Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-04-24
NO s.
Arkansaa-An Hafl I


The Arkansas Weekly Republican OF
the Ist inst. reaches MS from Little
Rock, radiant with exultatfon over the
/ recent Election, whereby it claims that
the new impartial Suffrage Constitution
has been ratified by a majority Of 6,O64.
But its county returns show majority
/ OF 1892. The Republican says of the
| election;
"If persistent lying, systematic swim
/ ding, and brOW-beating of cOlOred
/ men, and precOucerted plans of viO-
1euce and fraud could have defeated re-
I'cOnstruction in the State, the Rebels
ought to have triumphed, for they have
! tried all of them.
The facts in regard TO their conduct Of
| the campaign, especially in the SOUTH
ern part Of the State, are well known
and abundant, and when the time
comes win be fully proven.
Every Union man who has arrived
here from thar region since the election
tells the story of their fraud, their vio-
I lence, and their rebelliOus mObs. The
old Rebel leaders confidently expected
to carry these counties in the South bv
melting their brutal and degraded mas
ses against the freedmen, and their plan
proved pretty successful. That this
was their intention, and that the plan
was carefully prenaettiated, was admit
ted by some of their drunken and in
discreet followers at Little Rock
Had it not been for the rssolute ener-
gy, indomitab1e courage, and unsWerv-
ing loyalty CT the free dnlen, the COnsti-
tuition would have been defeated AS
il was, hundreds of these humble, but
courageous, eolored men walked and
rode miles 70 where they could vote
Nreely and fairly"
Here is an extract from another arti-
Gle to the same effect:
eve quote the following account
from an official letter written by a gem
a rrTN =
the election in Union County. The let
ter is dated on the 14th inst, the second
day Of tue election, and says;
The roads are guarded by mem bers Of
the 'White Mans Club" and freed
men approaching the polls are turned
back. Every white man capable of vO-
ting has been got out. Even some Un-.
ion (White) men have been compelled TO
vote against the Constitution depu-
tation of the S'White Mans Club" hav-
ing waited upon them and persuaded
them to vote. j look upon the election
as a farce.
we have other letters in our possess |
sion, to the same pgrpOrt. Some of the
Registers write that the blacks, after
they had voted FOR the Constitution, fol- /
lowed them fretn the precincts, not 'dar- I
ing to remain at their homes.
The officers at the civil polls were in
some precincts hOOted 9t and fnsulted
by the CoWardly mobs who surrounded
the polls and at other precincts the
civil commissioners did not dare to open
their polls, the Rebel pressure was so
intense and bitter.
COlored voters would come from the
plantations in squads of fifteen. twenty
hVe,and perhaps from three to five only /
would get to the polls to vote, the rest Z
being bullied or driven from the polls
by threats of violence, or that theyI
would be discharged or driven from /
their homes"
There seems to be no lCuRer' reason to L
doubt that Arkansas, though her White !
voters are a large majority, has recon /
strUcted herself and fully returned to /
the UniOn,--E. y. Tribune.