New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-15
HOW THE LOUISIANA DEN00KaUY ONCE
PROTESTED AGAINST INTIMIDATION
AND 6t00DSHED.u ,.--g--.s, r-,s..t=,..s.s,

HOW THE LOUISIANA DEN00KAUY ONCE
PROTESTED AGAINST INTIMIDATION
I AND BL00DsHED."
| Distinguished students of political his
tory have been attracted to New Orleans
by the singular phenomenon of five mil
lions Of emancipated men who are claimed
to have taken their representative vote
from the party which gave it to them, and
bestowed it upon that party which re-
sisted alike their emancipation and their
suffrage.
To aid in the solution of this extraordi-
nary problem, it becomes the duty of the
local historian to aid these patriotic re-
searches by explaining the doctrines Of
calling and election as heretofore prac'
ticed in Louisiana.
In this review it will not be necessary
to 60 beyond the election of the Governor
and Legislature of 1866. At that time
there existed the same violent personal
hostility of party which seems to impart
itself to all political discussions in Louis
lana. The Democratic party stood upon
its principles Of State rights and opposi-
ton to Federal Intervention in aid of
internal development within the States
The Wing party, with the view Of dis
abling the Democracy, had merged its Or
ganization in that of the American or
Know-Nothing party. It is to be remem-
bered that there arose in the interest of
the Know-Nothing party the terrible
predecessor Of the bulldozer, the ''thug.'
They openly assassinated those who could
not be intimidated, and the poor foreigner,
especially the Irish, were terrified, muir
dered, deferred or driven from the polls
precisely as the negroes have been by their
Democratic enemies. This special chap
ter from the normal politics of Louisiana
| is then presented at the time when the
election above referred to had occurred and
when the Democratic Senate exercised its
constitutional right to judge the election,
qualification and returns of its members
1t is from the majority report Of the
Senate committee, signed by Messrs. 3.
HARRISON, B. B. SHINES and J. r. Mac
murdo, that the extracts which follow are
derived.
The subject of this report was the con-
test of Messrs. St. Paul, Hyams and
Withers, Democrats, to obtain the Sena-
torial seats of Messrs. Burthe, Michel and
Burke, Americans OF Know-Nothings.
We may as well add that the report
was, apparently, adopted, and the Demo-
cratic contestants seated.
Although ourselves citizens Of New Or
leans at the time, and personally cogniz-
ant of the facts, we prefer to cite the
record itself. 1t is q public and pub
lished document, alike accessible to all.
The report sets forth the petition Of the
Democratic contestants:
That at the ninth election precinct of the
city Of New Orleans q majority of III votes
was given in their favor, and that no re-
turn was made thereof owing to the fact
that lawlcss men broke the ballot boz and
that tOrty-hve votes were given in their
favor at the twenty-second precinct, and
the names Of the voters entered on the poll |
list, but that these votes we're not returned
in their favor owing to their having been |
stolen and clandest;nely taken from the |
lawful custody Of the commissioners Of |
election. Other twenty-eight votes at va
rious precincts were not returned as they |
should have been, and upward of 442 legal |
voters who rendered their votes to the COM |
DissiOners of ell. ctiOp, were refused the /
right of roting although they desired to e.
ercise their suffrage IN .faror of the con-
test0nts.
The Democratic committee premise
that
Interests of such vital Importance as those
connected with the invi0labillty Of the /
ballot box should not be permitted to suffer
from an excessive regard for mere technical
distractions and questions CT form.
After an argument upon an apparent
conflict between antagonist acts of legis-
lation, the Democratic committee pro-
coed to say: =
The undersigned conceive that the whole
subject is properly before the Senate for
final action, and they have examined the
records in order to determine the issues
raised by the contestants. That record EN-.
braces the snthsntic evidence Of Outr0ges
,Do, the cardinal features of oar republican
systen, calculated 10 ereite the anprehensions
IF the patriot for the continued integrity of
mr. institutions, and to provoke profound
regret in the breast of every American who
,heriehes an honest pride in the supremacy
metropolis SHOULD have been the scene of
uch rerolting erccsses as were there en-
acted On the occasion of the recent cleo |
ion, is painful evidence of the temporary
mbecifty of lagful authority and q lament
Ible instance OF the abseEca of moral vigor .
n public opinion. II
Then follows curious example of the
hypothetical ratiocination by which the
Democratic committee arrived at the con-
fusion that the Democratic contestants
we're entitled to their seats:
One of the commissioners of election, with
mother person without official signature, {
estify IS to the probable vote at q precinct
vhere large Democratic majority was
iyen, and where the ballot boxes with their (
Ontents were destroyed by the ruffianism .
o cOnspicuously evinced on the occasion.
These witnesses agree in stating that the
7hole number Of votes polied at the pre- 9
met was 405. That of these there were 1873
traight unscratched Know Nothing or
american tickets. That the scratched
ickets numbered about twenty, and that 7
he balance-say A7-were the straight
nscratched Democratic tickets. OF the I
wenty scratched tickets, Mr.. Cronap, the
Commissioner, is positive that two-thirds I
7ere Democratic, and in favor Of the con-
estants, as he says that the scratched were =
curly all of the names of the candidates for
arish officers. G
The summary as set up by this volun- l