Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-03-11
To Prevent Election Frauds.

ed force bill, which passed the House
of Representatives, and is now pending
in the Senate. 1t is virtually re-en.
actment of the Ku-Klux bill under
which that lawless organization was
suppressed. Although the bill did not
become law, it is well that people
should read it in order to discover that
it is not what State right Democrats
represent.
A bill to provide against the invasion of States,
to prevent the subversion of their authority,
and to maintain the security of elections.
BE it enacted, etc., That if two or
more persons, within the jurisdiction
of the United States, shall invade any
of the States Of this Union for the pur-
pose of fOrcibly Overthrowing the ex-
isting Government of said State, or any
constituted authority of the same, or
for the purpose of interfering in any
fOrcible or unlawful manner with the
due execution of the laws of said State,
or of the United States; or if two or
more persons, within the jurisdiction of
the United STATES, shall eonspire with
any other person or persons for any of
the unlawful purposes hereinbelow re-
cited, with intent to commit tie same,
each person so offending shall be deem
ed guilty of felony, and, on conviction
thereof, shall be punished by fine not
exceeding $4,000, and by imprison-
ment and confinement at hard labor for
a term not exceeding ten years, at the
discretion of the court trying the same.
SEC. 2. That if two or more persons
shall conspire together to overthrow
by force or to usurp by violence the
State Government of any of the States
OF this Union, or any department
thereof; or if any two or more persons
shall in fact, by force and violence at
attempt to subvert or usurp such
State Government, or any department
thereof; or If any two or more persons
shall, by like force and violence, act
ually overthrow the existing Govern
ment of any State, or any department
thereof, each person so offending shall
be deemed guilty Of crime, and, on
less than $500 nor more than s., 900, and
shall be Imprisoned not less than one
year and not more than twenty years,
at the discretion of the court trying the
same.
Sec. 3. That any person or persons
using or proposing 10 Use firearms or
other deadly weapons against any
peaceable individual or individuals, or
assemblages of the same, at or near the
place, and ON the day or days of regis
tratiOn of holding of election for Rep
reseHtatives or delegates to Congress,
for the purpose of intimidating or in
juring such individual or individuals
while such election is in progress, and
before the same shall have been COM
pleted, or before such election has COM
menced to be held, for the purpose OF
intimidating such individuals from
coming to the same, shall be guilty of
a crime, and, on conviction thereof,
shall be fined not less than $500 nor
more than $4,000, and imprisoned not
less than one year aud not more than
three years, at the discretion of the
court trying the same; provided that
in all prosecutions under this act act
the open carrying of firearms or other
deadly weapons at such elections or
place OF registration shall be taken as
presumptive evidence of the intent to
intimIdate under this act.
SEC. 4. That in case the registration
officers appointed under the laws of
any State or Territory, where, by the
laws of said State or Territory, regis
tration is required as a condition of
voting at any election for Representa-
tives in Congress, shall wilfully or cor
ruptly refuse or neglect to give any per-
son entitled to vote, at any precinct or
voting place established under the pro-
visions of the laws of Congress, or of
any State or Territory, full and suffici-
ent opportunities to register in the
manner prescribed by law, and within
the time fixed by law, or shall, by any
device or subterfuge, impose conditions
or enforce Determinations upon voters
or class of voters not declared in sucn
laws, or shall refuse or ne
glect, on request made by the voter or
his agent, to furnish such voter with
certificate of registration, or such other
form of evidence of the same as may
by law be required in such States or
Territory, such officers shall be deemed
guilty of crime, and on conviction
thereof shall be fined not less than $500
nor more than $1,000, or imprisoned
not less than six months nor more than
two years, or both, at the discretion of
the court trying the same.
SEC. 5. That any person or persons
who, at any election for Representa-
tive to Congress, shall, by cunning or
device, fraud of force, take, or cause to
be taken from the legal custodian or
of the same, o. from any
place wher kept in deposit by any such
custodian or custOdians, the box or
boxes of ballots, or the poll-list, or
either of them, or shall carry away con-
ceal, scatter, deface, mutilate, or des-
troy said ballots or poll-lists, or any or
either of them, before the final count
and comparison of the same has been
and the result of the elec-
ton ascertained and publicly annOun-
which such ballots and poll-list or eth
er of them, have to be preserved under
the laws of the United States or of such
States and Territory, every such per-
son shall be deemed guilty of crime,
and, on conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than $500 or more than
So 900, and imprisoned not less than
two years nor more than five years, at
the discretion of the court trying the
same.
SEC. 6. That il the prosecution of any
of the undertaking heretofore declared
or in the commission of any
of the Offenses hereinbefOre set forth,
any person not participant in said Of
lenses or unlawful undertakings, shall
be killed by any persons engaged in
the same, or any of them, such killing
shall constitute the crime of murder;
and any person committing the same
or accessory before the fact to such CON-
shall, on conviction thereof,
suffer the penalty af death.
SEC. Z. That the District Courts of
the United States, within their several
districts, shall have exclusively of the
courts of the several States, judisdic-
ton of all the crimes and offenses
against the provisions of this act, and
also concurrently with the Circuit