The Portland daily press., 1878-11-15
The South Carolina Frauds,

The argus thinks ga person writing on
the spot would be likely to know more abou,
the facts lof the South Carolina electionl
than radical organist at the North" That
may be. A man convicted of fhouse-breakine
usually knows more about the facts of the
burglary than do the jurymen who bring in
the verdict of ''guilty." The trouble in both
cases is the men on the spot, the implicated
ones, do not give the facts because they do
not choose to establish their own guilt.
If we are to take the testimony OF men in
South Carolina let us listen to the evidence
of Judge Mackey, or to the newspaper cor
respondents whose duty it was to find out
the facts, and who had no personal interest
in the matter or temptation to misrepresent
things. Here comes correspondent of the
Springfield Republican. paper that
has always had good word for Gov
ernor Hampton, and is certainly not a
bloody-shirt organ. The correspondent,
who, by the way, has sent letters from
South Carolina that Democratic papers
have exultantly copied, and who earlier in the
campaign believed that the efforts of Hamp-
ton would ensure fair election, now says,
writing from Columbia: "The frauds prac-
ticed in the recent election in this State we're
too monstrous for belief. In all of the coun-
ties where there was Republican opposition
the ballot boxes were stuffed by means of
small tissue-paper tickets. They were voted
in patches, in numbers varying from one to
thirty. The general plan was to inclose them
in larger ticket. This sort of voting was
engaged in as pastme, and is openly
talked about upon the street. Only the news
papers deny or attemp to conceal it. 1t was
practiced with such delight that it was over
done, so that maiorities far beyond what
were needed or desired were run up" He
assures US that the tissue-paper ticket scheme
emanated from the Democratic State execu-
tive committee, and was participated in by
the "best" citizens. At one box in the city
the votes more than doubled the voters. The
excess was withdrawn, but not paper tissue
ticket was thrown out. Only Republican
ballots were cast away. The Democratic
majority in Aiken county was over three
fourths as much as the combined Democratic
and Republican vote in 1876. The same story
comes from other Republican counties. To
cover these outrages it is now claimed that
the negroes voted almost unanimously for
the Democrats. This claim the Republican
correspondent fatty denounces as "a lie,"
and adds: "The people do not pretend to
offer this excuse, but admit and laugh at the
great fraud. 1t is only the newspapers who
attempt the explanation"
The Argus quotes one of these "explana-
tions," from the Charleston News and Cou.
rier. The Charleston paper admits there
were more ballots in the boxes than names
on the poll list, but intimates that the extra
votes were cast by Republicans. In view
of the fact that the Democrats controlled the
boxes the intimation is in the highest degrce
absurd. Nothing is said about the tissue
paper tickets, or the fact that only Republi-
can votes were cast out. Pailure to explain
that is confession Of guilt.
One of the worst features about this ballot
box stufing is the approval it receives from
Northern Democrats. Scarcely Democrat
ic paper in the North condemns. 1t is either
denied or defended. The argus prefers to
deny.