The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1877-02-15
THE LATEST LOUISIANA
DISCLOSURES.
"Not a Shred of a Case Left for
Hayes"
New York Herald, LIST.

Hayes"
New York Herald, LIST.
The astounding testimony of the
last two days, and especially that
part of it given yesterday, explodes
all the chances of Mr.. Hayes to be
the next President unless the credi-
bility of the witnesses can be over
thrown. The evidence taken yes
terday by the House Committee on
Privileges and Elections viii excite
even deeper interest than the pro
ceedings of the Electoral Commits
sion, because this evidence, unless
successfully impu,gned, will compel
the Commission 10 reject the action
of 4 Returning Board stepped in vii
lainy and perjury. No body of
honest men, clothed with authority
to decide, could make themselves
accomplices after the fact of such
rascalities as have been sworn to
since the beginning of this week.
Not even Mr.. Morton and Mr.. Gar
field will vote in the Commission to
count Louisiana for Hayes if the
credit of these witnesses is not i'm
peached. But inasmuch as Hayes
can not be declared elected without
the votes of all the disputed States
he will have no chance at all unless
this fatal testimony from Louisiana
can be demolished. 1t is satisfac
tory to know that it is to be exam
ined and judged by an upright and
competent tribunal.
1t is probable enough that the
character of these witnesses will APP
pear 20 no great advantage after a
thorough scrutiny. They were ac
completes in the frauds to which
they testify, and it follows without
saying, that they were not employed
on account of their personal prob
lty. 1t is in the natural course OF
things that j. Madison Wells should
have satisfied himself that they had
no virtue to lose before making
them his "pals" in a deliberate
scheme to falsify the vote of Lou
isiana. Honest men are not sought
for such a service. We are accor
ingly prepared to expect that thee
characters will not appear to advan
tage on investigation. But that
does not necessarily discredit their
testimony. In courts of justice i'm
portant convictions are often oh
tanned on the testimony Of accom-
plices who turn States evidence. 1t
happens in this Louisiana case that
the statements of the witnesses are
supported by documentary proofs
The committee which is conducting
this investigation are in possession
of some OF the garbled and doc
tored returns, which bear on their
face conclusive evidence that they
have been altered. The committee
is also in possession of written com
munications which passed between
the parties to the frauds, and the
testimony Of the witnesses talIies
with the suspicious and presump
tions necessarily arising out of the
documentary evidence. What is
sworn to by the witnesses makes
the documents ineligible, and con-
firms the impressions which they
alone would have made. Moreover,
the witnesses did not volunteer
their testimony; it was extorted.
At first they refused to answer, and
one of the most important of them
is still stubbornly contumacious on
the ground that he could not an
swer without eliminating himself
a refusal on that ground being Il
confession of guilt. Another con
firmation of the evidence exists in
the previous bad character of Wells
and his associates. General Sheri-
dan, a few years since, denounced
Wells in an official communication
as "a rascal and thoroughly dishon
es: man, who had not friend that
was not a thief.'' Congressional
of investigation with
majorities have again
and again, in recent years, exposed
the frauds, perjuries and suborna-
tion of perjuries practiced by the
II
does not accord with human expe- !
rience that the successful pcFpetra- |
tors of gainful frauds grow moral |
and scrupulous in the progress of
their career. 1t is strong circum
stance against the Returning Board |
that they destroyed the heavy Til
den majority which appeared on the
face of the returns. 1t is another
strong circumstance against them |
that they resorted to skulking sub
terfuges, and refused the Committee |
of Congress which went to New Or
leans a sight of the original returns.
Still another circumstance against |
them is their refusal to fill the va
cant place in the Board, which
would have introduced a Demo
cratic witness of their proceedings.
They made their final determine
tons in secret, shielded from the
observation of any witness who was
not also an accomplice. Those
strange, skulking proceedings, so
fitted to convey an impression OF
guilt, are fully explained by the ties
timony of Littlefield, their Secre
tary, and of Pickett and Maddox,
their accoinplices. 1t will be easier
to prove the bad character of these
men than to discredit their testimo-
ny, which is corroborated at every
point by documentary proofs and
by confirmatory circumstances de-
rived from other sources. Certain
it is that the supporters of Mr..
Hayes have not a shred of a case
unless this ugly testimony can be
broken up.
A Card to the Public.
For many years we have made two
medicines suited to the ailments of avast