Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-11-25
THE FARCE In FLORIDA.
fhe Audacious Frauds In the Black
Belt.
CORRESPONDENCE New York rimes.

The Audacious Frauds in the black
Belt. rs
- Correspondence New York Times.
E JACKSONVILLE, FLA, Nov. 15.-
Florida, 80 far as an elsc ion Ia con-
cerned, does not to-day form aD integ>
raj part of the United States. The
audacity of the frauds enacted ia this
ststs on election-day have never been
excelled in the history of elections.
Even Alabama and South Carolina
pale in tAe execution of democrat
fraudulent elet ton schemes when
compared with the overt acts of the
democratic ku-klux in this state dur
ing Ie late so-called election. There
Is hardly provision of the safe
st .tut9 relating TO elections that
was not on election day openly
and boldly violated, and the AUn It'd
1t .tes laws and the officers acting
thereunder were treated with the ut
most contempt. United Stat. q super.
Visors and marshals were driven from
the polling places, and in some in
stances they were carried bodily out of
the state. They were refused admie-
sion inside the polling places, and
denied the lights given them by law.
| Ignored. Armed white men on horse
back, with drawn pit ,ls, charged up
on hundreds Of republican coIored
voters and kept them from the polls.
In fact, the scents enac u 70 this tate
on election day beggar all uesci.. ton,
and were of such a disgraceful CHAR
acter t1at t. mention lem is almost
10 have them, for tue honor o. the
country, discredited.
The frauds mo t boldly executed
! were in the counties of Madison, JEFF
fersOn, Leon, Gadsden aud Jacks Oh,
known as the BLACK Belt" through
Middle Florida was by no means ex-
emit These couI ties comprise that
portion OF Florida, Where,- IS already
stated in the Times, white republicans
can not live, and where the Bourbon
element will murder any white man
to-day that endeavOrs II see Justice
done the colored voter in election mat
t.rs. The republicans were prepared
to encounter frauds, but not prepared
t. encounter hundreds of armed
mounted men, inteLt upon murder,
and Florida, If democratic to-day, is SO
By conquest and net by ballot. In the
"Black BeiLu the coiored men were
entirely without the aid OF the white
men, either as supervise $. marshals
or inspectors, aud were absolutely
poWerless to stem the tide Of demo
cratic lawIeseness. 10 illustrate the
boldness of those even clothed with
author t., some Of the methods adopt
: ed anu carried into effect by the de-
! mocracy prior t, elect on day, with tne
view of DISTINGUISHING republican
: voters, may be- mentioned. The laws
of Florida require the boards OF county
mmissiontrs (then aud now entirely
democratic throughout the siate) Il
meet on tue first Monday in October o.
I the registration last, and on
the third Monday in o, t ,bel
in each year for the purpose of hear
| ing the complaints of those thereby
aggrieved. In the BLACK B it, t1ese
county commissioners net on the Fl es
Monday of October and erased indis
criminately the names Of hundreds o
republican voters, without color OF
pret3nse of reason or law, but on the
q taird Monday they did net meet tx
hear the complaints Of thOse aggrlved
The importance Of lis will be gather
] ed from another section of the stat
laws, which requires any person whose
T names has been improperly erased
from the registration list by the coun'
9 ty com misslOners to produce a cartih
e cats signed by the cum mlssiOners be
fore they can again be placed on TIT
D reglstrat on list The action or thu
I county mlsslOners in not meeting
n on the third Monday in October de-
!. priVed these VO,els whose names hat
t been stricken from the LIFTS of thu
: opportunity to get the celt ticate re
e CURED by law, and in the absence o
;, which the regIstrat on officers refused
d again to register them. A decision O
t the supreme cou (the court Of tn
II last resort in this tta:e), rendered OF
Y the 9th day of July last, decided that il
g such cases the voter might swear in bl
vote, TO counterfeit this, the demo
n Gratis had man a. the polling-plsce o
8 each precinct to challenge every voter
when an inquisition was begun by tn
democratic inspectors regarding tn
. parentage of the grandfather am
d grandmother Of the voter. In ever,
instance where this failed they bold.
d drove them from the pole. This
Is Instance, in Jefferson count
IS The registration list cont ain
;, ed republican majority Of 2,3O(
u This can ket even now be disputed
+ !, The republicans managed to get IL tt
u more than 500, though WitherspO0L
u colored, running for congress, wa
y compelled to gu his bed at midnigh
i and leave his county. He was hardl
I out of his house when a band [
&c masked and armed ku.klux entere
;. and searched his house. The Unite
: States marshal was compelled to tax
{ the woods ut the same time. Thi
is only an instance. Hundreds c
others could bs mentioned, but it
necessary for the present to Withhold
names aud facts pending prosecution