Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-12-31
ALrrrER Faoa wAsAIssros.
WASHINGTON. DC, Dec. 26, 1875

w WASHINGTON, ~. ", LOU. ~, Aof0'
Mr.. EDITOR: You have already
noticed the flank movement OF the
Confederate army Ia the attempt they
are max ing to capture Maine. ! am
not noted for gloomy predictions; evil
forebodings are not the kind to BE-
courted by anybody, 80 long as they
can be put asidc, but II the actions Of
men mean as much nowadays as they
have in times past, the strong military
arm of this Government will be
needed in the near future TO put down
formidable and dangerous treason.
This damnable fraud of Governor Gar
celon and his Council, in stealing the
State of Maine for the Democracy, is
the last and boldest steal Of the
Democratic party. IF any party de
serves the title of t'highwayman,' it
is the Democracy. II any party de-
serves the name of ''sneak thief" it is
the Democracy. Ifany party deserves
to be called on all occasions "mui-
derer," it is this came party, for is not
it's hands red with the blood of hun
dreds of citizens, murdered in the
times of peace? They justify this
enormous crime of defeating the hon.
est will Of the people by charging on
the Republicans that louisiana was
stolen for Mr.. Hayes in 1876. Let Us
see. In Maine, the irregularities for
which various voting precincts were
thrown out were of the most
trivial and unimportantc haracter,sucb,
for instance, as the following: One
return was added wrong, and on this
account was thrown out. In smother
the name Of a-voter was recorded
wrong, in that the "Jr." junior) was
left off, and the entire return was
thrown out. The .non.crossing of a
"L' or the non-dotting of an ''ins was
made the pretext for robbing entire
voting precincts of their just and legal
returns.$ ~ 8z1--z2zs - 80 : s--@s-
Nov, why was the vote Of Louis
lana changed in1876 1t was on ac~
count of reign of terror, murder and
every kind Of buildozing known to
those red-handed devils, that various
returns were declared bythe Return
/ ing Board to be fraudulent. How
can the Democracy afford to
make this comparison?L Let us draw
! side by side the picture OF an suncrossed
letter At = and the dead body of col-
ored man hanging by the neck. Let
| as compare an indicted SIP with the
disemboweled voter found floating in
la Louisiana swamp. How does the
crime of improperly adding q column
of figures in an election return COM
pare with that of burning up ballot
box or stuffing one with tissue ballots?
should say that the leaving off
"Jr.H from John Smiths name in
Maine was not so bad crime as for
John Smith, in Louisiana, to vote one
hundred tissue ballots instead of one
legal one. ,.rssss,-.7s-. Il s4s.5 z-yoa.s
The same reasons which they assign
for the conduct of these robbers in
Maine have lexisted in every election
that has ever been held since the days
of Moses, and if, upon technical
grounds, an election BY the people can
be defeated, then elections by the peo-
pie are at an end, for as long as time
shall last will men at times forget to
cross their " u 81 and dot their rs"
properly; will Improperly sign their
names, and add their columns of
figures. The fact is, this Is an igno-
minious fraud one directly subversive
of the rights Of the people, and if it
is not met and punished as it de-
serves TO be, we may soon expect to see
our Government tottering on the
birthstone brink of another -rovolu-
ton. A good many people think at
this time that the old rebel monster
needs bleeding for his health again,
and 1 am of that same notion. But
war is too terrible a thing to contem-
plate without a shudder. What East
rennesseean does not remember with
sorrow the last one? was
a lad in school when Fort
Sumter was fired on. This news was
broken to our school at recess on the
day after it occurred. .Fort Sumter
is Knocked into cock ed hat" was the
way it was put by the mess
seng-r. Alex. Harper was our
teacher. He said that meant war
Bud Brown was a grown man, a pu-
pill. He and the Grills boys were
southern rights" men; and from that
day the feverish excitement grew on
our school until our teacher and some
of the larger boys left for the Union
army " lille Bud Brown and his chums
went South. The next thing !. most
wildly recall was the coming OF the
'conscripters." was in the field at
| work when I heard the firing Of some
guns up the valley, and in short time
| a squad of rebels came down the road
having "neighbor" under arrest. It
| was he whom they had been
shooting at. And then I remember
how, at the silent midnight, men stole
away from their homes. ]. Many an
East Tennesseean remembers that
same sad eyscene., For many
long dreadful months no news
| came whether they were "over
safe" or not. One night the commu-
nifty was thrilled with the whispered
Information that Mark Hodge (scout)
had just come over the moutains. u
bringing letters, etc., from "the bows. ~
Mark left all the letters and pictures
in our neighborhood, with an un-
daunted Union family, for distribu-
ton, and went,onv his way We read
those letters, and then hid them in the
lground. One sad, pale picture in the
4 lott was the picture of that same
fHneigh bor" the rebels had been shoot
ling at. In this picture he appeared in
United States uniform, grasping in his
hand q navy pistol. The next we
heard of him he was reported
killed away in Georgia. In three
months we got letter, postmarked in
the Confederacy, and it was from this
same bly,, now in prison badly
| wounded. Our next door neighbor
sent Eve boys to fight for the Union
and three came back. just across the
| hill another family sent four and only
one returned. Only step in the other
direction charming young bride sent
her brave husband. and he fell at Re-