The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-01-26

ODlQlOu Vi cOSICI, AOAPo Civ OSoO-'
A COMPLETE REPUTATION OF THE
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
THE FULL REPORT OF THE CONGRESSIONAL
SUB COMMITTEE ON LOUISIANA AFFAIRS
TESTIMONY ToTHE oUTRAGEs PERPETRATEI
BY KELLoGG's RETURNING BoARD-soME
FALsEHooDs OF KELLOGG, PACKARD CO..
ARE REFUTED-A PARTICULAR RECITAL Oh
THE MILITARY INTERFERENCE.
The New York papers of the 18th inst
contain the full report of the special com
mittee on that portion of the. president:
message relative to the condition of the
South. 1t was reported by the chairman
the Hon. George f. Hoar: In pursuance o.
the order ofthe fall committee of December
%, a special committee of three visited New
Orleans and proceeded with an iDvestigd-
ton, the result OF which they report to the
general committee as follows: In pursu-
ance of the order of the general c)mmlttee
of December %, the undersigned visited
New Orleans and there proceeded with all
diligence to the examination directed Dy the
committee. During the eight days they
remained there they weye attended through
out their sessions, when were puollc, Dy the
counsel of the republican and conservative
state committees. In that period tney exam
ing a large AMOUNT of documentary evidence,
Amounting IN all, it is estimated, to more
than fifteen hundred printed pages. In view
of the exigency that now exists in the af-
fairs of that state, and of the delay of weeks
that must elapse before that testimony can
be written out and printed, your committee
has determined to state the conclusions at
which they have arrived, so far as they are
unanimous in reaching their conclusions.
The Committee undertook no investigation
of the election of 1872. Much evidence has
already been taken by other committees of
congress upon that question, and
the time allowed both for their
action and for the session OF
congress seemed to be too short to call for
their then entering on that investigators
They announced this conclusion, apd tnat
therefore they would first proceed TO an ex,
animation of the acts of the returning BOARD
OF the state in respect Of the late election;
and then TO an inQulry IN reference 10 the
White League. me law provides tnat the
board shall consist OF five persons REPRE-
santinq All parties" II consisted at the
opening of their las. session of five repub
Hcans, upon the resignation of one of whom
(Gen. Longstreet) Mr.. Arroyo, a conserva-
tive, was taken to fill the vacancy. After
protesting against the action of the board In
secret session, Mr.. Arrayo resigned before
the conclusion of the lebors OF the board,
and his place was not filled, so that, as your
committee think, the law as to
TEE CONSTITUTION OF THE BOARD
was not complied with. The election laws
of Louisiana provide for q supervisor of
registration who appoints his own deputies
for each ward in New Orleans, and tor one
supervisor of registration for each parish in
the state. The officers are all appointed by
Gov. Kellogg. In addition to those super
visors, the police jurors, the local authori-
ties OF the parishes, appointed three COM
missioners of election for each poll in the
parish, and there were also two United States
supervisors appointed by the district judge
Of the United States for each poll. The law
further provides that in case OF violence, in
timidation or corruption at or near the poll,
either during registration or election, pre-
venting fair, free. peaceable and full vote,
the commissioners of election, IL the occur
renee was on election day, the supervisors
of registration if on the day of registration,
should make q full, verified statement of
the occurrence, forward the same with
and annexed to the returns, and
further provided that, when the returning
board, in canvassing the returns, should
come to any poll where the returns were
accompanied by such protest, they should
not canvass, count or compile the statement
of voters from such poll until the statements
from all other polls had been cauvassed and
compiled. The conservative counsel OBJ
jected that the board, on reaching the re-
turns from such protested polls, read and
became informed of those returns before lay
ing them aside to take up the other polls.
They insisted that the purpose of the law
was to prevent the commissioners from
knowing what the results at the polls pro-
tested against were, in order that when
they came to examine the polls protested
against they might do so without being
biased by knowing what was the result re-
turned. And they objected that In these
cases of protest the board had proceeded to
read the returns, add up and compile them,
and then defer their determination of the
case until after having acquired knowledge
of how
THE RETURNS PROTESTED
against would affect the election. On the
other hand the republican counsel insisted
that such a course was impracticable: that
the object OF the law in deferring any deter
mination of the results of the polls protested
against until the returns from the other
polls were canvassed was merely to enable
the board to ascertain whether the result of
the despatch returns would affect the cleo
ton, however decided, so that if they would
not the board might be. spared the labor of
considering this protest. Your committee
have not found it necessary to come to any
determination upon that question. The
election embraced but one state officer.
The chief struggle was over the cleo
ton of members of the STATE legislature
and parish officers. and in these elections
local and personal considerations, as well
as national and state politics, entered. The
returns by the commissioners on elections
compiled and forwarded by the superv sors
of registration, gave the conservatives a
majority of 20 members out of q total of Ill
rnarnhora In only three iDStaupaa vera
there any protests accompanying the re-
turns. The returning board was in ses-
sion for many weeks. As finally announced
their findings gave, as Gov. Kellogg reck-
oned IL, SO members to the republicans and
so members to the democrats, of whom,
however, one was regarded as not "a staying
democrat. The board made no decision as
to the remaining five seats. The public
sittings of the returning board were at
tended by the counsel of the republican and