New-York tribune., 1879-01-15
LOUISIANA BULLDOZING.
E1111vc NrGRnrs IN CAnDo PARISH.

NEW-ORLFASS, Jan. 1O.-Nhen came S"uth
this time had not the remotest idea that should
Cud occasion for writing bloody shirt " letters.
did not believe any outra-,s Of the old hulldozing
sort ha6 been committed during the late campaign.
Nv theory was that the South had advanced
in its election methods from the shotgun
to the tissue ballot, and that the era ot
violence was gone forever All motive for NAL
treating and numbering the blacks seemed to ne
wanting since the white Democrats secured con'loi
of the state governments aud with them OF the eiec
ton mach merry 1t IL 80 much easier ana more hu-
inane TO falsify count or stuff hallo-ooX tnah 10
go on midnight raids, and hunt fleeing negroes IN
the woods and fields that 1t did not seem pos
sibe that the mild prevention Of a renewal 81 negro
supre,nacv could in any locality be neglected. anu
the old heroic medicine again admin steicd Ny
theory was correct III the mann, hut uu
not take INTO account the inherent bar"'T'>m
latent i'm Northern Louisiana. Election frauds were
generally pcrprtra,cd ~ that Wild regIoh' Du' '''9
did nOt afford m outlet for the energies oi 'He
young chivalry. So the old bulldozcr ORGANIZATIONS
wer, revived IN many parishes, and the exciting
sport Of shooting negroes was bcGun anew
must be remembered, however, tnat Northern Lou
isana Is not typical Of tire South. 1t has an cXcel-
tionally reckless and lawess wnitc popJ'ari'n
MANY of them were outlaws during the war, when
the swalnps were full Of dcSeIters from both ar
mies. VINO were at one time 50 formidable as 10 de-
feat an armed force sent AGAINST them by the Con
tederatc General DIcA Taylor.
In this letter shall give very brief account OF
the campaign III Caddo Parish, and the negro
massacre which occurred on election day at Cal
edopi,. the information used beng gathered from
the testimony OF both Republican and Democratic
witnesses taken by the Teller Committee. Caddo
lies in the northwestern corner Of the State, and
embraces the great swamps and lakes formed hy
the Red River raft. The county town i Smeyc-
mort The white vote Is about 1900 and the black
vote about g. 500. The blacks have heretofore recn
tohdlv Republican, Two yeaT- ago they discarded
their former carpct-ba4 ger leaders and put them
selves under the control Of young native white men,
,hlcf among whom Is United States Dlstnct-AitoT-
ney Leonard, formerly violent white mans
government partisan. These young white Repu'h-
cans are all OF high character aud good falhliN'
They carry arms, like most of the whites IN their
section, are men IF nerve and courage, ana Woul0
probably be as quick to " get The drop" on an adj
versarv in a quarrel as their bclhCereut Democratic
opponents. Among the negroes the most influential
man Is state Senator Harper. parish ticket was
dominated by the Democrats in September, made
MP of obi men of extreme Bourbon sentiments. In
OCTOBER the Republicans put in the field ticket
roppo,ed with one exception. of young white men
who had formerly been Democrats, the exception
being c0lOrcd man who was nominated for Coro-
Both parties DCgau 10 canvass luc pdIiSH'
The Rrpabcans appointed number OF meetings,
at which Dlstrict-Attorney Leonard, Senator Iidr-
per. Mr.. klsner, candidate for Representative and
Mr. AllSton. candidate for Sheriff, were announced
70 speak At the same time the Democrats oigan-
iled rife club, for he evident purpose of carrying
the election by Overawing the blacks, and began
- make threats that the Republican leaders should
be- killed if they persisted m ORGANIZING the colored
Vote against the whites. Gross misrepresentation
of tho very moderate speeches made by Mr.. Leonard
were set III c,rcuauOn'tO influence the preIudlces OF
the more ignorant class of Democrats Under the
Louisiana election law, the mSsiOncrs who open
the poll, and conduct the voting are appointed by
the police jury of the parish. In order TO give the
Democrats fell control Of the election machinery,
The LEGISLATURE passed, in 1877. law author
izing the Governor to appoint five add
tonal police jurors in each parish. He ap-
poipted none but Democrats. All the Election
commissioners IN Caddo and think IN all the
other contested parishes. were Democrats, the Re
puolcans being denied representation on the
boards.
II was the boast of the Democratic papers Of
Shreveport that although their party was inferior
In nuluocrs it would make up by hcroism for ITS de-
Gciency in that respect. lis heroism seems to have
consisted IN threatening the negroes, disturbing
Republican meetings, drawing pistols on the speak
rrs and calling them id liars. This was an eff
fective method of campaigning however when
combined with a system Of refusing the votes OF
Republicans on all sorts OF trumped-up protests and
making false returns and it resulted in reported
Democratic majority Of 500 in parish where the
Republicans have a clear majority Of 1000 ON
far vote.
The Democrats resorted to an exceedingly sharp
and successful trick. Although the law requires
that the whole ticket voted shall be printed on one
niece of PAPER the police ury controlled by them,
provided separate ballot-bOXes for Congress- parish
and ward tickets aud they printed their tickets
separately The Republicans. having but single
ticket were at a loss what to do, and hundreds OF
them did not vote at all, not knowing how to
separate their tickets. Although there was
registered vote of about 1000, only about $500
votes were cast, of which some 1000 were
Democratic. Two plans We're concerted as the
Repubcans believe to kill their leaders during the
canvass One failed bv hat-boat containing
body Of buldozers bent this errand striking on
stump in crossing bayou, and the other was
frustrated by the GOODNESS of Leonard and his as
tociates aud the and of few moderate Democrats,
who interfered to protect them after one of their
meetings had been broken up.
The fidelity of the negroes TO the Republican party
npder circumstances discOuIaging and dangerous Is
well illustrated by the testimony of Lafayette
HARPER colOrcd preacher. The police jury changed
the wards in Caddo and made one thirty miles long,
extending from the Red River to the Arkansas hne,
and separated into two distinct sections by swanps
and lakes. They established the polling place at
Willis's school House. the extreme north end OF
the ward aud accessible from the other end III
times of ordinary high water only by a steamboat
tourney of sixty miles. As the black population Of
the ard lived on large plantations on the Red
River this action was evidently intended TO cut
them Of from voting. There were $50 cOlored