnati Commercial
LEXINGTON, Ky, August 8, 1865.

LEXINGTON, KY, August 8, 1865
"vote as You please, but if you vote
against Napoleon you'll be shot" And
tie first consul was selected" Emperor
by large majority, not FROM the fact Of
his great populaFity, or the desire of the
people Of France t9see him on the throne,
but from singuld and unaccOuntable
aversion men seemed to have to being
shot. vote as tou please said, in
effect, a few of the Headers of the Amend
ment party here yesterday morning,
"but if you vote against our friends,
we'll have yon. arrested" But the peo-
ple of Kentucky ire not Frenchmen, and
those who attempted tue NapoleOnic
method of election, fund, ere long, that
they had reckOned without their host.
The first reminder / had of its being
election-day, yesterday, was a file of sol
diers passing along the street, with sew
eral citizens under arrest, and On their
way to the guard-house. 1t called to
mind scenes of war and conflict in the
distant South, which | had fOolishly sup
posed were brought to conclusion with
the surrender Of the rebel armies. |
went to the vicinity of the polls and
found state of affairs existing for which
history furnishes. no parallel but that OF
France which / have quoted: A citizen
approached the Courthouse just rs ar
rived and as he was about to enter for
the purpose OF depositing his ballot, he
was accosted by a captain of the State
Guard, who inquired of him what he
was doing there2" The natural reply
was, II came to vote" "Well, sir, you
can't vote, and yOn'd better go home or
III arrest you" by whose authority
am prevented from voting" "By the
authority of General Wade. Your name
is on this list, and my Instructions are to
prevent every man whose name is on
this list from voting, and to arrest them
if they come about here "Well, I'll go
to the Judges and let them decide whether
| shall vote or not" The citizen step.
ped forward to go tn the polls; the cap
tain beckOned to couple of soldiers, and
i'm five minutes Mr. - was i'm the guard
house
Soon after another citizen came along.
what's your name ?" said the Captain
in command.
"Well. let me see if your name is on
my list"
Ont came the list of "disloyal" ones
from the Captains pocket, and down
went the Captains eye along the margin
to see if the individual before him had
been disfranchised The citizen waits with
trembling anxiety for the decision of his
fate. As good men as he, and as loyal,
have been arrested already, and are now
in duress, and what is to keep them com
pany? But he is soon relieved by the
commandant of the polls (ths is a new
military office, hitherto unknown), who,
not finding his name OH the mdes erpm-
yaiorius, tells him "all right, you can
vote" "Open order says a sergeant,
and the file of soldiers fall back on either
side, while he who has just been weighed
in the balances and not found wanting,
proceeds to cast his vote, repeating to
himself, no doubt, the familiar lines OF
Pierpoint-
How light the ballots fall,
Like snOwhakss on the sod,
And execute freeman's will
As lightning does tho will 0i God
Before l had been at the polls much
longer, another arrest was made. This
time it was done without questioning the
prescribed individual Some person had
said to the officer of the guard, Arrest
that man." and as that was exactly what
the officer was there for, he Obeyed the
Injunction, and for the monstrous crime
of approaching the polls, Mr.. was
marched to the lookup. And 50 it kept
on until the following correspondence
occurred, by telegraph, between the
Sheriff of Fayette County and Governor
Bramlette.
LEXINGTON, August 3, 1865.
"To Cor Z. f. Bramlette, Frankfort, Ky.:
"a military force occupies both voting
places in this city, and have arrested
three men, one for voting, and two for
being in the ourt-house, intending to
vote. Thereupon the officers of the cleo
tion in one precinct declined to go on
with the election under military dicta-
tion. The sheriff at one precinct was ar
rested, and taken to headquarters, while
iu the discharge of his duties. The citi
zens stand in front of the polls, and indi-
cate to the soldiers those who are not cu-
titled to vote, and all such so pointed uut
are not allowed to present themselves to
the Judge. What shall do!
[Signedl w. w. DowDEN,
Sheriff Fayette County
FRANKFORT, August Z, 1865