The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1874-01-02

THE Contested Election Cases-Dts-
graceful Action Of the Radicals
Grants New Ghief-Js sssice. etc.. etc.

Correspondence OF the New York Tribune.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 3.-rhe Repub,i-
cans i'm the House have succeeded in the
past two days in making, in certain cleo
ton cases. record 50 Inconsistent and in
defenSible. that it, equal can hardly be-
found in tbs annals of Congress. First.
in order 10 admit without delay two menu
bers Of their party from Louisiana. they
yesterday oyerrode all pt'cedents and de-
cided. without investigation or a decent
amount of debate, a question that could
only have been properly determined AFTER
full inquiry and report by "A committee.
Having done this in the eases of Messrs.
sheldon and Sypher, they to-day "went
back" upon the record Just made and re-
fused admission to Mr.. Pinchback. whose
case was identical with the others. \ lit
tie later, in the West Virginia cases. in
vOlving with regular certificates. and each
with an apparent priDia facis right 10 seats,
the majority changed front again. aban-
doned one OF their own members who was
urging the precedent established the day
before. and sent the eases 10 the Elections
Committee. Atterward they seated claim
ant from the Shreveport u.a.) district.
whose credentials were fraudulent ON their
face. having evidently been fabricated for
the occasion before returns had been re-
ceiyed 10 base them upon. Mr.. Butler
abandoned his resolution seating Mr..
\ Pinchback. a. soon a it came up this morn
ing and himself moved 10 lay il upon the
table. He probably did not dare 10 put
his party 10 the test of direct vote uison
il. The Democrats We're anxious for "A yea
and nay vote. but did not get it,.
The West Virginia eases involved COM
plicated questions. OF State laws and the
! Interpretation of the State Constitution.
There were two elections held. one in Au-
gust. under the new constitution, and one
I in October. understhe old law. OF the
I three members. one, Mr.. Hereford. was
voted for and chosen al both elections. For
I the other TWO seatsshere are four contest
antS-thc two candidates who had maj lori
ties at the August election, and the two
who were chosen in October-;lnd all four
have certificates. The question before the
I House was upon the prima facie claim only
I The drift of the debate was decidedly in
favor of the August claimants. when Mr.
Lamar OF Mississippi. in short speech OF
great clearness and force OF argument.
convinced the House that the question
ought not to be decided without an inves-
tigation by the Elections Committee. and
| the cases were referred. fully half OF the
Republicans deserving Mr.. Cessna. who
had charge OF them. AND refusing To sus-
tain his demand for the previous question.
( To end the days proceedings. the last Of
the Louisiana cases was disposed of IN a
manner a discreditable To the good sense
OF the House a it, predecessors. This
was the Shreveport District case. The
district has always been strongly Demo
cratic. and in 1872 elected Mr.. Davidson on
I the Fusion ticket. GOV. Warmoth gave
him certificate. and Mr.. Pinchback gave
i 70
who was duly counted in by the Lynch
Y board. Mr.. Peters died last summer.
Y Mr.. Davidson came on 20 Washington.
and to-day Mr.. Cox presented his creden-
\ tials and moved thai he be sworn in.
on the ground that his certificate was
regular and there was no one else
I claiming the seat. The Kellogg men Were
not caught mapping. however. They had
held special election on November ~.
and had their man. Smith by name. ready
To produce in the House to-day. Mr..
V ~ypher rushed 10 MIR. Buffers seat. and put
some papers in his hand. which Mr.. Butler
sent 10 the desk. and which proved to BE-
credentials signed by Gov. Kellogg. and
dated in New Orleans. Nov. 20. giving the
exact vote Of Mr.. Smith and his competi-
tor. The shreveport district is 500 miles
\ long. and is region of swamps. bayous
and forests. almost destitute of railroad
and telegraph lines and of mail facilities.
Ii has usually required a fortnight to get
I full returns from all parts of the district.
Y Shreveport j. three days journey from
I New Orleans. and from New Orleans TO
Washington is usually from sixty to sew
enty-fiyc hours. Ii appears suspicious to
say that returns of the election held on
Nov. - We're received and transmitted TO
New Orleans and there eanvassed on Nov.
%. so as to reach Washington by to-day.
Mr. smiths certificate was apparently
I fraudulent. of piece with the whole It's
sue of rascality with which the Louisiana
usurping Government j. Wrapped and held
7 together. Mr.. Cox exposed this cheat.
but il was of no avail. One hundred and
I sixty-four Republicans indorSed il by
voting Mr.. Smith the seat. Among the
( Republicans who had the independence to
be right on the question were Messrs.
Hawley of Connecticut. W0odford Of New
I York. Phelps of New Jersey. and VIM. III
smith Of North Carolina. and with them
were the two Liberals, Messrs. Banning
and BrOmberg.