New Orleans Republican., 1872-12-09
NEW ORLEANS. REPUBLICAN, MONDAY, DECEMBER g. 1872.

1 purpose, in the appointment OF supervisors
of registration, he has selected persons toT
the office of supervisors or assistant super
visGrs of registration as to obtain persons
pliable to his will, and who would concur
with and aid him, respondent, in the eXecu-
tiOn of any unlawful plans and fraudulent
devices: nor is it true that to that end, and
for that purpose this respondent did es-
| pecialIy, or any otherwise, make it a COndi-
ton precedent to the appointment of said
officers that they should in all things and
by all unlawful means within their power,
assist in the accomplishment of said ends.
That it is not true that one of the unlaw-
ful devices, plans and schemes of the re-
spondent was through the instrumentalitY
of the said registering officers, and with
their aid. and by the pretended aid of laws
Of the State, to deprive large number of
the citizens of the State of Louisiana, in all
respects lawfully entitled to the franchise,
| by refusing to register the said citizens
| upon the list of registered voters, by reason
! OF their race. color and previous condition;
nor is it true that in the execution of said
| scheme, or in the execution of any other
scheme, large number of citizens of the
! State, who are c0lOred, and who had been
| in a former condition of seryitude, were so
refused registration on various frivolous
| and unlawful pretexts ana pretenses,
amounting to 10000 votes, or any other
| number.
That it is not true, as charged in said bill,
that this respondent adopted the means
| and devices aforesaid, or any other means
| or devices, for the purpose of depriving
said voters of their right of franchise as
aforesaid, with the intent thereby to pre-
vent their ballots being cast for the com
| plainant and thereby to defeat complain
| ants election to the Office of Governor
| And this defendant, further answering,
| saith: He knows not and has not been in
formed, save By the said complainants bill,
and can not set forth, as to his belief or
! otherwise whether when the said super
visOrs of registration had completed the
registration of the qualified electors Of the.
State that they had succeeded in preventing
the registration of a large, or any number
of electors, as charged in said bill of com
| plant; nor that when persons so refused
registration as aforesaid offered to deposit
their ballots for the complainant in the bal
lot boxes at the places of election, they were
refused the right to deposit said ballots; nor
that the complainant is in possession OF evl-
dence of that fact, preserved under the pro-
visions of the act of Congress of May 81,
1870, and the acts amendatOry thereof; nor
that there is in existence from 1000 to 5O0O
documents of the same character that have
been in the same manner preserved, with
the ballots attached to said atfidavits and
certificates, in which the complainant was
of Governor of the State of Louisiana; nor
that the persons so offering to deposit said
ballots were in each and every instance per-
sons'Of color, and were refused the right of
franchise ON account of race and color
And this defendant further answering
saith, that is not true, as charged in said
bill of complaint that this respondent, com
bining and c0nspiring with the supervisors
and assistant supervisors of registration by
him appointed, has caused a dishonest, in
correct and false account of the votes cast
in the several parishes Of this State at said
election Nor is it true, as charged in said
bill, that this respondent has falsltied and
caused false and untrue returns, and certi-
ticates of the result and canvass of the
votes cast in the several parishes in this
State at said election nor that said count,
canvass, and certificates are so false and
untrue for the reason that a large number
of the ballots deposited in the said ballot
boxes at said election by persons of color
have not been counted and considered, and
the evidence thereof preserved and certi-
fed, so that the same may be canvassed by
the returning officers for elections in this
State nor is it true that they were so sup
pressed, or that any ballots were suppressed
and not counted and considered that we're
cast for and in favor of the complainant as
Governor Of this State, or that they were in
all things sufficient to have elected the
complainant to said Office and this respond
ent denies that he has any knowledge of
any suppression of any votes whatever. or
that he ever authorized, aided or abetted
the suppression or false return of any votes
cast at said election, or did any other uu-
lawful act to defeat the election Of the COM
plainant.
This defendant, further answering, saith
that it is true that the returns OF the elec-
tions for the precincts of the State were, by
the law as it stood, on the fourth Of Novem-
Der, 1872, to be sent by mail, addressed to
this respondent as Governor of the State of
LOulSianaj that the law as it then stood |
provided that the Governor Lieutenant !
Governor, Secretary of State, John Lynch |
and L. Z. Anderson, or majority OF them, |
should be the returning officers of all cleo |
tions of the State, majority of whom |
should constitute quorum, and have |
power to make the returns of all elections:
that in case Of vacancy the same should be |
filed by the residue Of the board that
within ten days Of the election the return
ing board should meet to canvass and com
pile the statement Of votes made by the su-
pervisors, and make returns to the Secre
tary of State; that the Governor should at |
such meeting open, IN the presence of
said returning officers, the statements
Of the supervisors of registration, and
that the returning officers should
from said statements canvass and compile
the returns of the elections in duplicate
that one copy of such returns should be
filed in the office of the Secretary of State,
and of one copy they shall make public
proclamation by printing in the official
journal, and such other newspapers as they
may deem proper, declaring the names, etc,
of persons elected, ETC., and said board was
vested with full authority to examine the
tFuthtulneSs of the returns and reject OF |
accept the same, should it appear that
sufficient number of the qualified electors
entitled to vote at any poll or voting place,
were refused the right of franchise unlaw-
fully, so as to materially change the result
of the election, and this defendant further
says that the law on the subject of elections,
under and By which the said board of re-
turning officers was created and came into
existence was repealed, and ceased to be
the law of Louisiana, by an act of the Leg
lsIature of Louisiana, approved the TWEEN
sieth day OF November, 1872, which said act
went into operation on the day of its pas
sage, and the said returning board ceased
then and thereby to exist.
And this defendant further answering
saith: That it is not true, as charged in said
bill of complaint, that the said board was
reduced by the ineligibility of P. B. S.
PinchbaGk and T. G. Andersen to this re-
3pondent as Governor, Francis j. Heron as
of State, and John Lynch; and
that said board so constituted, and being a
majority of said board, did fill the vacan-
,ies therein by the election OF Jacob Haw-
zins and James Longstreet, and that said
BOARD was properly organized to proceed to
'aid canvass Of said returns, and that they,
he said Heron, Hawkins and Longstreet,
we're duly sworn according to law, and |
qualified to act as members of said board:
)ut the fact is that the said Heron was NOT |