The Red Cloud chief., 1879-02-27
CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS.
The Teller Committee.

The Teller Investigating Committee cx-
amincd n number of witnesses ut Washing
ton, ON the eth, regarding the recent election
in Mississippi, and the general condition
of political affairs In the state.
Gen. Reuben A. Davis, Grecnback can
didatc for Congress in the First District, ties.
titled that. according to the best of his belief.
he would have beaten Col. MuldrOw. his
Democratic opponent, by l0.OO votes. with a
fair count. lie had been accused Of
I'm opposition; to the Democrats; had
been Informed of threats tn prevent his
speaking, and that he had been hung In effigy
and then burned. Mr.. Garland called the
attention Of the witness tn his testimony be-
fore the Boutwell, Committee in 1876. The
witness said he Endorsed every word
he then uttered; he had said Radicals
were bulldozcrs. and they operated on ne
groes by superstition, threatening tn put
snakes and lizards into them. The Demo
Gratis, he added. now are obnoxious to what
he then said of Radicals. A white man could
not vote in the South against the Democracy
without being Ostraciscd; but he dreaded the
assassin's knife more than he did Ostracism.
lie believed the great majority in his district
was against bulldOZing and ballot box stuff
fling, but there was a class of ambitious, As
piring men who sought to render all persons
odious who do not adopt their views.
VIM. II. Vasser, elected State Treasurer
on the Alcorn ticket, testified that he sup.
ported the Greenback ticket in the late cleo.
tiOn- Livery tning Is caiIeu IhaulCdi III Mlss
sissippi that Is not Democratic. The ran
who makes such a specchis considered a pest,
and IL the speaker Is a man of ability
he Is considered a dangerous pest. A
affected by his political opinions.
The Republican party there IL virtually dead.
II has had no vitality since ISIS and 1876. The
leaders were mostly Northern men. and since
the State passed into Democratic hands the
Republicans have been without .eaders. The
whites would take every measure possible to
publican hands. The people have a great
horror of being ruled by cOlorcd people
J. II. Field, of Columbus, testified re.
garding the late election in Mississippi, that
he did not know or had not heard of a sin
gle instance of intimidation or attempt to
prevent any one from voting. The election
WAS sought to he conducted I'm q pleasant
WAY, in accordance with the principles of
right and Justice. though actively and ener-
getically.
Mr.. Garland. Are your people willing to &C
cord the black man all his rights under the
Constitution? A.. / think they are, with this
modification, viz: The white people gcner-
ally would dissuade the negro. by kind and
cOnciliatOry means, from having any thing
to do with politics. While they would not cx-
cludeh him from doing so. I think our people
are against limitation of suffrage or taking
suffrage away from them.
Mr.. W. W. Humphreys testified that the
late election was more peaceable and quiet
than usual; nobody was prevented from vot-
ing; he thought IL rs fair and honest An cleo
ton AS any in any OF the States. The witness
prive the colored man Of any OF his
rights. except perhaps on the part
of a few extreme men. Freedom of
speech and of the press was fully r~scosni.ed
speech there, provided il was not calculated
to create a breach of the peace. He believed
the principal reason the people desired col
sentation in Congress.