Daily Republican., 1879-09-30


j not try TO reap the harvest all at once
lWill tho Democrats Punisn Ihei
| OwnFrauds.
| While we were fully aware OF the FAC
and stated in the REPUBLICAN the da!
afterwards that the election held on th'
first Tuesday OF September for city Off
GERS was nothing but the veriest farce
even then we had no conception OF tht
extent of ths frauds which were practi'
ced. As we stood and looked at the in
spectors Of a couple of the districts tax
ing in illegal votes, and as We saw a
lSergeant Of Police coaching around a
repeater, and other policemen aiding
and abstting in the act We thought still
that the fraudulent votes might be few
aud probably confined to the west dfs-
ltricts of the Third and Fifth wards, but
we had no / lea whatever that the same
thing was done all over the city and
that there were over five hundred ille-
gal votes cast. This is now however as
certained TO be an undisputed fact
which even the "Gazette" in its zeal
and anxiety to condone and cover up
The frauds Of its party friends will
scarcely deHy.. The most reprehensi
BILE thing in this whole affair is the un-
willingness Of Democratic officials to
punish those who committed the frauds
and the refusal Of the Democratic party
organs to denounce such high-handed
dishonesty in the interest of good gov
ernmsnt.
There are the frauds lying gaping
open to the sight of every beholder.
The fimsy covering with which they
we're hidden has been torn aside, and
their ugly, naked de:ormity unblush-
ingly insults the moral honest sense of
the community. Those who have been
profted by them fill offices to which
they were never honestly electe and
not a Democratic paper in the city
has the independence, the manhood,
the courage,to say word in. n.condemna-
ton of such state Of affairs, but on
the contrary the "Gazette" looks over
the real guilty culprits and sees no
body to condemn but Mr.. Higgins
through whose agency the frauds were
exposed, and it could not see that even
Mr.. Higgins was guilty Of anything OBJ
jectionable in the eyes of the Gazette"
except that some years ago when it was
in dispute manhood suffrage found in
Mr.. Higgins a strong advocate. The
question that is now continually COM
ing up before the people of Wilmington
is, whether the Democratic party intends
to carry this load Of fraud on its shoul-
ders without condemning it. Can it
expect the respect and support of the
good men even of its own party when
it elects those who are suspected of per-
petrating such frauds to the principal
Offices in the party The men for
whom warrants were issued some two
weeks ago, land who it is said skipped to
the country to avoid arrest, are all back
in the city again. They boldly and de
family walk the streets and if the con-
stables who hold the warrants for their
arrest do not meet them they must be
the exceptions. Does the Democratic
party uphold such conduct on the part of
its officers, even though its organs do
not denounce them
These men are guilty Of terrible
crime, an outrage against the peace
and good order of society, against Ak
payers and respectable citizens of VIII
and why shouldn't they be
arrested /! Is it possible that being
Democrats and all the 'Squirss and
Constables being of the same party,
these law-break.rs walk the streets
with impunity, knowing that they are
secure from arrest because the warrants
are in the pockets Of Democratic Off
cials The Democratic party cannot
carry a load like this in such city as
1t might do in a place
ike Yazoo, Mississippi, but the people
If Wilmington are in no spirit to allow
he Southern plan of carrying elections
o become the plan here. If the Dem
,cracy of Wilmington does not punish
ts own frauds, then 1t must bear the
'eproach and the disgrace of counte-
iancing fraud and dishonesty, and be-
'ides it is paving the way for more
roubles at the next city elections for
t might as we'll be known in time that
( the city is to be overrun by a horde
# repeaters and FOUNDERS, and Repub-
leans are to be cheated, threatened
nd outraged by policemen II the Ser.
cant Dolan stripe, the Republicans
vill not be to blame for asserting their
lights and taking their own parts. We
10 not wish to be thought an alarmist,