Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1880-06-05
JIM CRAWFORD AND THE REGISTER.

EDITOR INrELLIGEsCER:-It is well-known
IN this city. that the negro Jim Crawford.
about whose arrest for illegal voting at the city
the Register OF this week. under the
head of "A Political Trick" writes, has re-
rently served out q term in our state prison upon
conviction of the crime Of burglary and larceny. |
committed in this city, q few years ago. And II
is equally true that if Crawford has not been re-
stored to the right of suffrage by the pardoning
power Of The state. he was not and ID not a quail
fled voter. The Register, implicitly at least.
admits the voting OF Crawford, and then says,
.sAs he voted the straight independent ticket he
gave ofense to certain persons, who had him
arrested for voting Illegally" Now, there 10
not one word Of truth in the above statement.
The few facts In the case are "a follows: Upon
properly given to me by one OF eur
justices Of the pence. without any knowledge oil
how or for whom this man Crawford vsted, i
made the sfidavit. and ordered . warrant to Is
sue for his arrest. l made the affidavit bscause.
under the circumstances, it was my duty to do
so, and because the law. abiding and respectable
people of this city and county, both democrats
and republicans, demand that illegal voting
shall be prosecuted aud punished. l did not
know, nor did l stop to inquire. who. If any
body, was offended. 1t was and Is q plain
proposition that il " cast An illegal
vote, the law. and not CERTAIN psrsons.'' was
offended, and ~ to the legality Of the vote. that
is q question of law. to be passed upon by the
court before which he is examined and tried,
provided the Register man does not decide the
point and dispose OF the case before the court
has AN opportunity to do SO. 1 may be al
lowed to say that no one will be more pleased
than myself should 1t turn out in the iavestigs-
Il ti,p Of fkis csae that Ora W ford paa and Ia n le-
| gally qualified voter. There Is one strange
feature in the writings OF the Register man. and
I respectfully AJAX him to explain why, in the
issue of the Register, one Week, does he say that
our criminal laws are not enforced by the ohi
GERS whose duty 1t is to enforce the same, and in
The next week will declare, when an arrest has
been made for one of the most dangerous crimes.
that it is nsthing but persecution The Register
also said, 1.-THE republican committee have
pretty good evidence that twelve or fifteen fraud,
ulent democratic votes We're cast in the hrst
ward" In pursuance of my purpose to prose
cute all infractions of the election laws. I called
ut the Register Office, and asked the editor hi
authority for the statement. He frat said thai
the executive COMMITTEES made 1t. When ques-
toned as to who Of the executive sait
so, he said that he did not know whether it Wa,
the executive of the city. or of tn,
negro club, that had made the Upol
being further pressed, he said that it was tn
general talk among republicans. When aske'
what ''eviience'' they had. he said that the
expected TO find that many illegal votes, if MI
Turner's place was contested. When still far
ther pressed to name a single man whs ha
made the statement that he had t'ev1dence'' &
knew Of a single democrat that had voted lille
gaily, he said that he did not remember an
name; that it was general talk among republ
cans. Had this last paragraph not been notice
by sons officer whose duty 1t is to prosecu
such offences, within q few weeks-sr months. !.
mOst-this statement would have again bee
q treated as true by the Register. and the attentic
of the public called to the fact that even VIII,
informed OF the commission of the crime. der
J. ocratic officials pay no attention to such info
nation. Upon investigation, it turns out tn
the editor of the Register had ne authoIIty wha
:, ever for making this statement. He had pu
lished that the republican of the CT
d was In possession of this evidence. and VIII
il called upon, officially, for this information.
could not even give the name of his intOrmar
or OF one person who had made such . sta1
!, menr. JOHN S. BLACKWELL.