The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1870-06-02

mittee, in drawing up criminal stat
ute, uses such language as this, that
if any person by force, bribery, threats,
intimidation, or otherwise shall him
der, delay, prevent, or obstruct !" that
is to say, if l persuade my friend Car
penter not to vote at all am liable to
pay him $500, and to pay $500 to the
United States, and to be imprisoned.
If persuade him, if I reason with
him, and say to him, "Come, now, tlo
not let you and me vote" and by my
persuasion, by my "otherwise," l
hinder or prevent him from voting on
that occasion, forsooth, I am liable to
be indicted under this section, and al
so to pay him $500, with costs and
such counsel fees as the court may
prescribe. Or if l persuade him to
pair off with me and l then vote, and
in that way should humbug him, by
breaking my pair, should be subject
to this penalty. If broke my palr l
should deserve to be punished, ad-
nit but do not think this is the way
in which to do il. This is criminal
statute which provides for Furnishing
man r--hindering or otherwise y
preventing peasons from voting. But.
that is not all. 1t extends to all who
shall hinder or prevent, "or attempt
to hinder, delay, or obstruct."
What certainty of description =
What certainty there is in such an Of
hinder or prevent? 1 should like to
know what is the attempt to delay
If, undertake to reason with q man
as he goes to the polls that he ought
to vote for A B instead of CD, and
we stop on the road side and reason
the matter, talk it over, and that de-
lays the man, suppose if they can
make out that l did it with bad mo-
tive that would be held to be an at
tempt TO delay the man from voting.
What is the punishment for that P
If | attempt in that way to delay or
hinder man from voting the man is
entitled to $500 for it, and / must be
indicted and pay $500 to the United
States and go to prison besides. Does
not everybody see that it puts men
completely i'll the power of the un-
scrupulous? What man, pray, is safe
with such statute as this? There is
no man against whom some bad man
cannot swear, if disposed to make
money out of him, some offense un-
der this bill. Here is a reward of
$500 for false swearing. There is no
man against whom such a.villain may
not swear that he attempted to hinder
or delay or prevent his voting. You
put men completely at the mercy of
those who swear falsely, and add the
inducement to swear falsely of $500
in their pocket. That is the effect OF
this act.
Sir, has any State ever found it nec-
essary to pass such law as this +? Has
not the purity of the ballot-box been
preserved as well as it ever has been
preserved in any country where there
were elections without such enorml-
ties as these2 And has it come to be
that the adoption of your fifteenth
amendment or anything else has made
it necessary thus to offer premium
for perjury and to put every man in
the community at the mercy of viii
lain?
But, sir, that is not all; let us now
come tothe fifth section; and here /
want-the attention of friend from
Nevada, who fathers and champions
this bill. Let US look at this fifth Sec
ton and see what beautiful thing it
is in the eye of a lawyer. l want
some exposition of this, and if it
should pass into a law the courts will
need some exposition of it am sure I:
"That any person who shall be deprived of
any office, except that of member of Congress OF
membeo of a State Legislature, by reason OF
That is, by not allowing people to
vote who are entitled to vote
snail be entitled to recover possession of such
Office by writ of inGnddqaus.
Ye gods! a writ of mdnddmus to
recover possession of an office! Sup
pose somebody is counted in as Gov
ernor of Ohio by the Legislature, as
our constitution provides; the vote Is
counted and the man is declared to be
elected Governor of Ohio, is inaugu-
rated, and the other party, the defeat
ed candidate, goes to the district court
and asks the court for a TldnddHius
to get possession of the Office. Will
the gentleman tell me to whom tnal
aaaglddRa1s will be directedp A nafg.
Hdnlsts is O writ that commands some
body to do something. If it is an al
tentative writ it commands somebody
to do something or show cause why
he does not do il. To whom will your
writ of manddmus go to put the de-
feated candidate into the possession OF
the gubernatorial chair of Ohio p
Shall it be writ Of g,aastlanus to the
incumbent to get out? Shall that
be it? In other words, shall il be q
writ of quo aDG1Tdnto? If it is, then
it is not writ of maRdamus; that is
all ! have ts say.
Take any other case, say that of 9
judge. A judge of the supreme court
of State is elected and duly commits
stoned by the Governor, and the de-
feated candidate goes to Judge Leav.
lit, Of Cincinnati, te get q saandqnau:
to put himself, the defeated candidate
in possession. should like to know
| to whom the m1dnddmots is to be di.
rected.
Mr.. STEWART. ask if the writ
of n1apdayngs is never a praper pro
ceeding for the purpose of getting pos
session of an office?
Mr.. THURMAN. I will answer
that question, and l will show the on.
ly case in which it is proper pro
ceeding. A naandamus is never {
proper proceeding in cases of contest.
ed election. The cases to which it ap
plies aye where o man, for instance
in England, is entitled to be q bur
CESS; a manddnsus Issues to the corpo
ration to admit him if he is wrong
fully excluded from his right. If
person is eorporstor, and the pthel
STOCKHOLDERS exclude him from hi
right as q evaporation, a gaapddmN
will lie to compel them to receive ant
admit him IS q corporation, But In NJ
case whatsoever is q ndaddmus tn,
proper remedy for the purpose of try
ing the question between A B and {
p; which of them is entitled to an of
Mr.. STEWART. The Senator will
observe that the words "or other ap
propriate proceeding" are also there
and if a n,dnddmM is appropriate
will not discuss in what case it is bu
if it is appropriate in any easa, that
sufficient provision.
Mr.. THURMAN. As is suggested
to me by my friend from California
rATr CocOorix,1 Tho CaDoI1r v,osorbR n