The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-09-11
Truly yours,
A. II. CoFFRoTH.
s.HAEPToN SURE; Or SEERHIsH-
ING"

Probably the real history OF tne
months Of November and December,
1876, will never be fully known +; per
maps it is as well that it never should
be. Surely there have been few pc
RODS In the Nations life when the
character Of our people was snbjecs-
cd TO q more terrible strain-few pc
RODS concerning which such dis
h~eartening revelations have been
made. The declaration Of treason
in 1861 carried with it u greater
shock than the discovery in 1871
that al attempt had actually been
made, by the consent and with the
approval Of leaders in 4 OF the
great parties, to purchase" q mem,
Der Of an electoral college; but it
may be seriously questioned whether
the poison of this wickedness will
not Turk ia American blood long af-
terthe passions of the civil war have
beea cooled forever. 1t was the
first disclosure Of the sort that had
ever been made affecting a presiden-
tial candidate, and it must have nn-
settled faith 10 character, and led
many who look upon the candidate
of their party as removed from the
disgusting vices of petty politicians,
to think that, after all, honesty in
politics was impossible.
We present to-day, however, q
new phase in the history of this dark
era. In Oregon the Democracy
thought il wise 10 buy; in South
Carolina they found it cheapest TO
bully. la tie one State they sought
the one thing needful to the posses
sion of the National Government
an electoral vote; in South Carolina,
they cared nothing for the ,,Presiden-
cy, nothing for Tilden, nothing for
the general welfare of their party.
They were determined on the capt
ure Of their State Government, and
they were ready to shoot and kill to
effect it. Ifthey had cared anything
for the Presidency, they would have
been just as ready to shoot and kill
to get that one electoral vote. The
series of dispatches which we print
on another page show that, under Sc
cret orders, the South Carolina rifle
clubs poured into Columbia at the
critical time, armed to the teeth, and
ready for war, if war were necessa-
ny. Their sudden appearance there
attracted the attention of the whole
country at the time, but the country
did not know then, as it may know
now, how desperate these men were
and what plots were flying along
the wires. This is the first signal to
the rifle clubs: "Fun expected at the
Fair this week. Let best boys
come, but not TOO many, unless well
"heeled." Next day a palmer and
sharper order is sen: out, and the
"best boys" came, to the number of
several thousand, and all well heel.
ed" Several urgent kilograms for
men are careful to say that they
must come "ostensibly to visit State
Fair" and one adds, "If rifles can
"be concealed, bring them" Anoth-
er, with a ghastly sort of bumor,
calls for ''best men and to%ol'chest for
Fair Queer "tools" that chest
contained! They meant business,
these rural visitors to "the "Fair,"
who wore blankets sad k~napsacks.
There are Geographic orders here for
pistols as well as for rifles, and the
one motto of the lawless gathering
was stated in one of these dispatch
es: Hampton sure Inauguration to-
morrow, or skirmishing." Happily
the diminishing" did not cJme, but
these cutthroats were ready to make
it bloody work.
While the ritle-clubs were pouring
into Columbia, there was higgling by
wire between New York and Oregon
ove the price of an electoral tote.
The coincidence is instructive. While
alleging that their opponents were
stealing States tia. had voted for
Tilden, there was scarcely a dispu-
ted point at which the Democracy
were not striving, by some foul
means, to gain an advantage. In
Oregon, it was bribery in South
Carolina, terrorism in Florida, at.
tempts at both. The telegra2bic
history We print to-day only serves
to make more ludicrous the position
Of the party which cries Fraud" af-
ter having attempted every kind
n. Y. Tribune.