The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-10-12

demands. blood would be shed. Although the
county ofici&ls are Republicans, their hands
are virtually tied against such force. Should
they make arrests, no jury could convict; wit
nesses stand ready to prove an alibi, and col
ored men would testify at the risk of their lives
None but coDred men would come to the as
sistance Of the officials. The Governor has no
militia except negroes, and they are undisci-
plined. unframed ignorant of military duties,
and wholly Unequal to cope with the White
Liners on the other side. Many of these lead
1 ing spirits we're charged with Ku Kuxing IN
1870 and 1871, and are more bitter to-day
than they we're then, simply because they
think the Government will not punish them
now any more than it did then. The leniency
and clemencyof the National Government had
been mistaken for cowardice and the longer
! they live the holder and more outspoken they
| grow. At the Democratic ratification meeting
held in Columbia, s. c., on the 18th inst, some
of the speakers openly advised their hearers to
put out of tho way the white Republicans first,
! then the lnulattoes, and then the negroes.
They said they did not fear the United States
army; they had met it once without blenching,
and they were ready to do go again. They
were going to carry this State at whatever cost
| Unless the Government makes some show of
force by sending the military to these infected
counties as sort Of moral support to the Re-
publicans, it will not only be useless to expect
us to carry the election, but white Republicans
will not be permitted to live in peace and quiet
and express their political Sentimental
Another gentleman of undoubted reliability
and conservative character was present at re-
cent meeting at fernando, Miss. AS the
speaking was about beginning, q white man
commenced disturbance by attacking q negro
with cudgel. Immediately the whites opened
fire. Five negroes and two whites were shot.
He writes:
"SEpT 10, 1876
81 myself Witnessed the first blow and the
first shot at fernando, yesterday. They both
came from the whites, and SAW nothing to
provoke the bow, and the shot was certainly
an objectionable brutality"
GEN. GARYs ADVICE.
In letter to the President, of the 18th inst,
gentleman of reliable character writes from
Edgefeld, s. O.:
''Gen Gary is advising the rifle clubs which
have been formed by the old rebel Democracy
to attack the United States soldiers now staA
toned here, and run them away from here.
He says in sll lis public speeches that he
would not hesitate to lead company of men
10 attack them and kill the last one of them. /
tell you. Mr.. President, that the same old rebel
spirit is 10 these men yet, and nothing but the
strong arm Of your Government will bring
them to feel that they must obey the law. Gen.
Gary said, the other day, that he intended to
carry the election, or he would fill every street
in Edgefield with dead negroes"
Under the circumstances this does not pre-
sent pleasant prospect to the negro voters OF
Edgefield county This may be bravado in the
General, but the object Is manifest. Besides
the almost innumerable individual cases re-
ported to the Department of Justice, the Dis
trict Attorneys of the United States have in
sundry instances applied for instruction in
view of the evidence which they give OF con-
spiracies already formed and forming in the
different States to intInidate the colored voters
and SUPPRESS their suffrage. One, gentleman
and lawyer OF high standing, states this case:
IAN intelligent colored Republican has beenre-
Gently organizing, in one of the counties OF
Mississippi, Republican clubs-clubs fer politi-
cal discu ssion open for everybody to attend.
A leading object of the clubs hitherto has been
to asce1 tain the boundaries OF the precincts in
which the negroes are required TO cast their
votes, problem which, under the new State
law, is not solved by the negroes without con-
siderable difficulty"
This colored Republican was instructing his
Republicans how to find their several
proper voting places when his life WAS threat
ened if he did not de+ist. Not needing the
threat, he WAS attacked and fired at on the
stand when speaking. Being more daring than
the colored people have generally proved to
be, he returned the fire, but without effect
He was seized finally on q charge of assault
with intent to kill, and it was apprehended
that the White Liners would get HIM out Of
the jail and kill him. He was removed to
another county, where his fate is unknown.
This statement was made by a District Attor-
ney, a gentleman of great intelligence as we'll
as lawyer OF emInence, and conservative. He
declares that there is undoubtedly formed a
conspiracy to control the elections by intlml-
dation and fraud, and that an essential feature
OF the plot is to prevent by menaceS and 7lo-
lence the assembling of Republicans for politi-
Cal discussion, and preparation for exercising
the franchise of suffrage. He states that If
TGIOa
and prevented by Federal power, fair election
can still be secured, but if not the intimlda-
tons will very soon have gone 80 far that the
cOlOred Repu blicans will not dare to vote. LII
the perpetrators of these wrongs are respon-
sible to State authorities only there can be no
remedy. and the election must be abandoned.
The Government has some able and patriotic
legal officers in the Southern States, but they
are environed with difficulties.
A GRAVE QUESTION.
In view of the extraordinary condition OF po-
litical affairs in the South the question ID now
gravelv presented whether the negroes will be
allowed to share in the election OF the officers
who are to administer the Government or not
or. rather, whether the dominant class, with
properly and very superior intellect in the
South shall be allowed to deprive them and us
of their right to vote. Shall we give it up, or
shall we insist upon their right? There are
other poor people, both North and South, who
are also III OTdllC. Onall Cl0y, LOO, 10 uopIAFcO
of their suffrage? Ii we give it up IN the
South we create an aristocracy worse than that
which We had hoped was destroyed for the
shareholders will have more political power
than they had when they owned the negroes.
Five slaves were counted in the scale of
political power as three freemen; now they
count as five, so that those masters
will WELD two-fifths more power in the
Federal Government on account OF the ne
groes than they did before the war. The
question for the people of the United States to
determine at the coming election is, shall the
Fifteenth amendment be given up, yielded to
intimidation and fraud? If yes, then the in
structlons to the Marshals Of the United States
to preserve the peace of the United States at
the polls were wrong. If you think that poor
men, if citizens shall be allowed to vote IRE
spectiye of race, color or previous condition OF
servitude, and that it is the duty OF the officers
of the United States to enforce the law in that
behalf when possible, then the circular OF the
Marshals was right and was not untimely.
Gentlemen, we may fail to secure free vote
RI Init rnIH