The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-23
SLOWING UP.
A LIGHT BAY BEFORE THE CONGREs.
sIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE.
StIil BnquIrIng Into the Supervisors Gus
tOm-H0use AfEidavIts-M De-
nIals From the Faithful.

l JULIUS GREEN,
eolored. was the first witness sworn. live In
Bayou Sara. / lived there in 1876 / was there
at the time of the election. / voted at st. Fran
cisville on the day Of the election. I voted the
Republican ticket. / know that numbers Of
colored men Joined Democratic clubs. know
of oolored men making speeches at Democratic
meetings. After the election / was subpBnaed
to appear before Congressional committee
and did appear. Before that. however. / came
down. ] was subpBnaed after got In the city
to go to the Custom House. I signed paper
there. / did not swear to IT,. / signed it to sat-
lsfy some Of my friends, who said it would
STRENGTHEN THE REPUBLICAN, PARTY.
Swa5ey was one man who told me. | knew
nothing about the paper until / was asked to
EMr., ,stenger here read witnsss what purport-
ed to be his affidavit Itdetailed acts Of lntim-
idation In ward No. of the parish. Witness
said that he had not been within four miles Of
ward No Q on the day of election, and that every
stastement made In relation TO It was falsel -,
| Them things were put up before / got to the
| Custom House. told them men that they were
going TO- get me into trouble. Nothing like that
Witness then denied In order having made
and the truth OF every important statem ent
contained In, the so-ealled affidavit. He was
not bulldozed: he knew Of no eolored man who
was; he knew nothing about the killing Of Ike
| / never made any of the statements, The
on to aign It. It was not read to me. and /
signed 1t because | thought that 1t would help
| having made the statements In a card which /
published in, q parish paper, the Sentinel /
heard thata club was organized at Sage Hill to
KILL OFF WHITE PEOPLE.
Gilbert Garter. John Richardson and Isaac
| VESSEL were officers Of the club. The fact Of
the organization became known to the white
people. 1t was about two weeks before Gilbert
Carter was killed that heard of the club, Some
| of the white people were warned of the pur-
poses Of the club by, certain Of the members.
Garter. Garter was president, Vessell was Vice
president, and Richardson was secretary.
To Mr.. Cox-Thex statements In the affidavit
Amy Mitchell and [ went with Swazey to the
| Custom House; when we got there the paper
va Tas given me and signed a., It. testified before
sworn. / don't remember / told the Senate
committee, exactly what haye told this com
affidavit to help the Republican party as am
| now to join q Democratic club. / am anxious
to 10 Join; and ID an an DEMOCRAT 9 / | DID net kn9Yy
| tell the people at the Custom House the story
| in the AFFIDAVIT; but 1t is not true.
ness testimony before the Senate committee
and witness denied the truth of the report and
said that he had made no such statement as
down to, ,makelit strong; theyIhave lgot down a
| hundred things never said"
HOWARD THORNTON, JR.,
eolored, sworn.
To Mr.. stenger-In 1876, at the time Of the
! election. was Lying In the parish Of West Fe.
| liclana. have lived there all my life. voted
| ticket. There were colored Democratic clubs
| In the parish. Plenty OF c9iored men belonged
t2 t. them. l knew personally q number Of them:
Ihey Joined the DsmoerAtfe clubs because OF
their own opinion.
After the election came to New Orleans.
made an affidavit at the Custom House. They
asked me If there was any intimidation at the
polls. told them | had not seen any. They
asked me II had been forced 70 Join Demo
cratic club, told them no, ] had not. They
asked me IL had seen any cofored men beaten,
and / told them had not. This was all they
have stated. signed the paper with my mark.
They did not read II to me- and did not swear
to 1t. cannot read myself, but supposed that
The affidavit was read to witness by Mr.. Stem
ger. and he emphatieally denied having made
the statements contained in 1t. All he did say
he had elated.
The affidavit contained the same old story Of
coercion, Intimidation and brutal assaults on
by Mr.. Cox failed to either elicit anything new
or TO change the character Of the testimony.
JOHN LAGARDE,
colored sworn.
To Mr.. Stenger-Tn November, 1875, on the
day of the election. 1 lived in Bayou Sara. |
did not vote ] went to the poll between and 7
5,oclock / did not vote because had been out Of
could have voted. | saw other colored men |
voting, They sent for me to come to this city |
toned. I told them knew nothing about bull, |
doing; that / had heard talk Of it, but that |
knew nothing about it or Of intimidation Of
Witness was shown his affidavit and identi- |
Mr.. Steneer read It to him and questioned |
him In reference to it, and In reply to these |
questions witness said that he had not made |
the statements attributed to him and that they |
we're false.
MR.. ToMLINsoE |
MT, Fba no Ind
ly presented list Of persons employed in the |
Custom House. He stated 1t to be a list only Of |
toms service and added: / have not come be- |
fore the committee before because have been |
sick, had no other reason In the world for |
70 Mr.. Blackburn-Thig list ls TO the best of |
my knowledge and belief full and correct. |
). N. HAGrNs
was next called
To Mr.. Cox-I live In New Orleans. am a |
lawyer by profession. In 1876 was called upon /
to assist in drawing up affidayit5 at the Custom
House. Witness was here given bundle Of the |
beer, written by him-one being that Of Dalton. |
another that Of SwazeY and another that Of John |
IN ng up the days Would dueson the VII
ness and would then put down their statements
and read them to witness. put down fairly |
that was not said. Dalton's affidavit is Just as
he made his statements to me. All the witnesses
whose affdavits took were subsequently sum-
To Mr. Blackburn-I came to New Orleans In
1873. I know of no law which authorized the |
marshal to pay these Witnesses. was engaged
three or four weeks making out afidavits. Pit
kin and Packard asked me to assist in making
the afhdavits. There we're some fifty or sixty
clerks engaged in the work. / made out set
Of questions to be asked witnesses. I made
them as guide for those clerks who had no
knowledge of legal forms. took perhaps a
hundred or more affidavits. would write the
affidavit and read 1t to the witness as l wrote 1t,
by causes and as whole; cannot say thai, l |
rooms where af1davits were being made. Copies |
Of the affidavfts were made. think, for the Yis-
iting statesmen. ] never received pay for my
work. Mr.. J. P. Harris was with the clerks al |
most all the time; he was Mr.. Packard's lawyer.
To Mr, CoX-I have never held any govern
ment position or public Office. When I came |
here came with letters OF Introduction from |
Gov. Hendricks and Gov. Morton.
To Mr.. Cox-I Of course, in making the aft
dayits,
TOOK THE STRONGEST POINTS.
I prepared them just as would in making no a /
- F 1l sT kNa