The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-03-29
THE ESCAPE OF ANDERSON.
New Orleans Tines.l

for trial on the same Information. OIL
course the time of the court, juries and
prosecuting officials will not be wasted
Ia going through the forms of other
trials which must, logically, result in
the same way. All the proceedings
thus far fall to the ground. To convict
Anderson or any other member of the
Board, proceedings must be begun a6
i'aitio and other grounds taken in the
Indictment or Information. This,
whatever may be the abstract merits of
the case, no one expects, and we may
therefore assume that the Returning
Board prosecutions are at an end.
Anderson has escaped, broken out, got
away, figuratively speaking, pretty
much as Catiline did. The result is not
hailed with enthusiasm, but it is ac-
knowledged by all ordinarily intelli-
gent people as a relief from a difficult
situation. The officers of the govern
ment felt it to be their duty to punish
tho actors in notorious conspiracy and
fraud, the consequences of which ex-
tended over the whole country, but the
Jurisdiction of which was confined to
this State. The proceedings should
not, in law or principle, have concern
ed the other States, but in fact they
were made a national matter, and thus
political pressure was brought to bear
where the simple question of the guilt
or innocence Ofthe accused should have
been the only one considered. The
result has been to rest the great ques-
ton of the Louisiana fraud upon a
technical point-whether the ttconsoli-
dated returns" Were a public document
within the meaning of the law or not,
which point has been decided in the
negative by our Supreme Court. There
hn l., <~~
question the correctness of the diclsion.
1t proves that the prosecuting officers
and the judge of the lower court erred
in judgment, but proves nothing con-
corning the great sWindle, Of which the
Vernon returns were a small and in
significant portion. Indeed, the opin-
ion of the court in overriding the other
exceptions clearly enough intimates
perception of the gravity Of the moral
offense committed, while 1t properly
confines its legal effect to the legal
questions presented. The decision is
that Thos. G. Anderson was not guilty
in law of ut.cring and forging a public
document in the manner and form
charged. The great question of the
guilt of the Board in classifying the re-
suit of the election and defeating the
will of the people stands unaffected by
this decision. The opinion of the
country on this point no technically
can neutralize and no court, however
august, modify. Perhaps it is best for
the country and for the cause of the
purity and freedom of the ballot that
the otfense should remain the unexpiat-
ed crime OF great party rather than
be condoned and settled by a two years
sentence in the penitentiary of one of
the many who participated in it and
profited by it.
So far as it can be considered Il ques-
ton of public policy, undoubtedly a
vast majority of the people will approve
cution relieved the State of the stigma
Of acquiescing in the great fraud, but
at the same time it was concentrating
upon us a partisan hostility unfortu-
nate for us, and was rekindling ami
mosities which patriotic citizens of all
parties deplored. 1t also had the APP
pearance OF drifting into complications
which Threatened the unity of the Con-
servative element in this State in a
manner which it is now, happily, I'M
necessary to discuss. Henceforth the
great political crime of the century is
no longer special grievance of this
State. 1t belongs to the people of
the country to redress in their
VIVA SAAAAS CIV way. IL 10 Jul lhtcICSC
to cease to be the political cynosure Of
the country. Our duty is done and we
may now consider ourselves relieved of
the last remnant Of the harassing strue-
gle imposed upon us and at liberty to
turn to the more agreeable and remu-
nerative task of building up our waste
places and protiting by the tranquility
and contentment legitimateIy belong
ing to peaceful and unquestioned self
government. Practically, Louisiana suf-
tered less than the country at large
irom the crime-whatever name NAV
be given to it-of the Returning Board.
and we can now afford to leave the
country to redress it's wrongs in tho
manner which it may deem most
effectual.
An eX-President of the United States
Is a victim of the back-tax law Of Mis-.
souri,. The Hillsboro Democrat cor.
tains two orders of publication Of sn;t
by the Collector of jefferson conntH
against "said defendant, U. S. Grant :,
who is ordered "to be and appear a.
the term of the court to be begun and
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