Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-03-09
iadJ 81 aiei2 sfasdri
Vet ell the sads shos amst be thy Couny thy Gods and Truths
aa IByBssEE RHRyAI, MARCH N7L ( sss ;:.

....Ll va lvt}tL Y -tlitElit.. lafEDg III
and efectually empowers the Gov
keEnor to determine who of the
1 qualified citizens shall vote and
who shall not vote, and whotsialI
Eelect and who shall not elect The
I officers of the government, him
self included, is repugnants to that
portion of the organic framel of
5the Government which was or
dained to. establish and maintain
arepublican9 form of government
"Tke statute. which empowers
the Governor practically and. eff
fectually to divest outof any and
every qualified voter his right,te
vote not t7onlyl once, butIt from
time to time and without end is
repugnant to those provisions of
\ the organic lawywhich are or
dainedI to invest. the courts with
/ Judicial power, and to exclude
tthe, executive head of the Govern
lment from the exercise of such
power. .stGUo9 I'D
"For these reasons the court is
constrained to hold that the stat
nte which 'confersJon the Gbper.
nor tue power to set aside aud an
nnl the registration of a county,
IN whole or in part, is unconstitu-
tional and void. r. gs.co
e, "In this determination are. in
cluded the act of March s, 1867,
| El(chapter, thirty-six,f sectiops four
and five, and that part of the act
Of February 26, 1868, fchapter
fifty-two,t SO far as it author
| ICES the Governor to set aside reg.
istration, and undertakes to con-
firm his acts of this kind done be-
fore the passage of the act; and
to punish persons who vote or w..o
attempt to, vote by virtue Of GER
Iiti6eates issued from a registration
declared null and void by the
Governor. .h"-i. q HoitEii'
Now why are any Of these re.
turns from any of these counties
rejected by the majority of this
committee? Il is not because elee-
tions were not legally held under
these severe, and harsh laws OF
Tennessee except as to the single
county of Lincoln; for as to othe
other counties, a part Of whose re-
turns are rejected by the commit
tee,it issonly.alleged tina. certain
Innimportanti Irregularities trans
pired i'm connection with the con
duet of the election and the max
ing up of the returns, none Of
which the committee claim to
have been so material or 5impor-
tant as TO lead to- or justify the
trejeetion of the returns ); but their
rejection is based upon the alleged
fact that in some counties, there
existed1he Kuklux organization,
a combination of mem who, by
their conduct, IN Inundated Repub-
=iican voters -and prevented a fair
election: The same is aliegedIto
have: been true of the county Of
Lincoln but other grounds, also,
are alleged for the rejection Of
the, returns, from that county.
Now, before l proceed further, I
want to say that when it is alleged
that by reason of the conduct of
Ethe officers Of this election in Lin.
coin county Zonly seven out sot
twenty-five district polls were or
ganized and elections held there,
tits equally true that in nearly ev-
fery county in this district, and in
many other counties in the State of
Tennessee, these Republican elec-
Htion officers, for partisan purposes
of theirGown, refused TO organize
elections in all the districts for the
sole and single purpose of prevent
ing a fair and full election in such
/ counties. They wonld organize
election boards in all Republican
districts, in order to make sure Of
| their full vote, and were indiffer-
-ent many. times whether Demo-
cratic voters were SO provided for
| or not And in some cases they
| would organize boards in some and
| refuse't them IL, other districts, for
the purpose Of enabling Repuai-
] can voters and RepublicanScoiored
I men to 60 to certain points where
they could be better manipulated
andcontrolled by the Republican
mauagers,, and Conservatiyeseiec.
tors were thus left either without
proper opportunities to vote, or'to
4 take care Of themselves as best
they might. For example, in the
county Of Franklin, only seven
polls. ost, Of eighteen, district lst Poll'