The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-07-19
McCIurp v. Eray.


| the people is so impreguable, that our
Radical opponents are driven to their
iwit5 end to find point of attack. A
few country journals think they have
found it in his action as Chairman of
the Committee to try the contested
lelection between Mcclure and Gray.
1t is to be noted that the Philadelphia
leditnrs who knew most about tho mat
ter, never pretended that Gray did not
obtain his seat by fraud. But COM
plete answer to all these charges is the
following editorial from the Press
which supper ted Gray's election:
| FRAUDS UPON TIE BALLOT.
One of the worst signs of the time is
the boldness with which the politicians
speak of their past and contemplated
frauds upon the ballot-box. AS if crime
were something to be proud of, men
holding high official positions, or candi-
dates for such, openly proclaim upon
the streets their success in falsifying
the verdict of the people as expressed
through the ballot-boX last year and
their intention of repeating the per-
| formance this fall. These barrOom
boasts are not all mere braggadocio. The
men who utter them mean what they
say, and before next October they will
be organized into systematic assault
upon the grandest of republican in
stitutiOns.
1t is unnecessary for us to write a
homily upon the enOrmity of the con-
| templated crime of these men, and to
appeal to them to abandon their plans.
| They are both intelligent and unscrup-
ulous. A few words of entreaty to the
people whose honor is concerned, and
of warning to the politicians whose
safety is at stake, will be more effective.
The first will remember the deep
humiliation that followed Senator Nc
| Clure's exposures of the manner in
which he was cheated at the special
election last January. No more damna-
BILE frauds were ever committed in the
Fourth word or by William Tweed.
Indeed, the Democratic leader who
had for long time before been award
ed monopoly of the notoriety achiev-
ed by ballot-boX stuffing, testified that
the frauds and violence of the men that
assumed to carry the Republican cause
in the Fourth district exceeded in
downright villainy anything ne had
| ever seen or had hand in doing. And
these, too, were the words of man
emulous all his life of the infamy that
follows a career of crime, and who has
| sought the bubble reputation by ballot
| box stuffing and disregard of all laws,
| human and divine.
Whole wards of the city, rich in
wealth and culture, and the home of
an intelligent and presumably honest
people, We're overrun by gangs of ''re-
peaters" respectable citizens were not
allowed to vote and were driven from
| the polls, even clergymen were insul-
ed, and the preservers of the city's peace
joined with the worst ruffians in this
disgraceful business. If ever there was
an event to make an American blush
for the decay of the institutions of his
country and the degradation of his
| countrymen, it was the election in this
| city ON the 30th of January last.
| The Republican party is not made up
| OF ballot-boX suffers and criminals,
and was not responsible for these out.
RACES. 1t must not be scandalized by
repetition of them. II the party can
not win fairly, let it be defeated. At
all events. while opposing the DEM
ocracy, because we believe it to be an
organization Of the baser elements of
| society, let us not astonish them by the
impunity. with which we commit
unparalleled crime and boast of it.
AS for the politicians, they can rem
ember their trepidation when Mcclure
threatened to put them in the penitenti.
ary, and the contempt with which they
have since been visited by all honest
people. Mcclure failed to carry out his
pledge to prosecute these men, but the
sentiment he aroused against them is
| stronger than ever. while the opposi-
ton, now including that mighty engine
| for good, the Citizens Reform Associa.
tion, is able to counteract their sinister
influence and to visit them with the
punishment they deserve.