The weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1872-1882, 1872-07-06

Z, JULY &, 1879.
delegates, they filed the building
with special deputy United States
marshals armed for tho OCCASION
To complete these extraordinary
preparations fora political conven.
ton and to emphasize the inaugu-
ration Of this new style of con.
sulting the wishes of tho people,
they obtained the necessary order
from the military authorities and
fortified tho closed Customhouse
with Gatlin guns and garrisoned it
with United States soldiers under
arms. One hundred and ten dele
gates to tho convention, being a
majority, disgusted' and indignant
at these tyrannical proceedings,
turned away from tho Customhouso
and assembled in Turner Hall. The
State Central Committee appointed
by that convention has by its au-
thority co,ivokcd the present one.
On tho nineteenth of Juno Mr..
Packard and his partisans callc,l a
convention at Baton Rouge to NOM
mate candidates for the State oili-
ces. The Customho,lse cabal could
not keep good faith even with their
own confeaeratcs. In order to Sc
cure the nomination of the fayorites
Of their own ring, and obey instruc-
tions from a 'higher authority, Z"
they expelled from their convention
all representative and independent
men, and seated strangers, intru-
ders, carpet-baggers and 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 Mr.:
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 tho ring
candidates were manufactured in
the United States marshal's office
and foisted upon the convention
as the regularly 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 we'll
known gentlemen, to assure his
C1stomhouse employees that their
places should not he imperilod if they
voted Independently Of Mr.. Pack
ards dictation. Mi. Packard and
his instruments, when they dis
covered that q majority Of the
convention favored union with the
regular Republicans, substituted a
fraudulent resolutions in place of
tho one really offered, by which such
insulting conditions we're imposed
that union was made impossible.
They refused all honorable offers of
union with the regular Republicans
for the solo 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 wo1lld pledge
themselves to vote as Mr.. Packard
ordered them. Finally, by u series
of fraudulent, corrupt and tyran1i-
cal measures, they rammed the
choice of . small Customhouse ring
down the throats Of the convention
in the place Of able ano wellknown
Republicans, who were really their
choice, drove away over one-half of
their own members, and cut them
selves off from tho whole body of
regular Republicans, so that success
under their lead, anu with their
ticket, is impossible.
This convention, so constituted,
in obedience to the will OF it's mas
ter, James F. Casey, and his chief
tool, S. 3. Packard, nominated IN
ex-United States collector of GUS
toms and q johnson Democrat and
a resident of Illinois for Governor,
who was the defender of tho mas
sacre of 1866, who refused to om-
ploy a single colored man in the
Customhouse and who refused to
vote for Mr.. Summers civil rights
bill in the United States Senate; a
man who has never had a perma-
nent residence in this State, has
never been Unidentified with the Re
publican party and who is q sub
servient creature Of the military ring
at Washington.
Their candidate for Lieutenant
Governor is Wilderness Senator