Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-12-14
The Louisiana Election.

pOWoAS W INo ncIuGnAu& OOdIu, WaS
enacted to protect the colored voters,
It cites the figures of previous elec.
tions, and claims that outrages have
been the rule IN CnaC state tor many
years. It expresses confidence in the
integrity of the returning board and
concludes as follows:
''There were in the State of Louisiana
on the day of election 92,996 white
registered voters, and liz, $40 colored,
a majority of the latter of 22,3l4, it is
we'll known that if left free to vote,
uninfluenced by violence or intimida-
tion, the blacks wovld be almost unam.
inously Republican,, and that with the
white Republican vote it's majority
would be about equal to that above in
dicated. The plan appears to have
been to select for purposes of intimi-
dation and violence as few parishes
as possible, for in forty out of the fif-
ty seven parishes where these were
not employed the Republican majority
was 600, but to select those in which
the cOlOred vote as compared with the
white would be large unless unlawfuly
prevented, for in SO doing it might be
expected that, should any majority
they could thus obtain in such parish
es be regarded, they would neverthe-
less attain their purpose by the sup
preston of large Republican vote.
In pursuance of this plan, five of the
parishes selected in which the greatest
violence and intimidation were prac.
ticed were East and West Feliciana,
which border upon that portion of the
Mississippi in which murder and out
RACES so prevailed during and proceed
ing the election as substantially to pre-
vent any Republican vote east Baten
Rouge, which borders on the southern
portion of East Feliciana; Moorhouse,
which adjoins the State of Arkansas
and Ouachita which adjoins and lies
directly south of Moorhouse. The ge-
ographical position of these five par
ishes was we'll suited to the purpose
to be attained, for it was easy for men,
bers of clubs formed therein and who
usually perpetrated their outrages with
masked faces, to pretend that they
were committed by border rufians
from Mississippi and Arkansas, where
like outrages had been perpetrated.
The location of these five parishes was
not, however, better suited to the plan
to be accomplished than was the great
disproportion existing therein between
the number of white and colored vot-
ers. The former numbered but s, 134,
the latter l3, ,244, a majority of the lat
ter equal to more than One-third of the
entire majority Of the colored voters
in fifty y.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 majorities
therein had performed their work of
violence and intimidation effectually,
whilst the proof discloses brief sum-
maries Of portions of which are hereto
annexed, that, where violence and
intimidation were insufficient, murder,
manning, mutilation and whipping
were resorted to. Instead of a major.
ity of 5000 or 7 900 which the Repub.
licans should have had in these par
ishes upon a fair election, there was
actually returned to the returning
board a Democratic majority for the
parishes of East and West Felicinia,
Moreh0use, and Ouachita Of 3,878, and
in East Felicinia, where the registered
oolored voters number 2,127, not a
Republican vote for elector was cast.
In East Baton Rouge, containing 1862
colored voters and but 1901 whites,
the Democrats claim a majority of 6l7,
which, but for the rejection of sever.
al polls by the commissioners and su-
pervisors of election, would have been
returned to the returning board as
votes actually cast. If to tho Demo.
cratic majority from the four parishes
as above stated we add the 6l7 as
claimed and insisted upon before the
returning board, a Democratic major
ity of 4, ,495 is the result of an election
in five parishes containing 1924 COL
ored Republicans and 1914 white
Democratic votes. The conclusion that
intimidation and violence alone could
have produced this is almost irrestible,
and that such influences were employ.
ed and were supplemented by murder
when that was thought necessary is
established by the proofs already re-.
ferred to. It but confirms the conclu-
sion to refer to the vote cast in these
five parishes in 1874, when no special
matters existed for use of crual means
to influence the election. The Rerub.
lican majority therein was 1919. A
result 50 suggestive of violence and
intimidation was obtained by means
most terrible and revolving. Organized
clubs of masked armed men, formed
as recommended by the Central Dem.
ocratic Committee, rode through the
country at night, marking their course
by the whipping. shooting, wounding,
manning, mutilation, and murder of
women and children and defenseless
men, whose houses were f0rcibly en-.
tered while they slept, and, as the in
mates fed through fear, the pistol and
the rifle, and the knife the rope
were employed to do their horrid
work. Crimes like that, testified to
by scores of witnesses, were the means
employed in Louisiana to elect a Presi.
dent of the United States.
ssMembers of the Board acting under
oath, were bound by law, if convinced
by the testimony that riot, tumult,
acts of violence, or armed disturbance
did materially interfere with the puri-
ty and freedom of the election at any
poll or voting place, or did materially
OAO 4O0uAV VI -VAO OACNVAOA OAAOAO~
at to reject the votes thus cast and ex-
clude them from their final return. OF
the effect of such testimony the Board
was the sole and final Judge, and if in
reaching q conclusion. it exerciZed
good faith and was guided by an honest
desire to do justice. it's determination
should be respected, even if upon like
proof a different conclusion might
have been reached by other tribunals
or persons. To guard the purity Of
the ballot, to protect the citizen in
the fair and peaceful exercise Of
their right to vote, to secure him
against violence, intimidation, out
rage, and especially murder when he
attempts to perform this duty, should
be the decree of all men, and aim of
every representative government, and
when political success shall be attain.