The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-10-29
Arrest OF Shreveport Mer-
I chants and Planters for Refusing
to Employ the Supporters Of Th0se
Who Hob Them..Attcmpt to Dis.
franchise Four Thousand White
Voters .. C0l0red Conservatives.
WHOLESALE ARRESTS.

WHOLESALE ARRESTS.
A Shreveport dispatch Of yesterday,
the I'D, says: ''The question as to
whether warrants were to be issued for
the arrest of sixty-nine merchants who
pledged themselves not to retain in
their employ persons who support the
radical party in the pending contest,
was to-day settled in the affirmative,
upon the authority of Gen. Merrill, T..
S. A.. commanding this department,
and A. B. Levisee, q. S. Commissioner,
who stated that the papers were being
prepared. and the arrests would proba-
bly, be made tomorrow. Since the first
announcement on Monday of the inten-
ton of the authorities to make these
arrests, the temper Of the people has
greatly improved, and it is not now
proba BILE that any of the parties will
endeavor to evade or resist the arrest.
The parties interested have consulted
several leading attorneys, who advise
them that their pledge is not in viola
ton of the enforcement act, and it does
not threaten any one on account Of
race, color or previous condition Of SER
vitude, and that general declaration
to emr4oy no one upon certain condi-
tons furnished no ground for specific
charge of intimidating any certain per-
son. Immediately after the authorita.
tive announcement of General Merrill
and Judge Levissec this morning, the
pledge was again put in circulation and
received $50 additional signatures.
These names include representatives Of
nearly every business establishment in
the city. Copies of the pledge were
also sent to the country, and are said to
have received the signatures of the
planters in all parts Of the parish. It
is not known yet whether any Others
than the original sixty-nine signers will
be arrested or not.
ATTEMPTED DIsFRANCHIsEMENT.
A New Orleans dispatch says: "The
Attorney General S opinion of the le-
gality of naturalization before the I'd
district court, will not be officially de-
livered till tomorrow, but he to-day
expressed the conviction that the nat
uralization papers from the court since
1854 are null! and void. The Picayus,,e
says: 'This question has been sub
mitted to the district attorney and to
all the other judges, and there is only
one idea on the subject. All the great
legal minds this State has ever pro-
duced have failed to discover any lille
gality in this naturalization. 1t was
left for our present attorney general to
spring the question just before the
election. The conservatives estimate
the number Of voters involved at four
thousand.
Attorney General Field in converse
ton on the subject of the jurisdiction
Of the I'd district court, said that by an
act Of Congress, passed on the 18th
of April, 1852, relative to the naturali-
cation of foreigners, it was provided
that any court of record in any indi-
vidual State, having common law juris-
diction, seal, clerk and prothonatory,
shall he considered as district court
within the meaning of this act. Col.
Field aftirms that since the adoption Of
the constitution of 1874, the ID district
court has no common law jurisdiction,
but has been known only
as court whose province
is limited alone to probate matters.
Prior to 1864 the Court possessed not
only probate jurisdiction but extensive
common law jurisdiction, which at that
time made it tribunal to provide for
the essential requisites necessary in Is
suing certificates of citizenships. The
Attorney General opinion will be look
ed for with much anxiety, as it involves
the right of about 4, 900 persons to vote.
The legal bubble now raised causes
much feeling against the authorities,
being regarded by the conservatives
generally rs purely political move.
CoLORED CONSERVATIVES.
The Third Ward Conservative Col