New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-06-21

u COH65uOus6bs anu lingering ABOUT u6du-
| quarters. Everyone of any pretensions had
| headquarters. Kellogg and the Custom
house were the same, and they held forth
at Mrs. Mentz', opposite the old State House
ruins. The house of Mrs. Curran adjoining
| was kept in reserve, Mr.. DeKlyne going
! through the fOrnIality of taking an in
| yentOry of all the beds in the establishment
| with a view Oftheir occupation by good Kel-
| logg delegates, and the agents of other can
| didates doing the same for other taverns.
| Mr.. Billings headquarters were in an old
| family house, and a constant stream of de-
] legates poured in and out of the rooms,
| lOunged upon the sofas, put their feet up on
| mahogany tables, and shook hands with the
aspirant for gubernatorial hOnOrs in the in
| terlude.
Flags hung out from various buildings,
on which were labeled Headquarters of
| the Executive Committee" Darrall, can
didate for Congress, had headquarters; +.
G. Mahan also had his, he being a eandi-
date for Auditor, and upon his claims one
of the delegates said: "He! We might as
well have Wickliffe back again." Mahan
pushed up the tagging energies of the Mary
men, expecting to go in on the cOlOIed
mans ticket, Rodriguez being the factOtum
OF this interest, and shaking his cane in the
faces of every one, saying Mary had eighty
i've votes as a starter. Questions of money
were openly discussed. 1t was stated how
much money it would take to buy certain
delegates, one colOred man saying in one
instance that he was not ''thar" to put him
self upon the auction block, as in the times
of slavery, and the. very next minute ten
dering his vote for 500; while white dele
gate, who passed by in crowd at that pre-
else moment, vOciferated: Two hundred
dOllars-nOt a cent less ~ Mahan said dis
tinctly he would not buy the nomination
he would rather not have it at all. But"
said he, "there is no harm in providing for
the expenses of the delegates, who are here,
so hungry they don't know where to sleep
at night" and giving them S. or so to spend
when they are about town. This principle
laid down by Mr.. Mahan was found to gen
orally to prevail, for an astonishing number
Of delegates had their expenses paid, and
none were afraid TO touch money if they
only put it on that ground.
Mary, who is a gentlemanly looking man
Of a some what bilious complexion, is the
leading representative on the cOlOred mans
ticket. His headquarters were right OppO-
site Fixes Hall, and consisted of an old
shanty, long, low and depressed looking,
but without chairs, wherein bar had been
fitted up at the other end, from which dele
gates drew inspiration and many free
fights, all being kindly paid for by some
munifcent hand. Mary himself is no poll
tician-he is no working man, but belongs
to the JOubert order of cOlOred men; IS
down on all carpet-baggery as an abOmin-
alton, and is willing to be Governor and
serve; is no stranger to Louisiana politics.
One of the incidents he relates is where
parties lay in wait for the members of the
Legislature when they arrived, with fat
bullocks and mules to give those who would
vote, for the Penitentiary and railroad sub
sides in those days were not unfrequently
obtained from Louisiana Legislatures by
kI,a - CHI Aha of fI,o
bonds. While the delegates perambulate
the streets it is not an unfrequent occur
renee to see the "birds" travelling along,
their handsome uniform of stripes, without
the stars, presenting a picture of the base
uses to which 1--WE come at last" and of
course the joke is often made, in reference
to quarters, that accommodations may be
had at the Penitentiary, free of cost.
You are already informed of the cOnven-
ton proceedings, which so far have cul-
minated only in speech-making and bun
combe, and it is queer to see how the old
thing works. The CustOmhOuse party are
well organized-that is, they are bound
together, in the Democratic language, by
the cohesive power of public plunder;"
they are all employees in some shape or
another, and come from whatever parish
they may, are all administration men, be-
cause the interests of his people are in that
capacity. He walks about in sort of lofty
scOrn, and at the mere mention of favor to
carpet-baggers, gets behind big standing
collar he habitually wears, with an mira
dig. sort of look.
Judge Crawford, well known in North
Louisiana as politician of the old school,
roOsts for a while on the long steps of the
store next to Pike Hall, into which another
stream of delegates constantly pass and re-
pass, and tells of his old experiences. He is
running for something l scarcely know
what at present. In company with another
gentleman, equally as old as himself, he
cites instances when the great men of Lou
isiana were at one time carpet-baggers, and
also examples of bribery in those days.
" But" said he, we kept this all quiet
and buried it but here comes the carpet
bagger, who gets to doing the same thing
as we've been doing ourselves, and, to kill
him off, we uncover the carcass" He al
ways commences his stories with: 81 knew
a time when" and ends them with: So
you see bribery in the pay of the same"
For this reason Mr.. j. G. Clark, who is
friend of Mr.. Billings, on the ground that
he will make a better Governor than Kel-
lOgg, states it as his belief that Grant must
win simply because of the patronage that
he wields in every State of the country. 1t
is a party of ofice-holders and their sup
pOrters, and is numerous and powerful for
that reason. 1t is now "wednesday night
asserted that Billings can not succeed, on
account of the big CustOmhOuse patronage
used against him, and which will beat him
and Mary combined. 4
The design of the Kellogg OF CustOmhOuse
party is to allure the followers OF Mr..
Pinehback to their side of the question, and
they put it ''tO admit all delegations who
represent an actual constituency" but in
case they would be of any assistance, they
would find out their constituency quick
enough, and so report them. 1t is also said
that the leading spirits in that convention
are already making Overtures to ''fOrsake
the errors of their ways, and return to the
fOld' Il quote CustomhOuse language), pro-
vided they can get anything by the job.
Thus, it is positively stated that Pinchback
himself has said that his convention would |
cOncede all the rest of the ticket, in case of
union, provided they put himself at the
head of it, so leaving the rest Of the dele
gates out in the cold.
The harmony" question is one upon
which the cOlOred men are agreed, and they |
stick up for it in various ways. One whose
skin was black as Barber's, said, while on
a boat going to Red Stick: "Ain't we gOin'
to have harmony If we go away from
thar and not have harmony, and without |
jinin' into the other side, I'm gwine back to
old mass'r."
"Oh, you wouldn't do that, would you ~ !
Yes, l would. We people got nothing |
outside the Republican party. We've got !
nothing; we can't belong to no other party; |
they'll give us nothing. If we break up an
go home from that place, and amt agreed |
upon no compromise, but have two parties !
and two tickets, the Democrats will win, |
and if they win I'm gOin' back to old mass'r |
Roberts and say, Here l is-let's start
sugar farm
/ state it as a tact, that nine-tenths of the |
coIored delegates felt convinced that some
Doauihla ho bad