The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-08
THE GAME OF stCOUNTHNG gN."
"Reminiscences of SOW. brew, Of Flor1d

"Reminiscences OF aOv. bFeWs ot FsoFAa@'
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports an inter-
view with Gov. Drew, of Florida, who is stop
ping In that city. The Governor thinks Flur-
ida has beyond all question: been proved to
he q Democratic State, and has no doubt OF
its remaining so. In answer to q question
concerning the congressional elections the
governor said: IT do not believe they will be
as close as the Republicans seem to think
They are reckoning on the vote OF the last
general election, but in that election they
polled from three to four thousand fraudulent
votes something they will not be able to do
this time
SLOW is that, Governor?
"Why, we have taken measures to guaran-
tee us against repetition OF the fraud. You
know that it is pretty hard for white man,
unless he is intimately acquainted with col
ored man, to recognize his features, ana TINS
fact was taken advantage OF by the Repubh-
cans to poll large number OF fraudulent
votes at the presidential election. They could
do this under the system of registration they
had then, but we have changed it since. Long
before / became a candidate | saw that the
system OF registration was but cover 1Of
fraud, and since my election l have worked to
regulate it,
RSpeaking about frauds" said the reporter,
tsyou ought to be able to give some interesting
"reminiscences Of the stealing OF your State in
10y Yes 9ofe could tell something about it, sup
pose" said Mr.. Drew, smiling refectngly.
GLOW was it the returns elected you and
L
''If the Democratic statesmen who visited
Florida at that time had taken my advice,
Mr.. Tilden would have been counted in as we'll
as was," answered the Governor.
t'How ~ queried the scribe.
"Why, you see, when they talked with me on
the subject, l told them to take the election
into the courts, and have q mandamus issued
for an exhibition OF the election returns. They
Republican, and that they would rather trust
the effect that public opinion would have in
making Congress go behind the returns. The
result was that MI. Tilden was counted out,
been counted out too, although ran 500 ahead
of Tilden for they had thrown out enough to
do it. only that got up too early In the morn or
ing for them = taking the election t int INTO
S ao eRs e the R s ya 9f4 sbst nhsy
but had the mandamus issued before they
were up'
M they were pretty lively times down there
9piust them"
It "Yes, they were. There was one attempt
tdsnade by the Republicans which was pretty
y high-handed, but it failed. 1t was to arrest
ali the members Of the Democratic EXECUTIVE t
Committee the night before the election.
son what pretextE
con none that know of; but then arrest
ing men without a pretext would have beer
nothing unusual at that time
@HoW did the attempt fall?"
because they could not reach us. Mar
shall Conant started for my residence, at El
lerdale, on a special engine, but when hal
way found he could not proceed, owing to {
burned out trestle. We had burned them, no
having the possibility of an attempted arres
in view, but to prevent them from moving
.colored voters from one place to another o.
election day. -,
"Conant Is an INSCRIPTIONS man, is he not?
Y ''Yes, and he has government backing 10
\ all he does. He is a man OF great 1ntiuenc
in our State, though he is not as shreWd a
McLin or Dennis The latter he resembles Il
ii one respect-in not being ashamed to own no
attempting to deny his fraudulent practices.
Speaking about Dennis, don't you think h
knew all about the stealing of the State TO
Il think both he and McLin knew all abou
it. and both are dissatisfied with the pay the
got That little judgeship OF McLin's doesn
amount to anything, and he knows it, an
that Is what puts him out Dennis Is pecu
liaR man. He is one of those men who are nc
afraid to acknowledge the corn, and when
makes up his mind to tell the truth he is &c
ing to tell it,
s|You think, then that his testimony befor
the Potter committee is reliable p
81 think it is; but I think he could hav
been got to tell more than he did"
Just at this point the Governor was calle'
away unexpectedly and the conversatio
ended and was not resumed again, as he lei
the city shortly afterward.