The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-07-03

mex 0i EhAt year nine thousand four hum
dred citiSena were notified that they
would be arrested unless they surrend
cred their naturalization papers to the
head overaeer, John l. Davenport. In
the month of October 1873, thirty one
hundred persons were actually arrested
and reign OF terror inaugurated just In
advance of the election. The pretense
that these persons held fraudulent natur.
alization papers had already been shown
to be false, but it 1t was necessary to par
ty success that an alarm should be raised
and panic created in the minds of for
eign born citizens and of the poor labor
ing classes generally,
The movement was successful, and 1t
has been estimated that ten Thousand
legal voters remained away from the
polls rather than risk the jails and the
prison-pens of the chief supervisor and
his subordinates. But it was reserved
for the day of election itself to give free
scope to the fir ghtful powers with which
this bard of Federal ku.kluK ia invested
Those who braved the dangers which
environed the ballot box, and approach
ed it as If they were still freemen soon
found their mistake. They quickly as,
certained that the previous threats and
warnings which they had heard were
neither idle nor unmeaning. As a spec
linen of thousands of similar occurrences
on election day, quote statement re-
Gently made by member of the other
branch of Congress, from New York.
Speaking from his place on the floor he
said: fqipq ecl w itA' 'a' 't 'a'
"a neighbor Of mine who had resided
| in the same district for seventeen years,
and soldier of the Union army at that
was arrested. l was asked to go TO the
Republican headquarters in an adjoining
district, whittier he had been taken. The
street for an entire block was lined with
carriages, in which the unfortunate citi-
zen who had fallen into the hands of the
Phiistines had been or were to be con-
yeyed. When entered the building !
found the front room decorated with the
paraphernalia of political headquarters
and filed with Republican politicians.
In the back room United States COM
missioner was holding court. The door
was closed, watched by Cerberus. No
one was allowed inside but the prisoners
and the Republican managers. After
about half an hours waiting | was in
formed by the doorkeeper that the man
was looking for was no longer there. /
asked whittier he had been taken. Sup
pose to Fort Davenport was the laconic
reply"
The following description of election
day in Davenport's court in New York,
is said to be but tame and imperfect
presentment of the facts as they there
transpire from year to year as the elec-
tions occur:
"Such scene as the rooms of this
court presented on that election day has
never before been witnessed in this city
or in this country, and It is to be hoped
never will again. From early morning
until after the polls were closed these
rooms were packed and jammed with u
mass of prisoners and marshals. Not
only were they crowded beyond their ca.
pacity, but the halls and corridors were
thronged with those who were unable to
obtain admission, 30 that the counsel
representing the prisoners and the
bondsmen who were offered to secure
their release had the greatest difficulty
and we're frequently unsuccessful in OBJ
tanning entrance. In addition to all this
was that delectable iron pen" on the
upper floor, in which men were crowded
until it resembled the black hole of Cal
cutta, and where they were kept for
hours hungry, thirsty, suffering in every
Wav, until their cases could be reached
With scarcely an exception these men
had gone to the polls expecting to be ab.
sent but short time. Many of them
we're thinly clad; numbers had sick
wives or relatives; some we're sick them "
selves. There were carmen who had
left their horses standing in the public
streets, men whose situations depended
on their speedy return men who wished
to leave the city on certain trains. Ey-
cry imaginable vexation, inconvenience,
injury and wrong which the mind can
conceive existed in their cases, 30 that it
was painful for the counsel who were en-
deavoring to secure their release to ap.
proach sufficiently near the railing to
hear their piteous appeals and witness
the distress which they had no power to
alleviate And over all this pushing,
struggling, complaining crowd, Mr.. Com.
missioner John L. Davenport sat su
preme, with sort of oriental magni6-
cence, calmly Indifferent to everything
but the single fact that no man who was
arrested was allowed to vote"