The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-04-25
WASHINGTON.
ELECTORAL FRAUD TN
FLORIDA.
McLin Confesses it was f raud-
uIent!v Given to HAYES.
AND SHOWS HOW 1T WAS DONE.
AND SHOWS HOW 1T WAS DONE.

WASHINGTON, April 25, The statement
of Judge McLin is published. The first
portion is devoted to furnishing an excuse
| for his seeming inconsistency in first cover
ing and then revealing the Florida election
frauds. He says he believed that demo
cratic triumph would be a national disaster
in 1877 and that he should give the benefit
of the doubt to the republicans, even to
the extent of straining point. He didn't t
consider himself a judge but partisan;
he now sees that powerful influences
swayed his judgment fand perverted his
moral sense; he was surrounded by north
ern partisans who urged on him the neces-
sity of the republicans carrying Florida.
who pictured the danger of the negroes if
Tilden triumphed, and he received daily
kilograms insisting on his saving the coun-
| try. The chairman of the national com
mittee, and the man who was the nearest
personal friend of Hayes, urged him to do
his republican duty, and promises of
troops were freely given.
Governor Noyes was present and was
understood to speak with authority from
Hayes; the influence of these men, and the
circumstances and the excitement through
out the country may have led him to error.
and especially Noyes' promise that Hayes
would reward him; his ardor was now
cooled by time and by reflection, that the
president had betrayed and merclessly
destroyed the republican party, and crush
ed those who did so much for his election;
he was now convinced that political ex-
pediency and not calm judgment ruled the
hour, there we're many contested cases and
much legal discussion.
The attorney general of the state, and
| a member of the board had decided the
board had quasi judicial power, and had a
| right to exclude the precincts from the
count if the returns were so irregular, false
or fraudulent,as to prevent the board from
ascertainiDg from them the true vote; this
had aipowerful influence aud. Dthe repub-
Iicans having majority of the board. the
canvass was largely in their favor. Had
the board acted legally, the supreme court
decision shows they would have declared
Tilden elected. Excluding the returns
from Baker county, and which have since
learned from parties who made it, was a
falsely manufactured return, and includ-
ing the true return which corresponded
with the precinct returns, of that county,
would certainly have given the state to
Mr.. Tilden. Archer precinct No. 2,
Allachna county, wGs included in the
count, the fraud committed in this pre-
clnct was not shown to the board by the
was made and much attention given to the
precinct, but have recently learned from
a republican leader of that county that
after the returns had been brought to
GAINESVILLE, the county seat, 2l9 votes were
added to the returns by the inspector and
clerk OF said precinct.
In Leon county, seventy-four small re-
publican ballots were stuffed into the
ballot box at precinct No 9, yes it was not
made to appear to the satisfaction of the
democratic members of the boord that these
were false ballots; subsequent confession
shows that these were stuffed into the
box I'had seen Joseph Bower, ,one OF the
inspectors, have tickets similar to them a
few days before the election, and cautioned
| him against their use unless they were
generally adopted, and l afterwards
learned that he had given them up, ln
jefferson county, in the precinct at which
j. Bell was inspector, 100 votes were
surreptitiously added to the ballots
and counted, no charge was made as to
this fact before the board; the confession
of J. Bell since made to me diseloses the
fact that had the 2I9 votes frsudulently
added to Archer returns, and the IA votes
stuffed in the box 10 Leon county, and the
100 votes surreptitiously added in Jeffer-
son county, aggregating 1884 votes; had
they been rejected and the democratic pre-
cincts which were excluded for irregularity
and illegality contrary TO the decision ol
the supreme court. been retained and
~ 1nd hc
state. The conclusion therefore is ire
sistable that Mr.. Tilden was ientitled tC
the electoral vote of Florida and not Mr.
Hayes. ln making this statement my
, motives will doubtless be questioned by
many, but facts will stand alone as the
truth, without any motives to sustain
them. / am free to admit that viewing
things as | now do, and remembering that
Mr.. Hayes was continually einspiring hi
personal friends and trusted agents BY
4 every means 10 his power to secure for him
the electoral vote of Florida and Louisiana
and believing it to be conscious wrong OF
his part, done with the knowledge that be
had not been elected, as his subsequent
repudiation of Gov. Packard whose title
was bound upFn his owr, and his willful anC
cowardly desertion of the very mel
who contributed SO largely to his election
has shown. my contempt for the pitiabl'
littleness of the man is beyond my powel
of expression. Mr.. Hayes has denied th'
validity of his own title in denying Gov
Packards; he has ignored bis Florid;
friends. showing that he believed them un
worthy and tainted with fraud, yet ht
bolds on to the presidency. which in hi
own opinion was secured by this yer,
fraud. He has cowardly abandoned ant
betrayed his southern republican friends
through fear of being ousted from an ofic'
that he believed he never was elected Il
, by the people. Whatever may be the
opinion of men in regard to my motives
give them facts and leave nay motives to
higher tribunal. SAMUEL B. McLrN.