Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-12-23
THE ELECrI0N c0NsPTRACY IN
T1yXAS


ot-box. The report is confined to the sim
gle county of Limesto ne, in which the plot
was developed in all itsl Nervousness, and
has been more thorough ly exposed than in
any other part of the State. From the long
recital of facts, most of which are certified
to by respectable and weIl known citizens
of Limestone county, it appears that the
conspiracy was planned by the leaders of
the party in power, and that, in carrying it
on, when life and law stood in their way,
they did not hesitate to sacrifice
the one and TO violate the other.
Long before the day of election the
consplraters were busy laying the wires by
which they proposed to manipulate the cleo
tions The county of Limestone has pop
ulation of nearly 5000, of whom some
1900 are negroes. Of the 1000 whites
there is very small but very turbulent
and unprincipled minority Of Radicals. The
first act in the conspiracy was to get rid OF
the officials in Groesbeeck town, who were
unsuited to aid them in their criminal de-
signs. Gov. Davis supplied bis local
agent with blank commissions and en-
powered him to fiji them W with men
who could be trusted as plant and
serviceable tools in the approaching contest
against the people. The officials through
out the county, as well as in the town, were
changed, and even the police force was dis
banded, and a new set of men of he most
disreputable character, was appointed in its
stead. Although the citizens were al1pre-
hensive for the safety of their lives and
property, they knew the tyrannical, unscI u
pulous disposition of their rulers too well to-
commit any act which might be seized
upon as pretext for proclaiming martial
law in the count. The next step wa 70
stimulate the passions and prejudices of the
! negroes against the white citizens by in
iammatory speeches. nthis they succeeded
so well That party of negro policemen
without the slightest provocation shot a
peaceable man nased Applethwaite, who
with his family, was travelling west
ward through the town. They
riddled his body with bullets and mutilated
The lifeless corpse almost beyond recogni-
ton. Then, iourishing their firearms,
they marched in a body through the streets,
cursing and insulting the white citizens.
They finally took refuge in the Mayors
Office, and defied the whole power OF Gfoes-
beck to arrest them. The Mayor made q
pretence Of endeavoring to arrest them, but
but it was not till several days after the
murder that the negroes consented to deliv-
er up the assassins. The day before the
election, two of the most prominent actors
in the tragedy were handed over to the
authorities and lodged in jail. During all
these troubles the white citizens maintain
ed the most perfect order, never in
solitary instance resenting the in
srlts of the Radicals, and always
responding promptly to any call on them to
aid the authorities in preserving the peace.
The election passed off quietly on the Sd
October, and, as is well known, the Demo
cratic candidates were elected by over
whelming majorities. During the day the
Radicals were actively engaged in dissuad-
ing the negroes from voting, in order that
their absence from the polls might be con-
strued into intimidation on the part of the
Democrats, by means Of which they pro-
posed TO obtain notification of the election.
Their efforts were again successful, and the
negroes refrained from voting, although
they were repeatedly assured by the white
| citizens that they would not be in
suited or molested in any way while
exercising their rights and privi-
leges under the law. Nine days after
the election martial law was proclaimed and
the whole vote Of the county was thrown
out. The subsequent arbitrary action Of
the Radical authorities in releasing the
murderers of Applethwaite and restoring
them to the police force, in refusing to issue
| certificates of election to the men chosen
by the people, and in appointing Radicals in
their stead are too well known TO our read
ers to need repetition here. They will live
in the pages Of history as the foulest of all
the dark stains on the records Of Radical
rule in the Southern States.
That it was all along the intention of Gov.
Davis and his myrmidons to prevent q free
expression of public opinion in Limestone
county other and even clear r evidences have
been brought to light. Bonner, of
the Radicals most prominent in the Groes-
beck conspiracy had sent TO Houston a
few days before the election for a ballot
box, to be forwarded to him, &C. o. d."
by express. The box came just one day
too late, when, of course, it was useless to
him, and he refused to pay the charges on
it. The reporter of the Galveston Netos
hearing Of this transaction, went to the ex-
press Office, paid the charges, and secured
the box He describes it as follows:
sit is almost square, with the top plank
slightly projecting at the ends for the pur-
pose of handling. 1t is smoothly planed,
with the exception of the bottom, and is
nailed together (the top and sides) as
though it was intended that no thief should
ever break through and steal. But the
bottom of this precious repository Of the
peoples dearest rights was in a most inge-
NOUS manner fastened to each side with a
screw. 1t can, without the slightest trouble,
be taken Off and put on again in the space
Of two minutes, The box is deposited, and
can be inspected, at the Office of the Gal
weston NeIrS.
This ingenious Radical continuance for
ballot stufing was rendered unnecessary by
the murder of Applethwaite, which, al
though committed by Radicals, was used in
connection with the false allegation that
the negroes had been inundated from
voting, as a pretext for declaring martial
law in the county. This exposure, viewed
in connection with similar episodes in Radi-
cal rule, ought to be sufficient to convince
any reasonable man that the whole RadicaI
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