Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-12-06
l.lnnn...InilmIdniion and Murder.


journals have suddenly ceased quoting from him
1t being party capital, not The truth. which they
we're after.
Large numbers Of witnesses from Tie bull
dozed parishes arrived at the custom house
yesterday and to-day. spent several hour.
among them, talking 20 witnesses and exam
lining afIdavits. Unless the sworn state
meuts of these people can be overthrow
the democrats need not attempt 20 convince
the country that they got their majority
fairly. One woman testified that Tie bull |
dozers took her husband and SON out of bed !
at three o'clock in the morning aud killed |
them Her story is almost too horrible foi
belief, vet She tells 10 Ia straightforward |
simple way, that carries conviction. Her |
daughter saw the whole affair, and there is
mo- discrepancy between the witnesses. Two |
weeks before, the men had been warned @ |
leave in ten days but were advised by white |
friends to remain, as but little significance |
was attached to the anonymous warning |
A copy of the proceedings of the coroner |
inquest upon the bodies of the murdered |
men substantatcs the story. This was TO- |
East Baton Rouge. The stories oi an The |
witnesses from the different parishes agree |
as TO the fact that their offences were polit |
zeal. The condition OF these poor people is |
piliable. They are without protection, UNI |
less they become democrats and yell with |
the largest mob. Those who have been
numbering the defenseless blacks in the bull
dozed parishes are not even arrested. The
civil law is utterly powerless. The poor ne
Croes are ground between two mill-stones.
The Republicans are hoaping up a mass of
testimony which will win their case at the
bar Of public opinion, unless the democrats
car overthrow H. When the country sees
the testimony that have seen to-day, there
will be less complaint because the returning
board throws out certain parishes, or parts
OF them.
Now, mark this. Each party here viii
give a sort OF official statement TO the coun-
try. and these statements will each be sup
ported by abundance Of sworn testimony,
yet the candid reader will be unable to rec
oncile them. They will be as far apart as
the poles ] see that brewing now For in
stance, the Republicans already have thou
sands of ailidayits from colored men, who
swear that they voted the democratic ticket
through fear, or that they were kept from
voting the Republican ticket by force. The
democrats have thousands of aiidavts-aud
each party is adding to the stock daily
made by colored men. who swear that they
voted the democratic ticket freely, fairly and
Of their own desire, and set ont their rea-
sons for so doing, in many instances, the heft
OF ii being that they had voted with the
Republican party eight years. and they and
the country were no better Off but rather
on the decline Alsolarge numbers of sworn
statements that atlantis wanted to vote the
democratic ticket, but were kept from it by
the fear OF violence from their own race.
Then the Republicans have stacks of aflida-
Wits from these very men, or many OF them,
who swear that they were forced to swear
that they voted the democratic ticket freely
and fairly, when in fact they didn't but
wanted to vote for the Republican candi.
dates all the time.
"Sifting it all down. examining census
reports and registration lists making allow
ance for black democrats and white Repub-
licans, come to one conclusion, which will
take more evidence than have vet found TO
drive me from it, And that is this If the
vote here had been in every way as fair and
free as you have in Ohio, without murder of
the blacks or frightening them with no land
TO cultivate, or lowering their wages on ac-
count of radical taxation, or breaking up
their meetings, or anything of the sort,
Louisiana would have gone for Hayes with
majority of not less than fifteen thousand
on national issues owing to causes which go
back into history. On free, fair election,
without any other appliances to win votes
than You have in Ohio, no more blacks
would vote the democratic ticket than whites
would vote the Republican ticket We might
fairly Offset one vote against the other--the
black democrats against the white Repub-
leans While this is true, it is also true
that Iilden carried this state on the face of
things; that is, he has most votes in the
boxes.,from seven thousand to nine thou
sand more than Hayes. in fact. And it is
also true that the election at every polling
place in the state was quiet, so far as have
heard no fighting, rioting, or attempts to
drive the blacks Off
"But the blacks were operated on before
the election. They were Influenced in yari-
GUS ways, some of the leading ones killed
outright (but the number has been greatly
exaggerated by the Republicans), and all
were made TO understand that the path OF
safety and peace for them lay in voting the
democratic ticket. In East Feiciana not
single vote was allowed TO be polled for the
Republican ticket Various explanations of
this have been given by the democrats, but
none that will hold water. The bold naked
fact remains that the Republican majority
was Hthiultu ouNs anu lildi lic nHkcks, Mltl-
out exception, were contented TO vote the
democratic ticket or not vote at ALL In
West Feliciana mentioned in dispatches
that the federal officer in command there
told me that the election in that parish was
perfectly free and fair nobody hurt, and no
disturbance. All of which is true on the
lace OF it, There was no disturbance. or
not, or armed men at the polls driving away
voters at the pistol point, but measures had
been taken days before the election TO Gre
ate such degree OF uneasiness in the Afri-
can mind as TO incline them TO vote the
democratic ticket out of regard for their
own safety. And it is fair to say that the
other federal officers, stationed in the same
parish, do not agree with the captain, whose
views | quoted. All these officers are Re
publicans, and the different light in which
they see things in the same parish, and
from the same standpoint, illustrates the
difficulties of the situation. ! have before
explained that have no sympathy with the
so-called Republican state government here,
and should not weep to see it go overheard.
But the unfarness of forcing the blacks to
vote the way they don't want TO, when such
forcing elects President of the United
States is calculated TO make the average
man call for lair vote as well as a fair
count.
A fair count here-that is. count of
all the votes cast--elects 1ilden. The ques-
ton simply is, should we go behind that
vote and show that il was obtained by force
and gross intimidation That is what the
returning board are doing. They are not
only looking into the ballot boxes, but going
behind them to see If helpless class OF
voters had fair show | have mentioned
IN my dispatches the fact that numbers of col
ored democrats have been brought in from
the disturbed parishes to confer with the
Northern democrats now here. sent YOU
what the blacks said upon such occasions,
or, rather, the drift of their remarks. On
the face of things they are approved as
genuine democrats who thought they and
the country would get along better under
democratic rule.
"One of these men-I will not say what
parish he was from, or when he called, or
anything that might get him into trouble
but It Is enough TO know that when he was
alone with some Republicans, with full as
surance that his name should not be re-
yealed, he said that every black man was nj
heart Republican, and the reason that they
voted so largely with the democrats in his
parish was because they wanted shelter