The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-05-28
SHERMAN AND THE INVESTIGATION

| this State, In which he makes formal denia
of the charges against him, and offers t.
prove that, in point of fact, the election In TIN
parishes of East and West Feliciana was con
| trolled by violence of the most revolving
character In other words Mr.. Sherman
wants to open up the whole Louisiana
scandal. and asks that he be allowed t
appear before the committee by counse
for that purpose. This is the scope Sherman
formally notifies the committee must be giver
to the investigation in order to enable him tt
Justify himself With cunning entirely
characteristic Of the man he thus states the
matters concerning which the committee IL
obliged to inquire and the facts it must estab
ish under the resolution in order to convict
him of aiding and abetting falsehood and
fraud:
This resolution requires you to investigate
three allegations, and upon the truth of these
depends the accusation against me, viz
First That there was a conspiracy among
the voters to withhold and not cast their
votes, and with view to make false charge
rs to the election
Second-That in point Of fact there was a
free and fair election In East and West Fell
ciana, which was falsely protested and re-
turned by said Anderson and Weber, by which
JIlH NpLfS Oh LneSe PARISHES WbES falsely Hilu
fraudulently excluded by the Returning
Board.
Third-That the offense of Anderson and
Weber was encouraged by assurances from
me,
This simply means that John Sherman pro-
poses to obscure his criminal completely in
the Louisiana fraud by revampng the old
flood Of slush and lies about bulldozing, vio-
lence and intimidation, which was elected
by the congressional committee in the winter
Of 1867 This the committee will certainly
not permit. Under the resolution Sherman is
explicitly charged with plain infraction OF
law, and he will not be permitted to ex-
tenuate his crime or obscure 1t, by a flood of
outside and irrelevant issues with which this
investigation has nothing to do. Let us clearly
understand what are the recitals Of the reso-
luton under which the committee Is acting
1. 1t Is charged that the Republican vote OF
these parishes was withheld in accordance
with conspiracy, the object Of which was to
afford pretext for the exclusion by the Re-
turning Board Of the entire vote of these
parishes.
9. That in furtherance OF this conspiracy
Anderson and Weber, the supervisors of regis
tration Of those parishes, falsely protested
that the election In each precinct mad not been
free and fair, and that the Returning Board
thereupon falsely and fraudulently excluded
the vote Of those precincts.
8. That the said action Of Weber and Amber
son was induced or encouraged by the assur-
ances of John Sherman
Az to the fairness Of the election in the
ITnIininpoc ha inn,,1ry ic popHpoi r. bn Al
legged conspiracy to withhold the Republican
vote SO far as Weber and Anderson are con-
cerned, whether their protests were false or
not Is a mere question Of law. If they were
not made in conformity with law, they were
false, and the Returning Board had no right
TO receive them, and the vote Of any precinct
that may have been rejected in consequence
thereof was "falsely and fraudulentIy ex-
cIuded" If, in making these false protests
Weber and Anderson were encouraged or in
duced" thereto by John Sherman. he knowing
them to be false, illegal and fraudulent, then
is he guilty OF the charge against him.
The real inquiry Is whether the Returning
Board legally exercised its jurisdiction in
throwing out the votes of these parishes:
and. SO far as Sherman is concerned If it did
not, what was his completely In the crime?
Let us see what the law was upon this point.
The law, as it then stood, provided that the
Governor shall appoint the supervisor Of reg
and he appoints the commissioners
If election at each precinct. The duties of
The supervisor are purely those of registra-
lion. The ballots are received and counted
by the commissioners, who make out dupli-
cate returns, one for the supervisor Of regis
Jration and the other for the clerk of court.
The supervisor has nothing to do with re-
oeiving or counting the votes at
the polls. His duties are to receive
and compile the returns of the
make them out in duplicate,
and send one to the clerk of court and the
other to the Returning Board in New Ooleans.
So far the duties of the supervisor and com
missioners are purely ministerial; but the
law goes on to provide that if at any place
there was violence or intimidation that tended
to prevent a tair registration, the supervisor
shall state, within given time, the facts and
effect in duplicate and send one copy to New
Orleans and the other to the clerk of court.
If any such violence occurs at the polls on
election day the commissioners shall do the
same. Only when such recitals and protests
are properly made and are in the hands of the
Board could the vote of precinct
be excluded. The supervisor could only pro-
test about registration, and any protests
about voting must be made by the commits
sioners, and to be worth anything the formal
tiles must all be complied with, and copy
sent to the clerk of court as well as to the
Board.
We're these protests properly made in the
case Of the Felicianas Had Anderson and
Weber any right to make such protests, or
had the Returning Board properly received
them Not at all. Here Is what Mr. jerks,
who represented the Tilden electors before
the Electoral Commission, offered to prove In
relation thereto, and every word of it has
been substantated by irrefragable testimony: