Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-01-18
DEMOCRATIC UNFAIRNEss.
How Morrison and His Commit.
au mittee Conducted the L0uisi.
yrrH ana Investigation. ia5ts

Mr.. Crapo, of Massachusetts, is the first
member of the Louisiana Committee to arrive.
The other members will be here by the last OF
the week. Mr.. Crapo was the Republican
member of the subcommittee which inyesti
gated Ouachita Parish. He tells a very
gloomy story of the condition of affairs in
that parish and throughout the State The
public have nothing to hope from the report
of the Morrison Louisiana Committee. The
bad spirit of the Chairman of the committee
has infested all the Democratic members, and
the committee will come back with two wide.
ly differing reports. Morrison, on his way to
louisiana, and in the hotels of New Orleans.
publicly declared tnat no solution of the Pres
idential complication was possible, except
through, bloodshed. Being the chairman of
the committee, and technically the leader Of
the House, his incendiary statements had a
marked effect upon the intiammable people of
Louisiana, and the radical Democrats of the
committee, of the. Blackburn stamp, will
bring in a report which, while it may admit
some outrages, will justify them as necessary
means 10 overcome the Kellogg Government.
The Democratic report will surely condemn
the Returning Board, and deny that there
was any legal justification for throwing out
the returns from the bulldozed counties, and
will declare tnat the State must be counted
for Tilden. 1t will be an extremely partisan
and unfair document. An Illustration of the
methods of the Democratic committee can be
seen from the management of the sub COM
mittee. Mr.. Crapo was the only Republican
of the committee who went to Ouaehita Par
ish. This is the region where Dinkgrave was
murdered, and is the scene of the Eliza Pinks-
ton outrage. 1t is one of the most noted of
the bulldozed districts. In some portions of
the district the blacks outnumber the whites
ten to one. There are, all told, about 1000
whites, and there were but twenty-five white
men OF this thousand who voted the Republi-
can ticket. OF these, not one could be pro-
duced as witness before the subcommittee.
They were all refugees from the parish. They
were in New Orleans, and feared to come
back, for their lives. The same was true Of
the most important Republican negro witness
es. There were no Republicans who dared to
come to MIR. Crapo to give him information.
The consequence was, that the entire inyesti-
cation of this parish by the House Committee
consists, practically, of ex-parte evidence
taken by the Democratic members, under the
very shrewd partisan management of McMa-
hon. The only Republican testimony possi-
BILE consisted of cross-examinations. This dis
closed the most extensive system of intimida-
tion. Throughout the campaign there were
thousand white men in the parish. The wit
nesses admitted that there were eight rifle
clubs there during the campaign. These were
organized on May 90, and were composed ex-
c us .vely of white Democrats. No white Re-
publicans belong to them They were armed,
met weekly, attended the meetings of the
negroes in bodies of fifty or one hundred, rode
about the country on horseback, and have not
held single meeting since the election Yet
the Democratic witnesses say, and the Demo
cratic committee will say, that these rifle clubs
were not political, and had no reference to
the campaign. The fact is proved, however,
that from May Goth until November nth they
existed, attended political meetings, and COM
prised almost the entire white population.
They were armed with side arms, and with
Winchester and Enfield rifles of an improved
pattern. This was the character of the intim-
idation which Mr.. Crapo alone was able to
prove. No polling places were shot into, nor
was it proved that there were any disturbances
on election day. The work of the bulldozers
was completed before that time. The negroes
knew what eight rifle club companies meant
The method of examination chosen by Nc
Mahon. partook of the bulldozing character of
these rifle clubs. The place chosen, for the
meeting of the subcommittee was a little hall /,