The weekly clarion., 1872-02-22
The Lauderdale Contested
Elections.
speech OF Hon. y. R. Mcintosh, Of
ChicLasaW. Delivered i'm the
House Of Representatives,
February 9th, I@12.

Mr.. SPEAKER:-I beg the indulgence Oi
this House whilst l present the claims oi
Lauderdale county in this contest Not
] those of the honorable gentlemen who Oc-
cupy seats upon this floor, as the represen-
| tatlveS OF the county. for they would scOrH
TO urge their individual claims against the
| scfH of = majority of the voters of their
county. COnsIitutionally, legally and enl-
| phatically expressed, as is being unhesi-
| tatingly and unblushiBgly done by these
discOntented would be usurpers-
Sir, theirs is sacred claim. and sacred
| too not only to Lauderdale county. whose
right to choose her own representatives is
about TO be taken from her. but sacred to
| every community in the State of Mississippi
| For, let it be understood, that Representa-
| tives to this House, elected in the manner
/ pointed out by law, can. az the mere caprice
| of defeated candidate. be denied their
seats, and you at once uproot the fundamen-
! tai principles or this government, and de-
strOy that chart upon whose guidance we
must rely for a safe voyage across this
| boisterous political sea. And. sir, propose
| TO demonstrate to this House that this uu-
/ holy contest is being waged at the caprice.
merely. OF disappointed aspirants, and to
show from t.iei testimony in the cause that
/ they have no ShddOt0 of right to seats upon
/ this flOOr-tfat not one of the charges made
/ against these conteStees Is sustained by a
scintilla of proof. If l can do that, then,
sir. shall claim the right TO demand OF
every member here TO sustain the trtH of the
majority of Laucerdale county.
Now, let us see what are the charges, and
the proof TO sustain them:
| The first charge or allegation made by L.
| j. McInnis, against Duncan Kelly, is
| Fraud. intimidation. deceit and misrepre-
''sentation, used by yourself and friends, to
| secure your election and nv defeat, .
| which is general, and set forth in the fol
| lowing specifications, under the head ol
the I'd allegation: That in your speeches at
I..r,, a
| county. you told the people they COM
''plained now of the violence and outrages
| ''of the ku-KluX, but that if the Democratic
party was defeated in the then pending
''election, they had not seen or heard of any
''Ku-Klux to what they would see and hear
''of in that event"
Now. Mr.. Speaker, ] assert that there is
| no testimony whatever, to sustain that allie,
| cation. That not a single witness has by
| inference even testified that he, they or any
of them ever heard Duncan Kelly make
| any kind of speech at Alamucha; there
fore, that charge, wholly unsustained by
even a shadow of proof. falls absolutely to
| the ground. The next charge is: That
| 1.-THE votes polled, aad counted and certified
ito by - Daily, !. w. Wedgworth and
James z. Holt, at the Roberts building in
| 1.-The city of Meridian, at your pretended
| E'election, were improperly counted and
! "placed among the aggregate vote of the
I4precinct of Meridian, for the reason that
| eSal0 DOX opened at IOODefIS Dufluing.
| E'was not established by requisite notice, as
required by section s, of article ,. of the
| Election Law. approved May 18th, 1871.
| have the same reply to that charge that |
made to the one preceding it: that not a
| single witness has testified TO any fact that
| could possibly be construed as A shadow ot
| proof of sthe same. This House cannot
| know, from the testimony before it. that
! there is any such building IN the city OF
| Meridian as the Roberts building: that anV
/ nafl Na6, o,.th uolt
| ever saw q ticket cast by a voter in Lauder
| dale county, or that such men are to-day,
| or ever were in existence; because not a
| single witness testiiies to that point. Not a
particle of proof has been attempted TO be
made by any one To sustain that allegation
| This House could as well conclude. from
this testimony, that there was in the moon,
a living. tangible human being. There was
| so far as the proof shows, absolutely moth
ing of it: therefore, this charge, with its
| predecessor. falls worthless to the ground
The next charge is Because the only
| illegal box or polling place in the city OF
ssMeridian, the one presided over, and
'.the returns certified 10 by the Registrars
st0f Lauderdale county, and large major
"ity of the votes polled at that box. as well
.'as at the other legally established boxes or
| .'precints end districts in Lauderdale coun-
''ty, were east for me-" The same reply
made to the two preceding charges, is
| equally applicable to this; for there is moi
ehallenge any member of that Committee
on Contested Elections If / misState the tes-
timony in the cause in any particular
! whatever, to correct me. As there is nc
proof, no pretended proof whatever, by any
| witness to sustain that allegation. it toe
must share the fate of its unfortunate pre-
decessors.
The next charge is: THAT you and your
''party by misrepresentation and deceit
| ..caused one hundred and fifty registered
II Ia hafN
Sthe election, and prevented their return in
| ''time to cast their votes, because you were
| aware they would vote for me- This, Mr.
Speaker, is evidently the trump card of the
contestant, and, sir, l am willing to take
| the testimony of his witnesses alcne. upon
that point. and rest the case, without feaI
| of the result. There are but two witnesses
for contestant. who testify at all upon thai
point. One is l.. ID. Belk, whose testimony
| amounts absolutely to nothing. He swearS
| to nothing of his own knowledge, but says
three cOlOred men-two HuSseys and Cole
told him, they, with fifty or sixty others had
been carried, on Monday, prior to the elec-
ton, out of Lauderdale county. into the
State of Alabama and were not permitted
| to leave there until five O'Clock Tuesday
too late TO return in time to vote. Now
| Mr.. Speaker. this is all hearsay testimony
and for that reason. wholly inadmissible
and should not have any weight or influ-
ence with this House; and further. because
ell in two material points by the only other
| witness who testifies upon that point fol
contestant-Henry Warbinton, who swears
that, instead of fifty or sixty cOlored men,
that there were only twenty-seven men, o1
all races and colors- carried from Lauder
dale county, into the State of Alabama, on
Monday. and instead OF being detained
there ill five o'clock Tuesday evening, they
started back between twelve and one o'clock
| i'm plenty of time TO have reached Meridian
I I.afo the olRSiDe of the nOl1S had il moi
been that the telegraphic operator at Liv-
ingston, where they stopped, as was theil
duty to do, could not 'call up the operator
at Meridian, from whom they must have
received information as to whether the track
was clear or not, before they could proceed
in order TO prevent collision. He further
more swears that they all were section hands
upon the Alabama and Chattanooga rail
road. That they went, as usual In obedi-
epce to orders from the road master, as
was their duty; that they went voluntarily
and that the road master. Mr.. Mitchell, wa:
! clever, nice gentleman, under whom ne
had worked for . long time. and that he
never did mention politics TO him; and fur
thermore. that he could not swear that more
than seven or eight of those men were Re
publicans.
This. sir. is all the testimony of contest
ant upon that point, submit To every
fair-minded, honest man upon this floor. /;
not by any means sufficient TO sustain ths
charge. Admitting, for argument sake
every word TO be true that has been sworI
10 by both witneSses-yea, more, that theS,
twenty seven men were all Republicans
and qualified voters of Lauderdale county
and that they were decoyed. or domicile6
by the political friends of the contestee, lat
carried by force into the State of Alabama
for the purpose of preventing them from
voting the Republican ticket it would no
be sufficient to Justify this House in unseat
ing Duncan Kelly and seating his disap
Dointed contestants because. as is shOWF
from certificate of the Secretary of State
Kelley's majority over McInnis is seventy
eight, hence the result would not be ehanget
If all were true that they would have yoI