The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1865-09-20

such was the tredtiDeus tuO Po0P'S ~
Columbia County received and fhePlgs
chickens and sheep were about the only
deserters the soldiers caught.
/ But there was another reason which the
abolitionsts subsequently hunted up to
account for the presence Of those one thous-
and soldiers. 1t was, that there had been.
lot of Democratic meetings in the county
some time before 1t was pretended that
they were secret and therefore objection
! able and that in the face Of 'sKnow
4 Nothing Lodges and Loyal League
Rooms which the opposition had been
constantly running for years.
On the point of secresy Nathan ]. Hess,
I a witness for the administration, swears
I that he attended one that was secret, but
( that be was not member. OF course il
! must have been verY secret, when pan
rot member could attend; aud that b.
attended but one. and that at the house of
! Peter Kase. He also swears that It was
in June 1868 and all the evidence given.
proves the meetings to have ceased
| year or sixteen months before the arrests of
August 81, 1864. And yet every thing
else failing those little meetings of twenty
FIVE or thirty persons, assembled ia School
Houses and which, for more than year
had ceased to be held and which large
mass OF testimony shows TO have been en-
! tirely innocent in character, are given as
a reason why a thousand armed men
should invade Columbia County.
Fellow Citizens, no amount Of special
| pleading can weaken the force of these
| facts. The statements have made 10 you
are substantiated by sworn testimony
| And the conclusion is irresistible, that the
military raid into Columbia County was
| for political purpose, aud had 40 other
| object whatever. Let US examine tbe
facts bearing upon this point little more
| fully.
The State election was rapidly drawing
near-True, Forty four Democratic voters
were securely locked up in Fort Miffiin-
| Gen. Cadwalader had retired from the
field after his campaign on the Fishing
Creek to his quarters in Philadelphia,
with all his blushing honors thick upon
him, and some still more plant tool must
be found to finish up the work. A Colo
mel (now GeneraD A bright was detailed
to hunt up something that would be good
enough Morgan till after the election.
And then came hard swearing, aud Sc
cret meetings, and midnight conferences,
and starchamber examinations ;-then
disappointed political aspiraDts could safe-
y wreak their vengeance against Demo-
cratic voters, and Indulge in those person
al grudges which political partisanship
had euceDdered or embittered. Many
days were spent in this unhallowsd work
all the willing testimony that offered
itself was taken in secret-cit Gems were
arrested and brought into camp and de-
tanned under guard, until something was
extorted from their fears or their punish
meut, and those who knowing nothing re-
fused to fabricate, were subjected repeaied-
I ly, TO this military mode Of taking testi-
mony.
Finally when every thing was supposed
to be ready, the gallant Colonel returned
to Bloomsbury, carpet bag stuffed, and to
a little meeting OF abolitiouists, got up for
the OCCASION, and with that testimony as
his text, he opened the political campaign
in Columbia County. There upon that plat
form, in loud and pompous voice, he de-
tailed and deScauted upon the statements
~ ost Of them false, taken down after an
! irresponsible oath, 10 secret, exparte, and
without a cross examination, and that
speech became the key note OF the politi-
hope es,ly broken down under Cadwalader,
was rcsurrected by Albright, and was
now purely political.
But the county of Columbia was not yet
considered safe. Two years before il had
iguominiousIy defeated the straight re-
I publican candidate for congress; and il
! was feared that now it might elect my
/ friend Col. Poilet straight Democratic
candidate. 1t would never do to let him
get iato congress--be would make the fur
ay of of the shoddy contractors and the
robbers of the public mouey. That at all
hazards must be prevented.
The county was put under strict mill
targ urveiltance--night after night citi-
gems were arrested. detained under guard,
locked up IN jlil, or hurried to some point
beyond the county-reports were circula-
ted that others were 10 be arrested ,
for the pose doubtless of inducing them
TO leave home for the time being-lists of
prominent Democrats were made and
handed about with mock secrecy, aud in
timations Of their arrest given Out-Ths
Loyal League held il secret nightly
meetiBgs-the abolition newspaper at
Bloomsburg gave notice that every draft
ed man who approached the polls to de
poste his vote, would be arrested as a
deserter-and every other device known to
political rascaIity, was made use of to ia
innate and disfranchise voters.
] But the grand climax of this never-to-be-
forgotten Political raid was reached on the
night before the October election.