The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-12-07
Aaaersuls gatslligsaesr.
Dlsgraceful Tampering With the Lou.
isiana Returns.

Dlsgraceful Tampering With the Lou.
isiana Returns.
Since tho droll adventure of Honest
Jack Falstaf,," so divertingly represented
by tho great dramatist, there has bceu no
escapa.,e quite so amusing in its wicked
ness As the one reported in our columns,
yesterday, from Louisiana. The enor-
NOUS lies told by the fat old swiller of
s2cl rs to the number of men in buck
ram he so valiantly encountered, aud his
secret hacking of his own sword to give
piausibility to his story. did not put him
to greater shame when his uinble false
hoods were exposed by Prince Hal and
Poius than must be felt by the Republi-
cans of Louisiana at the way they have
gotten up this evidence about the Ku
Klux in buckram whom they encounter
ed ut the polls. Falstatf's hacking his
sword to give color to his unconscionable
lies and his magnifying the two mon in
backsam with which the fat knaye began
his tale to eleven before he got through,
w:s not more ridiculous than the "bull-
doing" tales of the Louisiana Falstaf
and their fabrication of evidence TO sup
port them. There is this difference, hos
ever. that the fat old sinner iu Shakess
peare was caught in a trap set By his
fun-ioviug young companions, whereas
the Louisiana knaycs who pretend to
have fought SD many Ku Klux aud bull
dozers have themselves set the trap in
which they are so ridiculously caught.
The probleni how the apple got into
the dulnpling, or how tue carved wooden
image got into the narrow lnouthed glass
bottle which enclosed it, cannot rival the
problem how protest against an elec-
ton return, dated November 25, got into
sealed letter whose post mark showed
that it was mailed November Is. Que
dia6le allait IL taire dams cette galcre
How the devil did the protest get into
the envelope seven days after the letter
was sealed and mailed aud FIVE hundred
miles from the place where the protest
was dated? There can be no doubt at
all how the thing was done, considering
that little hot steam will soften the
gum of sealed envelope, and that it can
be opsued aud reclosed as easily SIS all
apple can be put into dumpling. The
date of tho protest shows that it was
surreptitiously prepared aud enclosed in
New Orleans.
In this exquisite Falstafian perform
ance our noted fellow-townsman Mr.. E.
w. Stoughton, supplies tho quick turns
and nimble excuses by which vain at
tempt is made to parry exposure. But
Mr. Stoughton's readiness of wit cannot
help the thing through. When tho
members of the returning board were
absshed aud nonplussed tue prompt Mr.
Stoughton suggested that it was "cleri-
aud by whom was the clerical error COM
mittedf Mr.. Stoughton is also said to
have suggested that the protest was pre-
pared aud sigued in De Soto on the 25th,
the day the return was opened. But
Falstaff was never more promptly refuted
than Mr.. Stoughton was by Mr.. Cavenac,
who told him that "De Soto is FIVE hum
dred miles from New Orleans" showing
that Mr.. Stoughton is not very strong in
the geography of Louisiana. "a clerical
error" no doubt it was, but clerical
error perpetrated BY the forger of the
protest, who in the haste with which he
did his clandestine work unwittingly put
the stamp of fraud upon it by giving the
date when it was written. instead of
dating it back to correspond with the
document it accompanied. Such cleri-
cal error would not have been committed
lin De Soto seven days previous, but it
was the most natural thing in the world
in New Orleans where the fraud was per-
petrated in haste and the unconscious
writer put down the actual date of the
month.
Senator Sherman is to be commended
for his honest expression of opinion that
the protest was smuggled into the euvel-
ope in New Orleans. "He said that
there could be no question but what the
returns had been tampered with aud
opened here. The evidence was couclu-
sive that the supervisor or some one else
had opened them and placed in the
package the afidavits." But, after this
honest avowal, we are puzzled to con-
ceive how Senator Sherman could have
added that he doubted if it was done
with criminal intent" How such q
fraud could have been done with an hon
est intent passes comprehension. It is
the duty of all the Republicans present
from otherStates to denounce such frauds
and warn the perpetrators that they will
ruin the party if they do not make an
honest count of the votes. IF they elect
President by such knayery they will
soon realize the truth of a very old
maxim, that "the triumph of the wicked
is short."-Me,0 YORK Herald, November
q.