St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-01-22
WILD SCENES OF ANARCHY

W lLD SIENtS of aNAROh1
Were sweeping away all restraint OF
law and order. Doubtless the Judge OF
this court made grave mistakes, but the
law allows the Chancellor great latitude
not only III Furnishing those who con
tenn his orders and injunctions, but in
preventing the cOnsummatiom of the
wrong which he has ,judicially forbid
den. Whatever may he said OF thought
OF these matters, it was only made
known to me that the process of the [
;. Court was resisted. and us said act
specially provides for the use of the
army and navy when necessary to ell
force Judicial process arising therein
der, | considered it NY duty to see that
such process was executed according to
the judgment of the court. Resulting
from these proceedings, through vari-
Gus controversies and complications, a
State administration was organized.
with William p. Kellogg as Governor,
which i'll the discharge of my duty un-
der See. 1, Act 1. of the Constitution.
have recognized as the Government OF
the State. 1t has been bitterly and
persiStently alleged that Kellogg was
not elected. Whether he was OF not is
not altogether certain. Nor is it any
more certain that his competitor. Me
Emery. was chosen. The election was
A GIGANTIC FRAUD,
Aud there are no reliable returns Of It's
result. Kell, ,gg obtained possession of
the office, and in my opinion has more
right To it than his competitor. On the
Goth OF February, 1873, the Committee
on Privileges and Elections of the Sen
ate made IL report. in which they say
they We're satisfied 10y testimony that
the manipulation OF the election ma
chimeIy by Yarmouth and others WAS
equivalent to 20. 900 votes. and they add
that to recognize the NcEnery Govern
ment would he recognizing govern
ment based upon fraud. i'll defiance of
the wishes and intentions of the voters
of the State.
THE QUESTION AT ISSUE.
Assuming the correctness OF the state
meats i'll this report. and they seem to
have been generally accepted by the
country, the great crime i'll Louisiana.
about which 81 much has been said. Is
that one is holding the office of Gov
eruol who WIS cheated out of 2O.OOU
votes against another hose title to the
office is undoubtedly based on fraud
and i'll defiance of the wishes and in
trntion> of the voters of the state
Mi>.nirrmcd aud mi>iudgimg rs to the
nature and extent of his report. the
supporters of McEnery proceeded to
diSplace by force in some counties ot
the State the appoiurces Of Governor
Kellogg. and on the 18th of April. in
an effort of that kind. hutchery of citi-
zru> was committed at Coltax. which in
hl"odthirStineSs and bar5arty is hardly
surpassed by any acts of savage wal
fare.
JUDICIAL TESTIMONY.
10 put this matter beyond comtro-
Ncr>y quote from the charge of Judge
Woods of the United States Circuit
Court to the jury III the case of the
United States '. Cruikshank aud others
in New Orleans in March. lS74. He
said: In the ease on trial there are
many facts not III controversy. | pro-
rccd 10 stat" some of them III the pres
cnre aud hearing of counsel on both
sides. and If | state a> Il conceded fact
ANY matter that is disputed they can
correct me. After stating the origin of
the difficulty. which grew out of an al
tempt of white persons to drive the
parish judge and sheriff. appoiutecs oi
Kellogg. from the office. aud their at
tempted protection 10y colorcd persons.
which led tn some fighting in which
quite Il number ut negroes were killed.
the Judge states that most of them
" hu were not killed were taken prison
cI>. Fifteen or sixteen of the black :
had lifted the boards and taken refuge
under the floor of the Court House.
They were all captured about thirty
seven We're taken prisoners. The mum
Der is not definitely fixed. They were
kept under guard until dark. when they
We're
LED OUT TWO BY TWO AND SHOT.
Most of the men were shot to death.
\ few were wounded. not mortally. By
pretending I" bc dead they We're after
ward during the night able to make
their escape. Among them WIS the
Levi Nielsen named in the Indictment.
The dead bodies of the heroes killed
in this affair were left unburrd until
Tuesday, April l5. when they were
'''li it'l ~ i'titN .hiI Sill anu siI
officer of the militia from New Orleans.
These persons found
FIFTY-NINE DEAD BODIES.
They showed pistol shot wounds. the
great majority i'll the head. and most "f
them in the back of the head. In adj
ditinn to the tiftN-mine dead bodies
found some charrcd remains of dead
bodies were discovered near the Court
House. SIX dead bodies were found
under Il warehouse. all shot in the head
but one or two which were shot in the
breast. The only white men injured
from the beginning OF these troubles to
their close were Haduut and Hanis.
The Court House and its contents were
entirely consumed. There is no evi-
dence that any one in the crowd OF
whites bore any lawful warrant for the
arrest of amy of the blacks. There
is no evidence that either Nash or CHZa-
bat after the affair ever demanded theil
offices to which they had set up claim.
hut the Register continued to act hS
Parish Judge and Shaw as Sheriff.
These are the facts in this case as un-
derStand them to he admitted.
TO hold the people of Louisiana gen
orally responsible for the atrocities
would not he just, but it is Il lamrnta-
5le fact that iusuperable instructions
were thrown in the way of Furnishing
these murdercrs, and the SO called Con
servative papers of the State not only
JUSTIFIED THE MASSACRE,
But denounced as Federal tyranny ant:
dcSpotism the attempt of the United
States officers to bring them to justice.
Fierce deuunciations rung through the
country about the otfice-h holding and