Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1877-01-20
The Returning Board Testimony

We have heretofore refrained from
commenting on the testimony of the
republican witnesses from this parish,
relative to intimidation, etc, upon
which The Returning Board based its
pretext for counting out the votes OF
all the wards in the parish excep;
one; because We knew that nearly,
If not all, the readers of The BEACON
were sufficiently acquainted with all
the facts in the case, to know what
statements were false without having
them pointed out to them aud,
besides. we did not want to burthen
our cOlums with 80 much matter Oh
this subject at a time, there being
other subjects of more importance to
most of our readers
There are great many falsehoods.
and few truths. in this great mass of
testimony. the most prominent Of
which is that Republicans were hung,
whipped ard shot" "hangings. whip
pings, sboo'ings and burnings,' bone
OF which, we presume. are believed
by any one, and all of which are known
to be positive falsehoods by every
citizen of our parish. But the
gravest charge of any made by any
OF these witnesses is that OF S. c..
Moore, that certain gentlemen, and
among them the sheriff of the parish,
threatened to break open his and
Jones' stores, and, in the event they
failed to find republican tickets in
them, to burn them (the stores.) Of
course. everybody in this parish knows
that Moore bad no store himself; that
the house be bad formerly occupied as
such was not on the same street with
Jones', and that the burning Of either
would have endangered the destruc-
ton Of the entire business portion of
the town, including the railroad depot.
much of which property is owned
and occupied by staunch democrats.
The people of good portion Of the
State, as well as the parish, also
know that the gentlemen named
would never have engaged in any
such wicked threats and riotous de-
monstrations. But there were
strangers to these facts who heard
aud read this testimony, that proba.
bly, may have believed it-Grant's
select committee, at least, pretended
10 believe it-and thus the characters
of some of the best and most peacea-
bio citizens of our parish were black
ened solely for political purposes aud
The sheriff, whose duty it was to
preserve the peace, is reported to
have been acting With, if not leading,
a NIB Of burglars and housc-burners
These are serious and grave charges
for gentlemen to rest under and,
although they were not believed by
those who used them, they were,
nevertheless, used as q poetext for
counting out the legally and peaceful
ly cast votes of our parish in the late
election, and are bruited about the
North and Washington City as evil
dence of the rufianism of the best
people of the State of Louisiana, and
used as an excuse for placing US
under An usurpation by force of arms.
We hardly know by what means
these gentlemen are to remove this
stigma from their names among those
who may possibly believe the state
mentor it is a truthful old saw
that, "Falsebood will travel q long
journey while Truth is putting on her
boots"-but they, of course, cannot
rest quietly under such charges,
which subjects them to prosecution
as we'll as SANDER. While the people
Of the parish know these statements
to be false, strangers do not, and they
are matters of record.
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