The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-16
Y MORNING, FEBRUARY is. 1877.

thereby, to reject the votes Of electors. II
recited the imaginary case of the Louisiana
legislature empowering certain persons 4
appoint electors at each presidential cleo
tion and requiring the governor to certify
to such electors, and asked what would b,
said to such an act, adding that 1t differed
little from the case before the commission
II the electoral votes were presented by
such persons congress would not hesitate
to reject them. The true voice of the
state must be ascertained and its Legislative
directions must be conformable to the
spirit of the constitution, consequently
congress must look into the character OF
those directions. He spoke of the direc.
ton of the vote Of Louisiana in 1868
aud taid the case was parallel with
the present one, assuming that the acI
of 1872 fully provided for the election Of
electors. He called attention to the oath
Of office of the members Of the returning
boards, requiring them to canvass the state
ment of votes made by the commissioners
of election, and said he offered TO prove
they never canvassed single return made
| by the commissioner of election, having
made the canvass from the tabulated state
ment Of supervisors, which was q seconda-
ry paper. He related the provisions of the
Louisiana statutes for controlling elections,
authorizing the governor to appoint super
visors TO register for every parish in the
state and in every ward in the city, with
absolute power to reject or admit any vote
on the list, and this supervisor appoints
three commissioners at each poll, taking
two from his own party and one from the
other party. Judge Campbell then sum-
med up the result of all this to be that about
1900 persons were employed watching the
poll of the vote, and yet there was not from
single poll, except perhaps one, a protest
from the commissioner of election. There
was not intimidation or anything else that
the statute speaks of at his box or from the
supervisor of registration Of interference in
the performance of his duties. He asked
with what show Of justice then were the
people of Louisiana denounced as they had
been before the commission. He would
relate fact more startling than any yet
presented, namely thai on the Both of Oc
tober ten thousand warrants of arrest were
issued out OF the circuit court of New Or
leans to seize ten thousand citizens of New
Orleans for having falsely registered as
voters in 1874. They embraced some of
the most respectable men in the city. There
never was a picture in any community ike
that. 1t required ten thousand lies to pro-
cure these aflidavits. Thirteen hundred
and sixty cases were tried and dismissed
on sight, but it served the purpose. Afi-
davits were made by two policemen.
Mr.. Thurman-Were the whole ten
thousand made by two men?
Judge Campbell-Yes sir. Two police
men in each ward made affidavits. On
thoee affidavits red line is drawn around
the name of the voter on the registration
list, and several thousand voters were un-
able to restore their names on that list in
| order to vote. The commissioner who is-
sued those papers brought his account into
court for fifteen thousand and odd dollars
against the United States for his services.
Judge Billings told him: "On the face of
these papers there is gross fraud and /
will not certify TO cent" If such thing
were done in Vermont or Connection,
the people would not have rested
quiet under it. Judge Campbell then dis
cursed the Louisiana election in its relation
to the returning board. In reply TO the
question of Commissioner Strong he ssid
he was of opinion that the state had no ju.
risdiction over electors but that the two
houses of congress were required to ex.
anime whether they had been fairly chosen,
and could create a tribunal to test the va.
lidity of any election for electors. He
compared the condition of affairs in Louis
lana with the present condition of Turkey
Referring to the vacancy on the returning
board he submitted that it was their duty
to fill it and they acted corruptly in not do
ing so,and said no person had been brought
forward to swear it had bee rendered him
Mr. Edmunds said, supposing it was
their duty to fill the vacancy and they had
no power to take any step in the perform
auce of their duties until it was filed
Then it would be plain that their subse
quent acts would be invalid, no matter
what their motive, but supposing it was
not their duty in the sense of incapacity tc
proceed. Would the presence of cor
rupt motive make any difference as to tht
validity Of their acts2
Mr.. Campbell replied that he supposed g
failure to perform duty from a corrupt
motive would have that effect, as the legis-
lature had said there should be five persons
and they had refused to fill the vacancy be
cause of fraudulant purpose. Ths
would render them incompetent to perform
| further acts.
Mr.. Merrick asked leave to file brief OF
the subject last.referred to, aud permission
was granted.
Justice Clifford then announced that tn,
discussion on the pending offer was con
cluded and that there would be no turtle
public proceedings to-day, aud then tn,
commission after short recess went int
secret session.
The commission after the close OF tn
public session had a short private confer
ence, and decided not to hold a privat
session tonight, as anticipated, and ad
journed until ten tomorrow. with the un
Outstanding that a vote on the pending
questions with regard to the admissibilit!
of evidence in the. Louisiana cuse, as pro
posed by the democrats shall be taken a
four o'clock tomorrow, and that counse
be notified accordingly. 1t is conjecture'