Litchfield enquirer., 1876-12-21

ter suited to the plan to be accomplished than was the great disproportion existing between the number of white and colored | voters. The former numbered but 5, ,134. the latter IS, ,2A-R majority of the latter equal to third of the entire majority of colored voters in fifty-seven parishes of the State. The returns of votes actually cast in these five parishes suggest that the clubs to whom was assigned the task of securing Democratic maiorities thereln had performed their work of violence and intimidation efectuallY; while the proof dlscloses Tn brief summaries, portions of which are hereto annexed, that where vio- lence and intimidation were inefficient, murder, maiming, mutilation, and whip ping were resortsd to. Instead of a ma lority of (, 900 or 1000, which the Repub- licans should have had in these parishes upon fair election, there was actually returned to the Returning Board Demo- cratic majority in the parishes of East aud | West Feliciana, Morehouse, and Ouachita of 5, ,S7S; and in East Feliciana, where the registered colored voters number 2,l27, l not Republican vote for elector WAS cast. In East Baton Rouge, containing 1 3,552 colored registered voters and but 1,S01 whites, the Democrats claim a ma l jority of 617, which but tor the rejection of several polls by the commissioners and supervisors of election would have been I returned to the Returning Board as act 1 ually cast.
 If to the Democratic majority from the | four parishes above stated, we add the 617 thus clalmed and insisted upon before the Returning Board, Democratic ma | jority of 4 495 is the result of an election 1 in five parishes containing 13, ,244 colored Republicans and 5, 5,134 white Democratic voters. The conclusion that intimidation and violence alone could have produced this is almost irresistible, and that such influences were employed and were SUD- | plemented by murder when that was thought necessary is established by the proofs already referred to. It but con- firms this conclusion to refer to the vote cast in these five parishes in 1874, when no special motives existed for the use of cruel means to influence the election: The Republican majority therein was then 3.979.
 A result so suggestive of violence and intimidation was obtained by means the most terrible and revolting. Organized clubs of masked armed men, formed as recommended by the Central Democratic Committee, rode through the country at night, marking their course by the whip ping. shooting, wounding, maiming, mu- tilation, and murder of women, children, and defenseless men, whose houses were forcibly entered while they slept, and, as their inmates fled through fear, the pistol, the rifle, the knife, and the rope were employed to do their horrid work. Crimes like these, testified to by scores of wit fhn T isiana to elect a President of the United States And when they shall succeed the glories of the Republic will have depart. ed, and shame and horror will supplant in the hearts of our people that love and veneration with which they have hitherto regarded the institutions of their coun- try. The proof of violence and intimida- tion and armed disturbance in many other parishes is of the same general character, although more general and decisive as to the five parishes particularly referred to. In others these causes prevailed at par tlcular polling places, at many of which 8 Republican. vote was to considerable extent prevented.
 We hope to be able to furnish full cop ies of testimony taken by the board, that the justice of its conclusions may be ap- preciated. It is a tribunal from which there can be no appeal, and in view of the possible consequences of it's adjudication We have closely observed its proceedings and have carefully weighed the force of large mass of the testimony upon which that adjudication has been reached. Mem bers of the board, acting under oath. were bound by law, if convinced by testimony that riot, tumult, acts of violence, or arm ed disturbance did materially interfere with the purity and freedom of the elec- tion at any poll or voting place, or did materially change the result of the cleo tion thereat. to reject votes thus cast and excluded them from their final return. Of the effect of such testimony the board was sole and fual judge, and if ill reach ing conclusion it exercised good faith and was guided by an honest desire to do justice, it's determination should be re- spected. even if upon like proof a differ ent conclusion might have been reached by other tribunals or persons.
 To guard the purity of the ballot, to protect the citizen i'll the free and peace ful exercise of his rights. to vote to se- cure him against violence. intimidation, and outrage, and especially murder, when he attempts to perform this duty, should be the desire of all men and the aim of every representative government. If po- litical success shall be attained by such violent and terrible means as were resort ed to in many parishes of Louisiana, ,com- plaint should not be made if votes thus obtained are denounced by judicial tribu- nals and all honest men as illegal and void.
 JOHN SHERMAN, Ohio;
 E. W. SToUGHToN, New York;
 J. H. VAN ALIEN, New York;
 EUGENE HALE, Maine;
 J. A. GARFIELD, Ohio;
 CORTLAND PARKER, New Jersey;
 w D. KELLY, Pennsylvania;
 SIDNEY CLARK, Kansas;
 J. c. WILSON, Kansas.
 REPORT OF THE NORTHERN DEMOCRATS.