Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-12-11
the SOUTHERN ourRAcEs,

One of the most important State pa.
pers transmitted to Congress In years
by the President is the last annual re.
port of Acknowledgement Devens. II
is devoted mainly to detailed state.
ments of the business transacted by
the Department Of Justice and the
district attorneys, marshals, etc., un.
der its control during the last fiscal
year; but it also contains several pas.
sages of general interest, the most inn.
portant of which are herewith given:
Under the head of Protection tc
Civil Officers" the Attorney General
says: at is important that addition.
al provision should be made for the
protection Of the executive civil OH.
GERS. The punishment now attached
to resistance to a process of the Unit
ed States Courts is not proportionate
to the crime of murder, which, in FREE
quent instances, has been committed
upon deputy marshals because they
have arrested, or endeavored to arrest,
violators OF the law. 1t should not
be left to the state to determine and
enforce the penalty for an act against
the execution of justice of such sc.
rious character, but appropriate legis-
lation should enable the court whose
authority has been defied, and whose
faithful officers have been killed, to
administer the penalty which the
crime deserves. 1t is unfortunately
too clea, that if this duty be left to
the courts of the states it cannot be
Expected that in certain portions of
the Union it will now be faithfully
and efficiently performed"
On the subject of the violation of
the Federal election laws the Attor-
ney General says: Information which
have received from various sources
led me to believe. previous to the re-
cent Congressional election, that such
interference with the canvass preced.
ing it had taken place, and was rea-
sonably to be expected with the cleo
| ton itself; that the attention of the
officers in this department should, In
certain localities, be called to infrac-
tions of the laws which had occurred
or which might be expected to occur,
and to the necessity of doing all In
their power to prevent them and to
secure fair election. In some in
stances it was deemed to have been
fully shown that peaceful meetings,
lawfully called for the advocacy OF
particular candidates for Congress,
had been intruded upon by armed
bands, under the specious pretext of
keeping the peace, preventing, by
disorders and ruffianism, the Organi-
cation or the proper holding Of such
meetings. The Attorney Generals
office is not provided with the means
of any general system of investiga.
ton of attractions of the laws. It
depends mainly upon the reports of
facts in individual cases made by the
officers of the department on the
ground, and on their requests for in
structions in regard thereto. Avail
ing myself of these, as we'll as of in
formation from those public sources
which are common to all, 1t is appar.
ent that in various parts of the Union,
especially in certain portions of the
States OF Louisiana, South Carolina,
Texas and Virginia, instances of un-
lawful combination and violence, in
tended to prevent free and peaceful
advocacy of candidates for Congress,
occurred previous to the day of cleo
ton, and upon the day of election de-
liberate frauds were resorted to in
voting and canvassing the votes, Of.
ten accompanied by threats and in
limitation. A frequent outrage upon
the purity Of the ballot box was in
what is familiarity known as ballot
box stuffing," and consisted in pre-
pairing the boxes by depositing there
in before the voting commenced, or
after it was concluded, large numbers
of fraudulent ballots, and also by fold
ing smaller ballots within large ones
in such q way that they could be sha-
ken out by the voter as he deposited
his ballot, or afterward by those who
had custody of the box. The fraud
was accomplished by the use of small
ballots printed upon tissue paper, and
was perpetrated In so many different
places, and with tickets so carefully
prepared, and of such similarity, tina,
it cannot be doubted it was the result
of an organized conspiracy of some
central directing agency to defeat the
will Of the people and falsify the true
result of the election. The canvass
and election were accompanied in the
State of Louisiana by q series of COW.
ardly and cruel murders, the only an.
parent motive for which was to pre-
vent the colored people from exercis.
ing their right of suffrage. These
These murders occurred In CaddO
Tensas, Natchitoches, and other par
ishes. 1t has been my duty to advise
the proper subordinate officers of the
department in such manner as seem
ed best calculated to secure the end.
of justice, to promptly assert and en-
force the authority of the laws of The
United States in order to bring to Jus
tice those who have violated them
| have seen no reason to believe tina
ANY arrests which they have caused t.
, be made have not been fully justified
or that they have acted otherwise
than as their duty plainly demanded
The attempt to bring to Justice tn,
violators of the law has, however
T been followed by system of persecu
ton of United States officers, and O
witnesses who have been called K
testify in regard to the transaction
complained of, which cannot be tor
} severely condemned. The resistanc,
of the laws of the United States has
in some instances, taken the form o.
brutal violence, but more generally
that of complaints and prosecution
under the State laws for alleged of
J lenses. In such proceedings bail ha!
sometimes been refused, or fixed a
amounts so exorbitant that the accus
ed could not be expected to be able Il
obtain it. The character of thest
prosecutions may perhaps be bet
ter understood when it is observed
that large numbers of them are fol
alleged peUuries committed before
United States Commissioners or tn,
courts of the United States, offense
of which it is entirely clear that tn,
States have no jurisdiction. 1t viii
be my effort fairly but decidedly I,
do all in my power to execute tn,
laws of the United States, regarding
, the purity of elections, in the way q
, all its other laws, and to bring to jus
i tice those who have violated them
Some addition 10 the anticipated ex
penses of this department for the cur
rent year may be occasioned by do
. ing this thoroughly, and the mean
for meeting these should be provided
by Congress-. l respectfully submit
) to the consideration Of Congress
whether additional provisions ma,
, not be made more effectively to pro
, tect officers of the United States ant
witnesses summoned on it's behal
: against causeless prosecutions, and I,
; enable them to transfer the examina
ton of them to the courts of the Unit
ed States.
WAR ON RATIONAL BANKS.
MR.. BUCKNER'S BILL.
Special Telegram TO the lpte,-Ocean.
Il WASHINGTON, Dec. e.-Proctol
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