Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-02-15

forms the Washington correspondent OF the
New York Times that the prosecution was
engineered and carried on by the worst ele-
ment of New Orleans, and that it is depre-
Gated by the business men and better class OF
citizens, without regard to party. He says
that the motion to carry the trial to the United
States Court was decided adversely by Judge
Whitaker, about O'Clock on Friday after
noon and that e O'Clock of the same afternoon
was fixed for the commencement of Ander-
sons trial Ttis unusual haste to proceed
shows the feeling of the court toward the
accused In the matter of bail, the animus
of the court officers was again made appar-
cnt. The bond was fixed at $4,000. Gov.
Packard presented himself to the clerk of
the court, and offered to show by the records
that he was possessed of property sufficient
to cover that amount. The clerk replied
that it would take week to examine and
verify the record, and Mr.. Packard was thus
set aside. Next, Col. Cant, an old resident
Of Louisiana, possessed Of real estate in that
commonwealth worth nearly 500, 900,
offered himself, but Was refused, on the plea
that bis property was in plantations outside
of New Orleans. Seeing that it was de-
termined not to permit him to enter bail,
Gen. Anderson yielded to the inevitable,
and, declining to subject his friends to fur
Their annoyance, went to the parish Jail.
The trial was a burlesque upon justice. 1t
was proved by certain witnesses that the
Vernon parish returns had been tempered
with after they were deposited by the parish
oficers But there was not particle of testi-
mouy connecting Anderson with the fraud,
or to show that he was engaged in any con-
spiracy to procure it. So far as the commits
sion of the crime is concerned, 1t could just as
well be charged upon any Other man in LOUISE
ana. That the Jury Was drawn to convict, and
that the two young colored men on the jury
were grossly deceived by their associates,
ant made to believe that recommends
ton to mercy was equivalent to an aeqult-
tai, is also shown. The gentleman alluded
to says that he conversed with Gen. Ander-
son during the progress Of the trial, and that
he requested him to say that everything he
(Anderson) knew about the election OF 1876
had already been Published. So far as he
knows, no unlawful act was done by the
Returning Board. and. whatever might be
the results Of the trial. he had nothing to
say in addition to what was already known
about the count of the ballots and the action
of those who were connected with that count,
Mr.. Sherman and the other so-called "yisit-
ing Statesmen" have expressed in the most
emphatic terms their belief that the trial OF
General Anderson was unfair and his convic-
ton unjust, and our Washington dispatches
state that this belief is shared by the Presi-
dent and by other eminent gentlemen, well
situated to know the facts of the case. The
affair seems to have disabused even Stanley
Matthews of his oyer-fondness for the Louis
lana "White-liners" and it is tolerably
plain that its effect on men of both sections
is not likely to promote Cancellation. or to
tend to break up existing party lines.