Litchfield enquirer., 1876-12-07

place. It is to be battle of affdavits, the results of which 1 will not undertake to anticipate.
 might, by spending few hours Tn the Republican Headquarters, compile evi- dence which taken by itself would prove that in some parts of this State the elec- tion was worse than mockery; the afii- davits in support of it (most of them made on printed forms and signed with crOss-mark1 would fill pages of the Fri bune. I might then supplement this with as many more affidavits signed by respectable white men, and some of them by negroes and Republican office e-hoiders, proving that the election Tn the same parishes was free and peaceable in every respect. Republicans who have come here from the North and who have hsten- cd to one side of this story are zunspeak- ably mortified at it's dark details. They say that it surpassed everything they 1m- agined or dreamed of. and they think 8 man must be a Democrat and an apolo- gist for murder and all sorts of crime who does not get as excited over these stories as they do. The visiting Democrats. on the other hand, learning only the side as presented by their friends (except as the opposite is published in the newspapersl are equally indignant at the 'fvile islanders oH suffering people"
 l have sent to the Tribune none of these stories because, as a general thing, believe the reports that are circulated are about as Trustworthy as an average political campaign report in bitterly partisan newspaper. l pre- fer to wait until the evidence has been submitted to the test of judicial lnves- tIgation, and, in the mean time,. If any one desires to obtain clearer idea of the of the character of these accusations and denials I refer him to the files of any par stisan newspaper for a month before any important Southern election during the last eight years. The names may be diff ferent, but tue details will be the same. In general the Republicans say that both white men and negroes have been mur- tiered; that Republican meetings were disturbed and in some cases broken Dp by armed men; that negroes were taken out. and whipped; that others were threat ened with violence or with loss of work; that white men intimidated negroes at the polls by. publicly making lists of their names as they went up to vote; that some of the towns in which the polls were sit- uated were surrounded by picket lines of white men who prevented the negroes from gong in to vote, &c., &c. In gener- al the Democrats deny all these accusa- tions, and accuse the Republicans of H. legally striking names from registration books; of advising negroes not to vote, and preventing them from being supplied with tickets in precincts where they saw that they were to lose their maj ajorities; of lnst1gating the negroes to mob and abuse those of their own race who joined Dem ocratic clubs, and of many other acts of this kind. z. l.. w. NEW, ORLEANS. Nov. 26.-The public sessions of the Returning Board will pro- bably close on Thursday or Friday next. In the mean time counsel for the candl- dates on both sides will be required to put in all their evidence tending to show that the election was free and fair one, or that it was carried by fraud and intimi- dation. Then the doors will be closed, even to the visiting committees from the North, and the board will proceed to pass judgment ln secret session on the returns from about forty parishes affected by pro- tests of one side or the other, in most cases by those of Republicans. The re- suit of these deliberations will not be known until they are completed and pub lished officially, and the exact evidence on which the board bases it's action in de- termining to count or reject the vote of any precinct cannot be known at all. It is true that great mass of ex parte affi- davits will be filed by both parties, and a little oral testimony will be taken. But the volume of the former will be so great and access to it so difficult thaS no one except counsel can have anything but the most general idea of it in advance, and after the board makes it's report and 1t IS seen what preclucts are rejected it will re- Quire days of labor for any one to sift out the evidence affecting those precincts and to learn what grounds the board had for it's deClsions. Before that can be. done the electors of this State will have been; commissioned and will have cast their vote.g
 It seems inevitable, therefore, that the people of the country, after all the labor of the visiting committees from the North, will be obliged to accept the work of the Returning Board without being able to form an intelligent judgment in regard to the faifuess of its decisions until some subsequent investigation is made.
 The public proceedings of the board have thus far been conducted in a manner that Is calculated to inspire confidence In it. Some of it's rules have seemed arbi- trary and unwise, but no injustice has yet been done to either party by their en- forcement. It would have been manifest ly proper, however, to allow counsel for the candidates on both sides to be present at the opening of returns in order that there might be no ground for suspicion of unfairness; but when they were excluded, they furnished the Information in their possession to members of the Northern Committees, and the latter have }veri6ed each return sit was opened. The neg lect of the board to fill the vacancy in its
 ranks also looks bad The presence of a
 Democrat at their secret meetings might
 have a restraining influence. At the same time there is some excuse for not appoint ing Democrat to this place. Democrat ic newspapers have accused the members of the board of being corrupt and pur- chaseable. h@ sa5 s