Litchfield enquirer., 1869-03-11
Hon. W. Fl. Barnum.

The re-nomination of Mir. W. Fl. Bar mum by the Democracy of this Congress sional District must be source sof regret to honest men of all parties-to the men who hate political corruption and desire to see purity of elections restored among us. On our first page will be found an ex- cellent article from the Hartford Post upon this nomination which We cannot doubt re- fleets the universal feeling throughout the State regarding this matter. There are three objections to MT. Barnum, either of which ought to secure his defeat-the last so serious, that his success would disgrace the District:
 1. He is not qualified for the position.
 g. He has, throughout his past term, grossly and inexcusably neglected the du- ties of that position. -,.--..-.,.a.
 B. He is shameless, wholesale, corrup- ter of voters. @ C 1..i
 Our first position can require but little argument. It is notorious fact that Mir. Barnum cannot rise and make even plain statement of factin deliberatiye body. Nor has he any other qualification for the position. He is not well educated man; we might almost term him . an illiterate man. In short his is most fragrant in stance of that evil British custom which is creeping on us, of nominating men who will pay immense sums of money into the hands of political managers for elec- ton purposes.
 To sustain our second position we rely on the record itself. The Fortieth Con- gress met for the first time after MT. Bar num's election in July, 1867. On consult ing our newspaper files and such portion of the Globe as has reached us, we find the Ayes and Noes recorded ninety-four times on the doings of the House between July 1867 and March 4. 1869. In only Abirsy-four of these votes does the name of Mr. Bar. mum appear as present and voting. His illness will of course account for his ab- sence during portion of one session, but not for his constantly recurring absences. It seems to us that such evidence of such gross, inexcusable negleetis unanswera- ble. s. -.s [a ye<aGq ahH 4s-o .5Zad |
 Our last and by far the most serious charge against Mir. .Barnum is that be. is g system atic corrupter of voters. This statement will hardly need verifcation in the Seven - teenth Senatorial District, where his polit-. cal ways are we'll known; nor with those who have read the evidence taken by the Congressional committee which was pub lished about eighteen months since. a,O On that examination several witnesses ,ytesti- fled directly to his having personally cor rupted, or undertaken to corrupt, voters. One of his own friends and employees, Eli Ensign, book-keeper of the Barnum, Rich ardson Go. testified that, Ion the Saturday night previous to the election, the sum of $1O, was paid to each; of twenty-five to thirty men in the employ of the firm, as q present. The same book. keeper admitted having drawn g, 300 from the Iron Bank on election day, the disposal of which did n ot appear on the books of the firm, about which he equivocated in his testimony, and regarding which .5hef had memoranda with alterations apparent and made, he was finally driven to confess. on the nor ming of the exanination. Then, too. no less than four witnesses, one of them an inmate of MT, Barnum's, family and a trusted political agent, mysteriously dis appeared just before the arrival of the committee, at Falls Village!t An intelli- gent Waterbury gentlena an who happened to be present during part of tue exami- nation, says in tho American: a tab. a19
 The wholesale bribery of voters is admitted on all hands l; the only point of controversy is the wisdom of an exposure. No one denies ulat ". II. Bdrnum systematically gaUe $50 and $100 for single uotes: He kept free liquor in all the doubt full towns, for two days before election and in such places voters were invited to walk from the polls to the committee rooms, antere he price Of Haeir' suffrage was paid Co them ooer Q cou,ater. 1-s-5
 On the 8th of November, 1867, about three weeks after the examination in ques- tion, there appeared in the, LitchHeld Sen tine,a communication from Canaan of near- ly column in length, in reply to the state. ments in the American, from which We exs tract the following remarkable confession:- olYd Brftuunta Teapot for r-~--------1- @ <!/f6r ONE DOLLAR. tf | f1Her-plated Table Forks for | suG q At> M at tfs ONE DOLLAR. A [ q &yer-nlated Table Snoons for i < ''i'+- ONE DOLLAR. iCL f.plated five bottle revolving Castor for PiS
 The evidence already bsfore the pubae is sufficient to convince any reasonable man that Wm. H. Barnum knowingly disbursed thousands of dollars to buy poor mems votes-or, to use the language of his apologist, ito prevent them selling their votes to P. T. Barnun's agents. "i .sIs that the kind of man the citizens of tho Fourth Congressional District will prefer to Sid. ney B. Beardsley? g g,~@.,,rsr b..a ~.s9
 Republican Meetings
 HoN. SIDNEY B. BEARDsLEY, will address the citizens of Iitchfield Co,,rtv ot tbe