Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-25
FRAUDS IN NEw ORLEANS : a
HHAMEFUL RECORD.

| While the New York Tribune Il publish
ing telegraphic 6ctiOus about frauds com
mitted ia New Orleans by Registrars in the
| interest of "Rebels" at the elections, the
New Orleans papers are printing reports Of
/ triais and convictions Of negro voters who
] periured themselves in order to vote. Two
freedmen, by the names Of Digs and Nc
/ Bright, were arraigned before United States
| Commissioner Warren, charged with per-
jury by H. ID. Thompson, one of the Re-
gislrars. Digs, negro boy Of sixteen or
seventeen, swore that he was twenty-One,
and McBrighl aided him by swearing to
| the same fact, saying that he "knew he
/ was that old" After evidence was given,
| the Commissioner found the negroes guilty
! Of perjury. But, in confederation of the
| fscl that ,Asg we're iEasfs5i ard had ae-
| doubtedIy been insiigated BY ~i,ite nen to
commit the crime, he discharged them with
a severe reprimand
Mr.. Thompson, the Registrar, who made
the complaint against those negroes, was
fer some time the New Orleans correspon-
dent of the New York Times and the Her
aid. We take from the report of the ex-
animation of the case, in the New Orleans
Times, the following:
Mr. Thompson stated this was but one
ont Of hundreds Of frauds attempted on
him in bis capacity as register of voters;
that very frequently young boys, after be-
ing turned away from the office, would
step outside the door, and be directed in
loud tone of voice, by members of the
| Radical party, what to say. This had fire.
| qnently been reported to him by officers of
the police. He had presented many aft
davits, subscribed to before Justice Clifford,
relative to the ages of applicants for suf-
frage. In every instance the year was in
different writing from the body of the affi-
davit. To many of his inquiries as TO
whether the applicant had any knowledge
ofthe nature Of the oath he wished to take,
the colored men replied ga white man
wrote that and said il was all right"
Mr.. Thompson gave it as his firm con
| viction that there were at least two thou
sand colored men registered whose votes
were illegal. He considered it 8 fraud and
an outrage on any community, and intended
| TO file protest, with sworn statement of
| the frauds coming under his immediate
| knowledge, in the United States Court He
stated in his testimony that he had no de-
sire 10 see the parties accused in his sfida-
| Wit punished, as he could not but believe
them the victims Of the rascality of their
| political leaders, but it was his wish to ex-
! pose at least one instance Of the wholesale
! fraud that had been committed.
Mr.. United States Commissioner War
rem, after heaSing all the evidence, gave it
as his opinion that there had been COM
mitted a wholesale subornation Of perjury
utterly unparalleled in his recollection.
He considered it not only matter of
Justice, but absolutely necessary that the
| perpetrators of this great fraud should be
arrested and punished. This he thought
was the only instance that ever came under
his observation where ignorance of the law
could be offered as an excuse, but in this
case be considered it would be useless to
| put the United States to the expense of
| trying these parties accused when 1t was
| evident that they had not only been aided
and abetted, but persuaded by their I'M
principled political rulers to commit the
! grave crime of which they we're charged.
| Under these circumstances he permitted
them TO go with some wholesome advice on
the gravity of the crime alleged, and
warning of the evil they would fall into, by
listening to the criminal instructions of a
crew Of political adventures.
OF the coercion and intimidation prae-
tioed upon the negroes by the Radicals, the
Roaplne says:
We are assured by colored men, black
men, freedmen, that they would gladly
vote against the csrpet-bag people, but
they are too much afraid OF the clubs to
which they belong TO do 30, nor dare they
forsake the clubs They are actually afraid
Of their lives. They are marched to-day
under the eyea Of detectives TO make them
vote the whole Radical ticket.
Cannot the colored Conservatives be
protected against their oppressors? Has
slavery only been transferred from the do
minion of the Southern white man to be
the more ANONYMOUSLY welded by the
carpet-bagger2
The New Orleans Times, of the 18th,
speaking of the same subject says:
Proofs Of the nefarious manner in which
votes have been attempted to be manufac-
tured by the carpet-baggers are accumulat-
ing az the election proceeds, subornatiOu
of perjury by persuading the poor ignorant
freedmen to swear out certificates Of loss OF
registration papers, under various names,
is one Of the most patent of their wicked
frauds. We have before us two of these
certificates sworn to before one +. Clifford
| First Justice of the Peace. On one of them
! is the Endorsement of the Commissioners
Of Election, that the owner Of the certi6-
, cate being duly sworn, stated that he had
registered in Shreveport, La, last year, not
{ | withstanding che oath before Judge Clifford
declares that he WIS duly registered in the
parish of Orleans. The other certificate
| is Of the same fraudulent character and
furnishes the same indisputable proof o
Z the perjury.
The negroes all vote in gangs, led up by
their carpet-bag manipulstors. Many o
n them who desire to vote the Democratic
. ticket, are oyerawed by their coloreC
. brethren are logged and forced by threat
to take the Warmoth ticket aud are theI
e dragged up and are compelled to vote
a Hundreds .of the better sort of negrOe
manifest bitter disgust for the 'thievini
rascals," as they call them, who have beel
y fleeing them 10 the clubs in various ways
e But they dread the vengeance of their club
= which are bound together by secret Oath'
and are actually in a condition of bOndsg
Is 10 the carpet-baggers more direful than tia
4, from which they were freed by the war
n -
4 THE FAMOUS sEDITION CASE.