The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-02-14
THE NEsEO A nag FU1lo.
Interesting Particulars.

that city. He sends the Commercial
Interesting letter, descriptive Of
scenes that occurred at the polls, from
which we make the following extract:
If the reader will come with me
and watch for awhile how the voting
proceeds / promise him novel expe-
Tience. We will not take the first day
of the voting for then 1t was painful
to see the crowd of ragged colored
men standing for hours Ia the pitiless
fe Storm waiting to slip in their tickets
and so fearful of losing their turns
that one who had deposited his vote
found no avenue Of elgress save that
paved with the heads of those behind
Let us choose the third day, for the
air 10 bland and the sky clOudless
There stand the black pilgrims, you
see, ranged (for better order prevails
to-day in double queue. AT the
side Of the window where the vote is
handed in are two pOlcemen-one TO
admit the voter, the other to point
the way out. In front of the window
is the Conservative challenging com
mittee Of four. One OF the four keeps
tally of the vote; another scans the
registration list as the name of each
voter is announced; the third writes
-A down the names net found registered
and the fourth makes himself gener-
ally watchful. Behind the window
three judges are seated around a table
bearing in its center a large pine bal
lot-bOx.
The column of negroes waiting to
vote Is jammed together as If by some
uncomfortable muscular impulse, but
it surges back whenever the barrier
Of the first policeman threatens to
give way, They do not talk to each
other, deeming silence perhaps to be
due to the sacred importance of the
r,n aroccasion. Ut their eye catches yours
@A lyou are Caucasian, remember,) it
falls with an expression of embarrass-
ment, as If they felt that you, being
white looked with keen disfavor on
the act they had drawn up to per-
rraff form. Falstaffs recruits were not
-~,,Q greater ragamuthns. Look at the
garb OF these negroes, and / defy you
to point out one unpatehed garment
IN. fifty. Gray coats and blue coats,
worn out three years ago, still are
forced to serve in a tattered sartorial
invalid corps. One coat doubtless
for Sunday and elections) is made of
.af cheap ingram eaTpeting. Tks panta-
looms are more shred-like than the
coats; the hats advanced to all de
grees of organic decay. Not one in
e. twenty wears boots, and few shoes
retain much Of their original homely
integrity. In shape they might en-
close either q small ham. or the foot
OF any human being deformed by toll
among the clods of cotton fields. III
you study the heads and faces you
will ind more Indications of a gentle
submissive, ease-lOvlng heart than Of
active intelligence or ambitious Gispo-
sition. .0t..s..
the African may be, a hundred years.
of slavery in Alabama have not added
anything attractive to his phrenoiogi-
cal developments That many Of them
are very ignorant of the scope and
meaning of citizenship, is as plain as
their determination to learn more
about it. The hunger to have the
3 So4po6S SS fa a. e9s 1a S's ss
they understand a physical craving
That is what brings them here and
not the expectation of getting free
lands, free rations and free mules
Your Conservative friend may tehyOu
that they look for such windfals; but
talk to as many on the subject as I
have, and you will accumulate the
strongest sort of rebutting evidence.
The last one / sounded looked at me
with a shade of rebuke, and said
No, sab. / spect to git muffin but
what / works hard for, and when Use
sick I'll get dOcked
Enter the first voter He takes off
his hat, and nervously gives his name
to the judges. They run over the
registration list So do the Conserv-
alive challengers, who, as you see, are
afforded every facility to contest and
analyze. If the negro has smooth
face they demand that he swear to his
age, and ne is accordingly sworn. Il
his name be found the judges an
nOunee theeolumn in which it stands,
and the challengers check it off. In
vain the voter, seeing his vote glide
into the box, and making his swn
way out, strives to choke down the
delight that fills him. IF ever YOU
saw an amateur gamester win heavy
stake, (which | trust you never have
unless it was at charming Baden Ba-
den, or some place in New York
where they go with the elergymen to
study vice the better to preach against
-aA it-ahemD you watched the same
sort Of smile on his face, as on the
homely couRtenauee Of this happy
freedman.
Enter the second This middle
aged negro deliberately takes of his.
mittens, removes his hat, runs one
hand nndar his vest rrndncas n lttla