The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-12-18
VOL. XLly.-N0. lO9.
TIE lNIQUlTY IN FLORIDA.
cor. LRvERETT SILTONSTfLL'S DE-
SCRIPIION or THE FRIUDS

sov. Stcnrns Holding All thr Fon'ch' Nn-
ohinety Of the state In h,s HANDS -Ihc
Woik Of Dennis the Amdnvit mnhcr
The Drunkenness OF IA CIrcuu Judge.
Col. Leverett Saltonstall, one Of the dis
tlnguishcd visitors from NJ issachusetts to Flor
Ida, gave an account Of his visit to the Boston
Democrats on SATURDAY afternoon. lie sild -
Every officer In the state. excepting consta6les
and members OF the Assembly. Is appointed
by Gov. Steatns. lie has the bcstowal OF every
privilege In the state Of every name and nature.
The whole polite machinery in the state Is In
hIs power, and he holds this power for four
ye.rs There Is nothing like this anywhere to
be found, except, perhaps. In some Of the
Republics of Central America. Let me
tell YOU what tns power gives him
4 In the matter of election. The
,vnunty Commissioners have the appointing
wCthe precincts where the bnllotlng is carried
on; they can establish two precincts AT certain
point and not another within nfty miles. THIS
practice has been very cons picuously followed
for the purpose OF polling Il larger Republican
vote IN Republican dislicts, which are the n gro
die dcts Of tho Stap. do not believe there Is
T. the state white man VINO is II Republican,
Lness be is connected with Gov. Stearns's ad-
ninistratiOn. The Repun unlcAn side had TO be
carried ON entirely 10y tne Senators who were
sent there nv tho Admini strAtion at ashington.
The Government Of the S.ate ha, been 50 In
roperty OF the State was taxed three or four
,imes since 1869 without making any exception
of the properly of the slaves. | refer to valun-
tion of real est te and p-r'onal property. Not
withstlnding this the taxation has been quad
rupled ay, In cases made six or eight times
greater. and the ia tion Ul Florida to day i5
far rger than its annual produce Of crops. In
other words TINS ficn. magnificent. fruitful soil
does not produce, under It's present Govern
meut. enough TO vay the taxes II the state.
In 1870 ,ight whole counties were counted ont
by the Rat nrning Board, which, had the total
vote pOeu ia them been allowed. would have
overturned the GoV.rnment Of Stearns by
large Dtmocr Iic IN my ana placed me ad-
ministra ion Of the state In the hands Of It's own
eitizens. From IN t time to this the returns
have becn maniuul.t 10y canvassin- boards,
30 snniuele--lv zoo, tnnt they have never made
any eGnrt to conceal the + lct tnAt they did this
The supreme Court of Florida. am happy TO
say, Is represented oy three nouest men, Chief
Justice Rlud tli AMI M twn associate Justices
are the executions 9TH great rule of the Office
holders Of L orida All the lower courts a.e
represented 10y zen Of tue Lowest possible
order. For * mrlc thr onf Circuit Judge who
came intu the Office OF the Returning Board day
after day, who. when arrested Tor drunkenness
In the sir. l. aud committed 20 ths lock-up
brought writ OF hnbea. corpus, reiufnnne To
bimsrlf 70 the return oi MS own body lh"aIs
You win ask me about this question Of the re.
turns, aud hoN 81 i'm this fraud was carried
out; for that tn. result wa- reached through
fraud ~ HOuest, faif-ininded man Will doubt.
j can only say that frhui WAS everywhere TO be
seen. In trlin. t. tell yOu how claim that the
oOuutiy was swindieL ou of agoud. honest ma
IN jor,iy tnr ,wn ior sr Drew, the Demo.
craio ctndiite for Governor Of fi9rda.
I know h rdy what first to specli. From
the beginning II VS. the netern nation OF
the Can,a-slng Board 70 have TIE vote OF the
State counted tor thr hepuuli'dn candidates.
There Is man In Florida named Dennis who
represents tie uraiGs of - Administration. u
any htiidavi were wanted Mr. dennis would
disappear. nd IA snort time NIFTY afhdsvlts
would be Drought w; Il witness was nitro
duted ont part Il the CnnsttvatiVes he VS.
always on haud iehn> to creep ~ Ia tue -ide OF
the witness nd whisper -pmetnins IN = ear.
and II it Wur po--iuie pat some ming into No
and. Every n'rr la AachuA county Is alp
pointed y Ar. peuuis' "n1, therefore, inrsr
people are enti, e.y ind his con. rO. and on 20
tnei heal II tn y do not toe the line. lie - a
sample Of Ihe sort Il men y"u sec around the
Inc Canvassius board, consisting Of the Sec
retaiy of ~ ttr S,r hcLin, tomptrnlier WILL
ana AIT tlrney- General o"ke' all gave hearing
Tue Atturney-Ue eril thought iair man. lie
j. ii lItde 81 ", and becomes At times. thinh,
little confused, Ou, man u str'ct lhtesnp' ne
wis ed to 40 * city Wnat was rgnt Mr. nc
sin Is not 50 good appe ring a man lie j.
editor OF tue Ia lala-sre - hlu,',a hhulth lhtu-
san pater. lie gives one TIE IMPRESSION ~
very violeot partisan. ~. Cowsil seou ed IN
ciined W DO tigh', "ut ne cetla'hy IA tns can
ya,sing OF this od-e vcered To tns other sid very
strongy. his dec-ion Wa un &C 'unttuie aud
outrageous. 90 Mt know ~hat luhuehred
hun at the last, bu " = ,ertainlN u, pointed.
Now, then, while The board carried on the
hearing vi h . great ow OF Harness theY hc-
tually threw out NJ an tie cOu ~ glNing a Demo-
cratic majority Of 21v " es.a county a. reeu-
larry returnei ana e.ruIlod as ANY !" ne Sthte'
1bs only Re e.'ublcsn votes cur On were SAY
from j feTsOu county. tug election not beng
held at the appointed place. lHere WIS net
abstr. otOn from iiideu electors oi l'Ooo votes.
In the case Of AlaCnuA COuL-y thei accepted Il
false return from Archer prociict winch was
proven beyunl al cont vtr-N 1" have been sub
sututod tor tne genui return, and which ~
creased the tot / vote Of tnr precinct from -
to 63j, ana tie keluDllcan maJOuY from ~ t.
27e liter the I'm / ne rins. II was reported
among the resilient man gers me pl &c thAt
Gov. STRAINS had .aiu 4 40 he woulI never sign
the returns OF III vrs e' . or. unless they were
SUN lent to rar, nin i.iO ofhce.
1t was a conccdru f.ot "a Stearns WAS not
elected; that Lno Kepunnc u n-reSsnen were
not elected. Pe pie s,IG. ION. well, he mot
DO thst" Bat II Was unne. On the morning Of
the Il Of Dccembcl We were informed tndt
they uad chllied lne IT te bS m. Juflty Of UGS
which uut Gov. ~ arm wan his carpet
lican candidates - tougfe--. Now, tnen let
me tel Suu u httle incident connected
with the Wy ia Whicn this thing was
carried on by tue gcn.len ih repT Tsaenllng the Adj
nIui-tratinn. SIr. ~. l.. c an.ler He o .stcd
the day hetore IL tlc nice Of the hotel thht
ne had received from LouIsiana messa-e CIV
ing account OF ihe ~ joitN for Hayes clect, Is
OF over 1900. IL We su in,fcdiole tuat he 5
accused ol ..htiug Hu uu.r ruth. va afterward
informed tuat IA simil e dc-p tc- was sent 10
LOUISIANA snOnlns a Republicin m jOuty in
FllrluA Of 90 lhe wire, were then cut IN
three piaors. ihi- was done L. en- Die the Coun-
try 20 roau in the harpl, tnAt fiond" ANA
majurties, nd To pfovrpt us ifpn telling now
II was done, Or senulng any con rhdlctorg ine--
sage. IN wifes wee mended Ia tue ut.ht, aud
a hin cut in the uOTnlhg.
was d Win. "a to ia, who le Of the iuqui. y of
the Florida Gov ruuleni. Every time tn I any,
thing w.s uUlr b' ihe nduagers was present.
4 saw the allid tVts that were bro ught ~ by the
busbel bi tno kepupcans, afidayits OF men
WHO could not si!n tncir own names, written IN
one handWrltingi hey bad the names Of de"d
men upOn them th"f uHd the SANE names Two
or three times repeated ON au uhidavit they uad
the same names ON dlrerent aiidavlts. ihe-e
anidavts were brought Ia by Titles by hun