The weekly Louisianian., 1872-07-20

l M Els, A n d U n D
|ISIANA, SATUR D A
delegates, they filed the building
with special deputy United States
marshals armed for the occasion
To complete these extraordinary
preparations for q political conven.
ton and to emphasize the inaugu-
ration. Of this new style Of con.
sulting. the wishes Of the people
they obtained the necessary orde,
from the military authorities and
fortified the closed Customhouse
with Gatlin guns and garrisoned it
with United States soldiers under
arms. One hundred and ten dele
gates to the convention, being a
majority, disguised and indignant
at these tyrsnnical proceedings,
turned away from the c Customhouse
and assembled in Turner Hall. The
State Central Committee appointed
by that convention has by it's au-
thority convoked the present one.
On the nineteenth of June Mr..
Packard and bis partisans called a
convention at Baton Rouge to nom
mate candidates for the State off,
ces. The Customhouse cabal could
not keep good faith even with their
own confederates. In order to Sc
cure the nomination of the favorites
of their own ring, and obey instruc-
tons from q CHG her authority, !"
they expelled from their convention
all representative and Independent
men, and seated strangers, intru-
ders, -baggersund proxies of
their own creation, until their con-
vention consisted of Customhouse
officials, internal revenue tax collec-
tors and postmasters.
Customhouse employees, who were
elected as delegates to the Baton
Rouge convention were openly
threatened with dismissal from off,
CO by United States Marshal Pack
ard if they failed to vote as he die
tated. The lists of delegates elected
as furnished to the State Central
Committee by the parish and ward
clubs were suppressed by MIR.
Packard for four weeks previous to
the meeting of the convention, and
the names of delegates were not
allowed to be made known to
members of the committee. Lists
of delegates pledged to the ring
candidates were manufactured in
the United States marshal's Office
and foisted upon the convention
as the regahrly elected delegates.
Lobby tickets were issued, so that
all access even to the lobby was
denied to any but the partisans Of
Mr.. Packard. Mr.. Casey refused,
in the presence of several well
known gentlemen, to assure his
Customhouse employees that their
places shouldnot be imperiled if they
voted independently Of MIR. Pack
ards dictation. Mr.. Packard and
his instruments, when they dis
covered that q majority of the
convention favored union with the
regular Republicans, substituted
fraudulent resolutions in place of
the one really offered, by which such
insulting conditions were imposed
that union was made impossible.
They refused all honorable offers of
union with the regular Republic
for the sole reason that such COM
promise would intefere with the
Customhouse state for nominations.
The President and secretary of the
convention were convicted in open
session Of .fraudulently altering
their own rolls. Credentials were
withheld from legally elected dele
gates unless they would pledge
themselves to vote as Mr.. Packard
ordered them. Finally, by a series
of fraudulent, corrupt and tyranni-
cal measures, they rammed the
choice Of q small Customhouse ring
down the throats of the convention
in the place of able ane wellknown
Republicans, who were really their
choice, drove away over one-half of
their own members, and cut them
selves off from the whole body of
regular Republicans, so that success
under their lead, and with their
ticket, is impossible.
This convention, so constituted,
in obedience to the will of its mas
ter, James F. Casey, and his chief
tool, S. B. Packard, nominated an
ex-United States collector of Gus
toms and a johnson Democrat and
a resident of Illinois for Governor,
who was the defender of the mas
sacre of 1866, who refused to en-
ploy single oolored man in the
Customhouse and who refused to
vote for Mr.. Summers civil rights
bill in the United States Senate. a