Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-05-29

hthnub ana appreciates the character OF
the institutions under which he lives,
aud submit IL without further com.
ment To the consideration Of gentlemen
who are contepding here and elsewhere
Tor the power of special deputy marsbals
"to keep the peace and preserve ORDER
In State on the day Of election or any
other day. They can have no such
power, and any attempt TO confer IL
upon them Is simply AN attempt To
usurp the rightful authority Of the
States.
II is not possible for me to devote any
considerable time TO "A recital Of the
many abuses that have been committed
under this law, but ] desire 10 say what
is known to the whole country, that at
the Congressional election Of 1873 in the
city Of New York those who controlled
and directed this ingenious and opprcs-
zive political machinery brought its
whole force TO bear with crushing effect
against single class Of citizens, Ameri.
can citizens of foreign birth In May,
1873, the Chief Supervisor Of Elections
IN that city caused one Of his clerks or
assistants TO swear 10 n single complaint
against 900 persons Of foreign birth
who held certificates OF naturalization
issued from the Supreme and Superior
courts IN 1868. and on which they had
regularly registered and voted at every
election since that time. On this com.
plant the Eame Supervisor Of Elections,
a. clerk Of the United States Court. il.
sued j,Ogi warrants returnabie before
himself a. Commissioner Of the United
States Court. Afterward il seems 10
have been discovered by this officer that
these warrants were illegal by reason of
the fact that the complaint contained
more than one name and thereupon
they were Withdrawn. but Immediately
afterwArd he caused 1850 more com.
plants 10 be made and iEsued warrants
upon them in the same way. Many
persons were arrested under this process
and about 400 naturalized citizens. in
order to escape from this partisan per.
secution, actually surrendered their
papers. Just few days before the elec.
ton in November he ca used the same
clerk or assistant to swear 10 800 more
complaints They were sworn 10 in
packages, many Of them on the Sunday
preceding the election, aud during the
night preceding the election warrants
were made out against the persons
named in the complaints and placed in
the hands Of the supervisors of election
at the various voting places, 10 be de.
livcred 10 the deputy marshals next
morning. in order that they might be
executed when the persons named in
them should appear for the purpose Of
voting. Among the instructions gwen
10y the chief supervisor 10 his subordi.
mates was the following
IN case Of persons who present ;hernfclyes
70 vote, where a warrant has been pre-
yiou.iy issued, you will zee that such per-
sons src arrested upon the warrant upon 20
presenting themsc!ycs and before voting.
This instruction was faithfully obey.
ed, and on the day OF election hundreds
oi naturalized citizens who possessed all
the qualifications required by the con-
stitution and laws OF the State of New
York were arrested at the polls. dragged
away 10y these deputy marshals, and de-
priyed Of the right of suffrage The
pretense upon which these outrages
were committed was that the records
of naturalization kept by the Superior
Court Of New York in the year IsGS
were defective and that therefore the
certificates were void. The truth was
that precisely the same kind of record
and no othes had been kept in that
Court for a period OF fifteen years. un-
der the administrations Of nineteen diff
ferent judges Of both political parties,
the Hon. Edwards PieTrepont. late Min.
ister TO the Court Of ST. james, being
one OF them that between fifty and sixty
thousand persons hal during that time
been natursljzed in precisely the same
manner as these persecuted men, and
many OF thsm had been voting and ex-
ercising all the other rights OF citizen.
ship without question ier twenty years,
and that before these arrests were made
a State judge, in an able and elaborate
opinion, had expressly decided that the
record was sufficient and the naturali.
zations valid. Notwithstanding these
facts, about which there can be no dis.
pute, these nine or ten thousand per
sons who had in good faith procured
their papers in 1865 were selected 10 be
the victims OF as vile q political conspir-
acy and persecution as was ever set on
foot in the history Of any country.
Certainly no such crusade against the
political rights Of any class of citizens
was ever before inaugurAted in this
country, and none ever had less excuse
or justification. In some instances tho
papers OF the citizen were seized by
these Federal officers when he came 60
register and we're retained until the
election was over.
The totol absence Of sufficient legal
cause for these extraordinary proceed
ings is demonstrated by the admitted
fact that although thousands Of war.
rants were issued and hundreds Of ar.
rests were made, not n single conviction
was ever obtained, and indeed not a
single one was ever prosecuted 10 final
hearing. ] have said that there were leg.
ally qualified voters, and briefreierence
to the judgment Of the United States
Circuit Court in one of the cases viii O..
tablish the truth of the statement. Ono
of the men arrested, Peter Coleman by
name, appears TO have been 50 poor and
friendless as 10 be unable either TO pro.