Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-01-23
discharge or of refusal to employ, was

Certain Witnesses, themselves every
,nc Office holders, testified generally to
,uch action, but hardly any one was
able to specify a single instance in
which he heard any employer so threat
en- or discharge any voter, or knew of
any employee being so threatened or
Not one single colored man through
out the entire, parish was produced to
testify either to such threats or to the
execution of any such purpose, wheth-
err before or after the election.
MAJORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE CON-
SENTATIVE.
The committee alludes to to the nu-
merous illegal acts of the Returning
Board, and says again: I'VE are con-
strained to declare that the action of
the Returning Board on the whole was
arbitrary, unjust, and in our opinion
illegal, and that this arbitrary, unjust,
and illegal action alone prevented the
return by the board of u majority of
Conservative members to the lower
house"
TWO PARISHES INQUIRED INTO.
The committee confined their inves-
tigation to two parishes, and tind that
no general intimidation of Republican
voters was established. No colored
man was produced who had been
threatened or assaulted because of
political opinion, or discharged from
employment or refused employment.
Of all those who testified to intimi-
dation, there was hardly any one who
ofhis own knowledge, could specify a
reliable instance of such acts; and of
the white men who were produced to
testify generally on subjects, very near
ly all, if not every single one was a
holder ofofiice. 500
No witness, we believe. succeeded in
naming in any parish five Republicans
who supported kellogg government,
who were not themselves Office holders
or related to those having official en-
ployment. H
On the other hand, applications to
United States Commissioners In the
various parishes, not only for alleged
crimes, but because of alleged threats
of discharge and n-emplOyment or
other interference with political pref
erence, were frequent Upon these APP
plications warrants were often issued,
aud white citizens arrested and bound
over for trial. aG.-ae 90
In many localities Federal troops
were detailed to serve under marshals
and deputy marshals, and not only
made many arrests Immediately before
the election, but reports that they were
coming to particular neighborhoods
about the time of election for the pur-
pose of making such arrests, served as
the Conservatives claimed, to intimi-
date, and sometimes even to produce
a stampede among the voters.
How differently the two parties look
upon. the same fact, will appear from
the testimony of Mr.. Riddle, who was
United States Commissioner in the
parish of Iberia Shortly before the
election, upon the application of col
ored persons, he issued a large number
of warrants.
He considered it his duty, upon the
arrest of the persons charged, to require
bail from sureties who possessed land
cd estates within the parish, certified
to me by the assessor of the parish to
be of sufficient value, of which the title
was approved by the register of deeds.
This rule necessarily produced delay
in procuring bailfor the persons arrest
ed, and he was waited upon on one oc-
casion by procession of citizens who
offered him bond signed by every
man in the procession. This he re-
garded as in derision of his proceed
ings, and he refused to receive bond.
He was called as a witness TO prove
the intimidation that existed in that
parish. He had himself no knowledge
of any act of the kind, except this pro-
cession, which he thought was calcu-
ted to intimidate colored voters. He
had no idea that the arrests made upon
his warrants and proceeding under
them, had any effect in interfering with
the Conservative voters.
On the other hand, the Conserva-
tivesin that neighborhood thought
about this just the reverse indeed, the
reports. of-he military officers in com
mand DIVORCES of the United States
in thecountry. Observation-Disclosures
ing a condition ofquiet and order, take
sometimes an entirely different view OF
the situation.
On the other hand it was in evidence
that blacks who sought to act with the
Conservative party were On their part
sometimes exposed to enmity and
abuse.
In the interior one colored man was
shot for making a Conservative speech,
and in New Orleans it appeared from
testimony that colored men who sought
to cooperate with the Conservatives
were subjected to so much abuse from
the police and otherwise that an asso-
cation of lawyers volunteered to pro-
tect them, but with little effect.
The committee gives an account of
the general condition of affairs in the
State. The conviction among the
whites that the kellogg government
was usurpation, the general want of
confidence in the State and local
officials, the heavy decline in State Sc
curities, the exorbitant taxation, the
reduction ofwages; the non fulfillment
of personal or political pledges, the
malieasance of home and local officials,
the disputes among the leading colored
persons, the loss or embezzlement in
some cases of the school funds and the
failure of the Freemen's Bank all com.
biled to divide the views of the col
ored voters during the late campaign.
An effort was accordingly made by
the Conservatives to acquire part OF
the negro vote. With that view it was
sought in many quarters to propltiate
them. The frequent arrests made by
the United States marshals for intimi-
dation or threats of unemployment,
and the apprehension that was felt that
the Returning Board would count out
their men if an excuse for such course
were offered, all combined, especially
after the 18th of September, to put the
Conservatives on their good behaviour;
and the result was that, IN NOVEMBER,
1874, THE PEOPLE OF LOUISIANA DID
FAIRLY HAVE A FREE, PEACEABLE,
FULL REGISTRATION, IN WHICH A
CLEAR CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY WAS
ELECTED TO THE LOWER HOUSE OF
TIE LEGISLATURE, OF WHICH MAJOR
ITY THE CONSERVATIVES WERE DE-
PRIVED BY THE UNJUST, ILLEGAL,
AND ARBITRARY ACTION OF THE RE-
TURNING BOARD. That there were
turbulent spirits cannot be denied.
Those returned to Office by the Re-
turning Board in violation of the wish
es of the people are especially odiops,
In one instance the editor of the
Shreveport News, in anticipation Of
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