Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-06-07
Anderson's Case Analysed.
Chicago Tribune.

! Anderson's Case Analysed.
Chicago Tribune.
The case now before the Potter Com
mittee is that of East Feliciana Parish
in Louisiana The evidence consists of
the personal statement Of Anderson
and the copies OF letters which he puts
III, some OF which are regarded as for
geries. Any judgment made upon the
case as it now stands must be upon the
basis that Anderson himself is a witness
not to be believed. Democrats must
start out with this as we'll as Republi-
cans; for, if his evidence were to be ac-
copied of itself the Republicans would
insist that he told the truth when he
made his protest and in his evidence be-
fore the former Louisiana Committee,
while Democrats would insist that he
tells the truth now But, having evil
IDENTIFY sworn TO lie in one case or the
other, all .his testimony must be reject
cd as worthless in making up judy
ment. There remains, then, the single
method of estimating the probabilities
in the light of the facts admitted and
the documents that have been proved
genuine
Approaching the case in this spirit,
the most conspicuous fact is that, in a
county where there were 2127 register
ed Republican voters, not a single vote
was returned for Hayes, or any candi-
date on the Republican ticket Ander-
son now sceksS TO explain this astound-
ing fact by Saying that there was a
conspiracy among the Republican mana
gers to prevent the casting OF any Re
publican votes as a basis for the rejec-
ton of the entire vote of the parish by
the State Returning Board Anderson's
whole story is built upon this statement
and yet all the probabilities of the case
are violently opposed to it. We will
recount some OF them:
1. Had the Republican managers en-
tered into any such conspiracy, they
would naturally have selected county
in which it was known there would be
a large Democratic majority by an hon
est vote. They would not have select
ed a county where it was known that
an honest vote would yield 100 Re
publican majority. Men who conspire
to do u dishonest ard unlawful thing
never conspire against their own inter-
ests. But this is what they would have
done by selecting East Feliciana Parish.
In the election Of 1872 the Republicans
had a majority in that parish Of 1,O20
votes; in the State election Of 1874 they
had a majority, by the Democratic
count, Of 81 votes. The registration
OF 1876 gave them reason to expect
majority Of about LOO votes East
Feliciana, then, was about the last par
ish in the State which the Republicans
would have chosen to throw out by
Withholding their own vote, because
they could count upon large majority
there for themselves.
9 If there had been any such con-
spiracy as Anderson charges, the most
essential person to its success would
have been the Republican Supervisor of
| Election, who was no other than Ander-
son himself He would have been the
first to take into the secret, because his
cooperation would have been necessary
to carry out the scheme 1t was not
enough to withhold the Republican
votes; it was equally essential to have a
Supervisor who should understand the
purpose of Withholding them, would
heartily enter into the scheme, and who
could be relied upon to file the necessa-
ry protest that the Republicans had
been prevented from voting by intimi-
dation and violence. Yet Anderson tes-
titles that the secret was relgiously
kept from him, and that he only learned
Of it by the gossip Of drunken man
with a woman in the room next to one
where he was Were the men who were
knavish enough to concoct this fool con
spiracy such irredeemable idiots as to
trust it into the hands OF man who
knew nothing OF it, and upon whose in
dispensable cooperation they had no
reason to rely Such a presumption is
utterly ridiculous.
3. Such conspiracy as Anderson
charges would have required the com
prehension and acquiescencc of the 2, 127
Republican voters i'll the parish. Every
one Of these men would have to under
stand why he was not TO vote for Prcsi-
dent and State and county officers. The
great bulk Of Republican voters were
negroes, to whom voting is as precious
a privilege as to the Irish Democrat at
the North. They would not consent vol
UNFAIRLY to forgo it without some strong
reason; they would have to believe that
it was for the good of the Republican
party. and to this end it would have
been necessary to explain to them the
nature OF the conspiracy. Now, IA con
spiracy that includes ?, III men, most of
them Jealous and suspicious, is I'M
doubtedly myth. If it were possible
to organize a conspiracy with that num-
Der and kind of men, it would not have
been possible to keep it secret for two
years.
Anderson's conspiracy theory, there
fore, does not explain why not one out
Of 2,127 Republican voters cast ballot
on that day. 1t rests on his simple
statement. contradictcd by all the facts
and probabilities, and hence must be re-
jected The theory Of intimidation is
the only reasonable Or satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION, as was charged by Anderson
in his protest and sustained by the evil
dcnce before the Returning Board and
Visiting Committees. Intimidation has
been previously practiccd with precisely
the same results In 1868 the State
was overrun with bulldozers; in Caddo
Parish where there had been 5000 Re
publican votes, not one was cast IN 1868,
and there was the same condition OF
things in St. Landry Parish, where there
had been over l,0O0 Republican votes
What happened in those two counties
in 1868 happened in East Feliciana in
1876, and for the same reason.
The other point in the case is to be
found in the letters and documents sub
mitted by Anderson. These are merely
copies, and some Of them are regarded
as forgeries. If we consider them all
as genuine for arguments sake, then
they prove, first, that Anderson was a
traitor and intriguer, schcming with
both parties for personal reward. The
draft Of his agreement with Nash, the
colored Congressman, sufficiently at
tests his corrupt character and mercen-
airy purposes His letters to Weber
(the Supervisor Of West Feliciana Par
ish) show that there was collision be-
tween the two to take such course as
I