The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-06-14


City furnishes food for serious retiec-
ton. We give few. The New York
Herald correspondent says:
The ceremonies of the day appear to
have been commenced by the colored
freemen as early as two o'clock this
morning, when delegations of them
sailed forth with tin horns and other
barbarous instruments to arouse the
more slOthful to the important work OF
the day. Long before the polls were o.
pened long line of sable voters, three
and four deep, were in waiting at most
of the precincts. AS large proportion
of the negroes were too Ignorant to an
sWer the questions prOpOunded In such
a way as to coincide with their record
on the registration lists, much valua-
bic time was consumed in taking their
votes, and the consequence was that
large numbers of the whites who were
not in the habit of voting "early and Of
ten" were prevented from casting their
votes. AS a case in point, at ten o.
clock this morning, at the First pre-
cinct, First ward, the list stood two
hundred and twenty-five cOlored and
one white, and Second precinct two
hundred and tWenty-seven cOlOred ana
one white. From all accounts the col
ored vote was almost entirely polled,
while a large portion of the white vote
failed to get in.
The National HateIligencer, the old
Whig organ, has column full of incl
dents. We select the following items:
Throughout the entire day the ne
| groes mOnopOliZed the polls, and eX-
cluded white men from the approaches.
This excited good deal OF feeling;
but the excitement was most intense "a
bout the First Precinct of the Seventh
ward. There was a long line OF color
ed men there, extending along f street,
and around the corner down Four-and-
a-half street to f. In all this dusky
crowd our oldest inhabitants could
scarcely recognize familiar face. In
deed, this was the case at all the pre-
cincts. 1t was manifest that the whole
contest was one between pauper ne
groes, dependent for subsistence upon
the bones thrown them from the Freed
mems Bureau, and the old citizens and
property holders of Washington. In
| the Seventh Ward during the day
double line of white voters, CORES
pOnding to the line of cOlOred voters on
TOuI-dIu-d-IldlI L
| F street, meeting the other line at the
window, with the idea of voting the
whites and cOlOred alternately, and
quiet number of whites were voted
| in this way; but complaint having been
made to Major Richards, Superinten-
dent of Police. he decided that the sep
arate white line could not be permit
| ted to vote in this way, as being unfair
tC 70 in
had stood waiting all day. This deci-
sion created considerable feeling a.
mongst the whites, and it was pro-
posed to open polls at five 2. M, to
| take in a separate white vote.
Considerable additional excitement
was created by a controversy between
Major Richards and Mr.. Thomas Z.
Lloyd in relation to the above decision.
Mr.. Lloyd stated that the double line
had been formed with the consent of
the receivers of votes, and he denied
Mr.. Richards right to thus break up
| line of voters, especially as it was COM
posed of some of the oldest citizens of
| the ward. By this decision the whites
were excluded from voting; and men
who for ten, twenty, thirty, and forty
wears have exercised the elective fran
| chiSe here-men who have property
| interests at stake-were virtually eXclu-
ded from voice in municipal affairs
by horde of strange negroes who have
no more interest in Washington affairs
than the King of DahOmey, and know
AS little as that monarch of its true
wants.
Inall the precincts of the Fourth Ward
the colored people opened the ball with
a good showing, but they polled most
of their strength in the morning. This
was the strong Conservative ward OF
the city. The number of cOlOred men
| that appeared to vote at an early hour
was surprising. The receivers at some
of the precincts were very slow. ES-
pecially was this the case at the Fourth
Precinct. Here four of our oldest citi-
zens were turned away and told that
they were not registered. Mr.. Asbury
Lloyd subsequently appeared and off,
cred O-Vote, and was told he was not
registered. He demanded to see the
books, and found his own name and
that of the three others who had been
rejected duly recorded. At the Third
| Precinct double lines of white and col
ored voters were formed and the ballots
were received alternately.
In the Seventh ward the cOlored peO-
pie were out early. This was the great
negro stronghold, and it seemed to be
a precOncerted movement that the polls
should be taken possession of by them
and held during the day. They therefore
paraded the streets at 2 O'Clock in the
morning, and walked sleepers and made
the air resOund with notes from tin
horns, calling out the faithful. AT 4
O'Clock some seven or eight hundred
colored voters were in line at the First
Precinct, and up to half past 10 A. M.
the number had increased to about one
thousand. AT that time not one white
man was in line at that precinct, and
only about twenty-five white votes had
been received. By an arrangement en-
tered into early in the morning the
committee of ten, vote distributors, &C.,
of each party were permitted to vote
without waiting to fall into line. The
polling proceeded very slowly at this
precinct f;Om various causes, not aver
aging more than one to every five min
uteS.
One of the receivers, j. B. Pierce,
insisted upon examining the books for
the names, and it took him just five
minutes to spell out the name after he
had found it. Although there were So
many persons in line, not more than
100 votes were polled at II o'clock.
1t was observed that but few colored
men were at work yesterday. All
were i'm attendance upon the polls.
Tn some of the wards the cOlOred DeO-