Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-02-20
A Louisiana Election.

The Congressional Record gives 10 the
public in the form of memorial of the Re-
publican members of the Louisiana Legisla-
ture. convincing evidence that the State cleo
ton in that State, last December, was per-
feet farce. The memorialists simply take
the voting population and the votes Of 1876
and 1879 and therefrom prove, beyond
reasonable doubt, that the Democratic Off
Gals of Louisiana perpetrated election frauds
so monstrous and extensive that a Legisla-
ture which by fair vote would have been
Republican in both branches is overwhelm
ingly Democratic The following statistics
are taken at random, from the memorial
Bienville parish .004 white and CSC col
ored voters. Vote in 1876 Republican,
226; Democratic, 95s. Vote in 1879: Re
publican, 0; Democratic, 100.
Bossier parish-15S white and ., $50 color
ed voters. Vote in 1876: Republican, ], $40
Democratic, COL. Vote in 1879: Republi
can, 2aS; Democratic, 1881. A -Republi-
can majority Of l,0i5 in 1876 gives place to
Democratic majority Of ], 253 in 1S19-a
change Of , :293.
tiutD IAdIlSli-l, Vol WI anu o.CO- COL
Ored voters Vote in 1876 Republican.
$3.50 Democratic. 1851 Republican ma
iority 91I. Vote in 1879: Republican, 493;
Democratic, 2,615-Democrati majority.
area change of 3,00o votes in a total
voting population of 400.
Concordia parish 2ls white and 2,s39
colored voters. Vote in 1876 Republican,
2,46l; Democratic, 1866 Republican major
ity, zoos. Vote in 1879 Republican, |, G2i I:
Democratic. 1.2G9-a Democratic majority
245-a change OF more than 1900 votes IN "A
voting population of $500.
Madison parish-3, 663 voters, abou, 400 of
whom are whites. Vote in 1876; Repuhli-
can, 2,j12: Democratic, 300 Republican
majority, {. 273. Vote in 1879 Republican
1S Democratic, Democratic major
ity, 3 242-a change in three years Of 4.5l5
votes in a total number Of voters consider
ably less than 4 600,
Tensas parish-Number of voters, 4, 74i
of whom 492 are white Vote in 1876: Re
publican, 3, 1872; Democratic, 4sG- Rcpubli-
can majority. 2,7OG. Vote in 1879 Repub-
lican. 3i6 Democratic | ,9i4-a Democratic
majority of ,59S, or n change of $500. In
five wards Of this parish the Republicans
kept an accurate tally during the entire day
of the election. which showed that the Re
publican vote was 2,02S and the Democratic
213.
This list might be extended so as 10 include
two-thirds of the parishes in the State.
these frauds changed the result in thirty
Representative districts, and a corresponding
number of Senatorial districts, thereby max
ing the Legislature Democratic, when by a
fair election il would have been strongly
Republican, and would have elected Re
publican to the United States Senate instead
Of Mr. Gibson.
The elective officers in all these parishes
were Democrats They threw out Republi-
can votes by thousands and put Democratic
votes in their places. These officers, in fact,
conducted the election and cast the votes,
instead of permitting the voters to cast them.
BY some accident in the parishes Of one
Congressional district the third the election
was fair and the count fair. In these seven
teen parishes the Republican vote
last December was 22, 43l against
81. 5G4 in 1876 "a falling off Of 9, 1873 votes
In these same parishes the Democratic vote
in 1876 was 2O,3SG against Il, 1sl in 1879
falling Off of 3, 2Oj. In other words, the Re
publican majority in 1873 was A, l7S in these
parishes and $3.50 in 1879. Had the cleo
ton been as free and as fairly conducted in
all the other parishes, Beattie, Republican,
would now be governor instead Of Wilt,
Democrat, and "A Republican Legislature
would have been elected. Of course, Louis
/ lana, with such election officials, must be ex-
pecled to return Democratic electors for
/ President. II is no longer a question OF
actual majorities, but Of the capacity OF
/ Democratic officials TO stuff ballot boxes,
make false counts and fraudulent returns
and if their capacity in that direction has
any limit, it does not appear to have been
reached.