The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1877-07-11
THE RETURNING BOARD PROSE-
CUTED.

I2St WEEK 1ulOEmdtiOuS were uASu
IN the Superior Criminal Court by the |
Attorney General and District Attor-
ney against J. Madison Wells, Tom
Anderson, Cassanave and Kenner,
charging them with having forged
and altered the returns of the cleo.
ton held in November last. This
action on the part of the officers of
the State has created a considerable
stir in radical circles, and the matter
has been the subject Of a Cabinet
meeting in Washington. 1t is claim
by Mat. Wells & Co., that they cannot
be prosecuted for the ofense charged
because of the agreement known as
the Foster Matthews compact, and
by reason Of the Nichols Legislature
having passsd an Act guaranteeing
immunity from prosecution for ''past
political offences" The question
presented is whether forging and al.
rerlng election returns is a political
offense. Our opinion is that it is no
more political than embezzlement or
any other crime or offense committed
by an Office holder, and our recollec-
ton is that when the question was
before the Electoral Commission and
the Democrats were trying to bring
proof on this point, it was decided by
them that it was matter belonging
exclusively to the jurisdiction of the
State Courts and that if the Return
ing Board has forged and altered the
returns for Presidential Electors our
only remedy was by prosecutions in
the State Courts of Louisiana.
Now that the State authorities are
pursuing the very course pointed out
to them by the very best radical au-
thority, they themselves are raising a
howl. We say let them howl. Fiat
justiti0 ruat coelam. There can be
no better time than now to teach all
public officers that they are the SER
wants and not the masters of the peo-
pie. There can be no filter subjects
of whom to make an example than
these same four men whose insolence
in power was autocratic and whose
contempt for the people and their
rights orauthority, was shown by the
utter indifference with which they
treated tLeir protests, and the
haughtiness with which they denied
and spurned every appeal for justice
and fair play.
If we are indeed to have a consti-
tutional government, let these con-
fessed criminals be prosecuted to the
full extent Of the law, and made to
feel the mighty hand of that power
they once overrodo with such self
complacency and scorned with such
assurance of safety. -..
They have snapped their fingers in
the face of an impoverished, strug-
Cling people; of their own will, with
out proof, with no facts to justify
them, disfranchised ten thousand
honest voters, and it is no fault of
theirs nor owing to any want of in
clination on their part that we are
not now suffering under all the ills
Of a carpet bag government in this
State, which was fairly defeated at
the polls, and now that they are pros
ecuted for their crimes, they raise the
cry of persecution. An even handed
justice has at last brought them face
to face with the responsibility for
their crimes, and they claim immu-
nifty by reason of a bargain which
was never. made. Let them cry
Let them clothe themselves in sack
cloth and ashes and weep their cro-
codile tears, but let the prosecution
go on, and if they are guilty let them
be punished. We hope that the At
torney General and the Courts will
not falter, and that in the end these
mighty princes of unbridled power
may be made to feel the heavy hand
ofthe law they despised and outraged
and to bow to the authority of the
Courts they have heretofore held in
such insolent contempt.
~~~~~~~~~~N-~~~~
DOGERS' ENGLISH TABLE
~ and POCKET CUTLERY
LADIES' SCISSORS and OTHER
FINE GOODS KEPT BY
HENRY ST. JOHN.
THE three men engaged in the