The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-01-07
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t, NEW ORLEANS.

NEW ORLEANS December 81 l.-General
Sheridan and staff arrived last night,
New ORLEANS, December 3l.-At ll;l5
the Congressional Committee re sem
bled in the room of the United States
Circuit Court, a large number of special
tors being present, The first witness
called was Gen. +. n. Ogden, who said :
81 am commanding officer of the White
League in this city. The object and pur-
nose of the White League are clearly de-
fined in their constitution The con
stitution was here submitted and read. J
"Our organization is simply or defensive
purposes. The condition Of affairs in Lou
isiana called for such an organization. Ii
was established in July, 1874. We called
il the White Lague, becal-e we could
only rely upon white people, in our con
dition. With political Offices we have
nothing to do. In the city of New Or
leans our roll will call 2,5o0 to $500 men.
| have organized out of these tWo regi-
ments of infantry and one of artillery.
We have officers for these regiments.
Gov. Penn authorized me to organize a
militia, when he WIS acting Governor
| was I'm Ter Governor Penn's orders on
the l4th of September. SOME of the or.
ganizations are now armed. cant say
how many as | have not received my re-
ports. We "ave no artillery. only what
weNade ourselves on the llth of Sep
tenIper. Some of the arms captured on
thA 4th of September, were captured by
parties outside my command. Thoseim-
mediately under my command took none
of The captured guns. Some of the out
side who took guns have since reported,
and claim to be members of the White
League. | don't know the strength of
the League in the parishes. Immediately
on the organization Of the League it as
sumed military character. We had no
armory. The guns had by members of
the Crescent City White League were OBJ
tanned by themselves. We have had
very irregular meetings since the l4th of
September We have other companies
who, see, meet often. ! have issued no
orders since the l4th of September r.
garding drill. Officers of companiesRt-
tend to that. | sometimes prevented
drill. We have no armories that | know
Of The League have not met lately for
discussion, The last meeting was about
two weeks ago then called a meeting
of the Crescent City White League Club.
The meeting was to get funds to pay the
expenses of procession held after the
election. We also passed resolutions Of
non-inteference with the Returning Club.
This club was really only club OF the
League organization. Our club has taken
no political steps since the l4th of Sep
tember We passed no resolution hint
ing to any member to discharge negr
who voted the Republican ticket, We
had no pledge that anybody should vote
any particular ticket, Before the eleG-
ton | summoned my staff and a few 9TH
er gentlemen to take steps to police the
city. On the I'd of November ! divided
my command into. three divisions, one
under command of Col. Behan, another
under command of Col. Glynn, and
third under Major Blank. They were to
place fifteen men near each poll to pre-
vent disturbances did this because |
was told measures would be taken to Gre
ate quarrel. The Leagues in the State
are not under my command, Though |
believe they would obey me | issued
orders. There is no central or federal
organizations believe tie League
existed in one of the northern par
ishes of the State before New Orleans. |
don'tknow hal any Republican is "a mem
Der If our club A gentleman who was
in the Federal army fell in with us on the
l4th of September. New Orleans is not
as prosperous in business as heretofore.
The decline ofprosperity in New Orleans
is owing to our administrations. Some
of our trade with Texas has been taken
st. Louis. Don't know whether the loss
of our Texas trade is he cause of the de-
cline, My men informed me that many
colored men voted the Conservative tick
ct at the election. Many colored men
came to me for protection from Republi-
cans after the election, and gave it to
them. put out men on election day
to prevent Disturbances as anything of
the kind would be construed into intim-
idA Aion. The organization grew out of
hNcondition of affairs here. Our people
were in terror OF the Metropolitan Police,
who committed outrages and were sent
out into parishes to execute the orders of
usbrpatiOn. The Metropolitan Brigade
were all armed. They turned out on the
streets and drilled with arms There
was Black League, but never saw it.
On the l4th of September went out on
the streets to the arms belonging to us
That were on board ship The police
were on the leVee and as we were going
to get the arms | was informed of the ad-
vance of the police. Then | formed my
line of battle. The White League was
not an organization for the purpose of
helping the Democratic party We helped
both parties in preserving peace. The
meeting held that day demanded the alb
dication If the government. was acting
in concert with the people. One of the
purposes of tire organization on the 18th,
was to get these arms. The League did
not know my purposes. ! acted not with
the Committee Of Seventy. but with the
Committee of Citizens My purpose that
morning was not peaceful one. We sur
rendered the State House to Col. Brooke.
During PENIS Governorshipt the city was
perfectly quiet. Politics are pretty much
divided on the color line. We made el-
forts to gain over some of the colored
vote, but used no intimidation. If the
Federal Government had not interferred
we would have had perfect quiet here
During the few days Of the Penn govern
ment don't believe it would have been
prudent for man to express sympathy
with the Kellogg government, on acc ount
of the excitement"
General Ogden was asked, on the con
clusion of his evidence, to furnish the
names of the negro men who called on
him for protection, which he did
When Dawes asked the witness Geo.
A. Scott whether he knew of any false