Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-12-12
4 SAMPLE CASE.

words to say about the prosecutions
against republicans in South Carroll
No. He declares that the republicans
now pursued by Wade Hampton, are
not having fair trials, and that the
convictions are being secured by
means of political crusade and cam
paign carried on by masses of infuri.
sted democrats, who swarm the court
houses, intimidate the witnesses and
colored jurymen, and greet with ap-
plause and cheers the rendition Of
the yerdicts Of guilty. Ho gives as a
sample case, that of Mr.. Carpenter,
who ran for Congress last fall, and
who published for q time the. DAILY
Union at Columbia, and the DAILY
Republ,caa at Charleston. He was
charged with forgery, in altering, in
1879, an account against the state from
$72O to $l,72O. Thisis Mr.. Chandlcr's
statement of the case:.
"The account IS presented in court
was:
Nsssrs. Woodrufr and Jones, Clerks General As
scmbly. to the Daily News DR..
To publishing laws regulating insurance
We hereby certify that the within account i
correct and remsins unpaid o. 0.7@
!. Wo4DRuFF. Clerk Senate
Paid on the within, Dec. IS, @5OO
Paid ON the within. Dec. 10, 1s7l............ $50
Paid on the within, Dec. q, ISL l....."...... 500
Paid on the within, Jan. Q, lS72-....~....... $40
~. Woodruff swore that he ap-
proved the account, and thought the
figure had been added before the
72O after he approved it; that he
thought this because the figure
looked darker and heavier than the
other figures; he also sworc that be
did not think he approved the account
for SO large a sum as $l,72O, but he
admitted that he did not examine the
newspaper accounts, but approved
them whenever presented, and had
often approved Carpenters bills for
larger sums than l,72O, and would
have approved q large as readily as a
small account; that he kept no record
OF bills presented or approved, and
could not tell whether 81 100 was due
or not.
"a. O. Jones testified the same as
Woodruff, his testimony being the
weaker of the two, Neither swore
positively that the account was ever
less than 81, ,72O, and both based their
| judgement that the account had been
altered, and in their opinion that the
looked darker and heavier. This was
all the direct testimony of the State
"Mr. Carpenter then proved his
contract with the State showed from
the files of his paper that he had pub.
lished the laws by every insertion
charged for, and proved that at the
time this account was paid, the State
owed him more than the amount Of
the account
"Upon this state OF proof, with ar
entire absence Of motive for altering
the bill, not merely not proved, bu
actually disproved and solely on tht
idea that the ] looked as If il haG
been added, South Carolina jury
convicted Carpenter, and he is now
imprisoned ON his sentence. Iwil
not comment ON the case, except Il
cay that Woodruff and Jones, thu
State witnesses, are self-admitted fel
ons who have stolen money from thu
State. Woodruff admits that he him
self raised an account from 500
to $4,000, and yet he is re
tained 40 Clerk Of the Senate, which
has by the policy of conciliation sine
March 4, been changed from eighteel
i Republicans to fourteen democrats in
to an unanimously democratic body
This 10 because he is o native" thiei
and, II pushed, will tell of democrat
ic frauds; 80 his only punishment j
to swear falsely against the noxiou
Republicans"