The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-01-22

vide for the use Of the army and navy
when necessary to enforce judicial pro
cess arising Hereunder, consider it my
duty to see that such process was ex
ecuted. According to the Judgment o.
the court, resulting from these proceed
ings through various controversies anC
complications, State administration
was organized with William p. Kellogg
as Governor, which, in the discharge o.
my duty under article 4, section 4, o.
the Constitution / have recognized a
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 com
petitor, McEnery was chosen. The nc
ton was a gigantic fraud, and there are
no reliable returns of its result. Kel
logg obtained possession of the office
and in my opinion has more right to il
than his competitor.
On the 26th of February, 1873, the
Committee ON Privileges and Elections,
of the Senate, made report in which
they say they are satisfied, by the testi-
mony, that the manipulation of the
election machinery, by Warmoth and
others, was equivalent to 10000 votes.
and they add that to recognize the Nc
Emery government would berecognizing
a government based upon fraud in de-
fance of the wishes andj intentions of
the State. Assuming the correctness, of
the statements in this report, and they
seem to have been generally accepted by
the country, the great crime in Louis
lana, about which SO much has been
done and said, is that one is holding the
office of Governor who was cheated out
of twenty thousandvo votes against another
whose title to the office is undoubtedly
based on fraud and in defiance of the
wishes and intentions of thevoters of the
State. Misinformed and misjudging as
to the nature and extent of this report
the supporters of McEnery proceeded to
displace by force in some parts of the
State the appointees of Governor Kel-
logg, and on the 18th of April in an eff
fort of that kind butchery of citizens
was committed at Colfax which in blood
thirstiness and barbarity is hardly sur
passed by any acts of savage warfare.
To put the matter beyond controversy,
I quote from the charge of Judge
Woods, of the United States Circuit
Court to the jury, in the case of the
United States vs. Cruikshank and others
in New Orleans, in March, 1874. He
said: e'In tine case on trial there are
many facts not in controversy, and I
proceed to state some of them in pres
ence and hearing of counsel on both
sides, and if 1 state as a conceded fact
any matter that is disputed they can cor
rect me-" After stating the origin of the
difficulty which grew out of an attempt
of the white persons to drive the parish
Judge and sheriff, appointeeso of Kellogg,
from Office, and their attempted protec-
ton by colored persons, which led to
some fighting in which quite number
of negroes were killed, the judge states
that most of those men who were not
killed were taken prisoners. Fifteen or
sixteen of the blacks had lifted the
boards and taken refuge under the floor
of the courthouse. They were all cap
tured, about thirty-seven men were taken
prisoners. The number isnot definitely
fixed. They were kept under guard un-
til dark when they were led out two by
two and shot. Most of the men were
shot dead. A few were wounded, but
not mortally, and by pretending to be
dead were afterwards, during the night,
able to make their escape. Among them
was the Levi Nelson named in the in
dictment. The dead bodies of the ne
groes killed in this affair were left un-
buried till Tuesday, April 10, when they
we're buried by deputy marshal and an
officer of the militia from New Orleans.
These persons found fifty-nine dead
bodies. They showed pistol-shot
wounds, the great majority in the heart
and oftener in the back of the head. In
addition to the dead found, some charred
remains of dead bodies were discovered
near the courthouse. Six bodies found
under warehouse were all shot in the
heart 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 Hadnot and Harris. The
courthouse and its contents were entire
lly consumed. There is no evidence that
either Nash or Cazobet after the affair
ever demanded the offices for which they
had set up claim, but the register con
tinued to act as parish Judge and Shaw
as sheriff. These are facts in this case,
as / understand them, to be admitted
To hold the people of Louisiana gener
ally responsible for these atrocities
would not be right, butit is a lamentablt
fact that insuperable distractions were
thrown in the way Of Furnishing these
murderers, and the so-called Conserva
a