Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-04-30
Morn nomocrntlc RnlIdorInr.

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chisement, corruption, bribery, for
gerry, perjury, bulldozing and ballot
box stuning have already been en-
ployed to defeat the will of the ma
iority in pursuance Of the advices sent
out from Gramercy Park. The same
infamous system of theft which was at
tempted in South Carolina and Oregon
has been also applied in Maine and
Minnesota, but without effect, The
most recent efforts In this direction APP
pear in Indiana and Delaware, where
| bulldozing and disfranchisement are
the most favorite methods. In the town
elections in the former State on Mon
day the Mississippi plan was adopted
with gratifying success. In Shelby
County a genuine Yazoo mob surround
ed the polls and refused to let negroes
vote, though they presented the prop
erly-attested aflidavits of citizenship.
If they insisted upon their rights, they
were set upon and beaten. If white
Republicans interfered to protect them,
! they were awarded the same treat
ment, and, as the Democratic roughs
and bullies outnumbered the respect
able voters, of course there was no diff
ficulty in driving away the negroes, aud
by preventing them from voting big
Democratic majority was secured. II
adds to the infamy of this outrage that
the mob was headed by the Democratic
county officials. Thus the Yazoo plan
was successfully inaugurated in a North
ern State, and we have the spectacle at
our very doors of mOb-rule at the polls,
and Democratic officials preventing
citizens from voting by violence and
bloodshed.
In Delaware the plan by which the
Democrats propose to keep control
does not involve violence, but an inge-
nious plan of disfranchisement. Appa-
rently there is no motive for disfran-
chisement, as Delaware has always been
strongly Democratic, and has been the
| political property of the Bayards and
Saulsburys. But during the last year
things have taken different turn. The
dissensions in the Republican factions
have been healed, so that the party r.
solid and in better shape than it has
been for ten or fifteen years past, while
the dissatisfaction with the Democratic
rings has driven many businessmen
over to the Republicans. That the
Democratic leaders fear they may lose
the State is evidenced by their scheme
to disfranchise Republican voters. The
Wilmington correspondent of the New
York Tribune, in forecasting the politi-
cal condition of the State, says;
To Justify further their hopefuness these
gentlemen say that the County of Newcastle,
including the City of Wilmington, has leRit-
| innate Republican majority of 800; that the
County of Kent, which used TO Offset Newcas-
tie, will not give a Democratic majority this
year of over BO0i and that Sussex, the remain
ing county, is close the Democratic majority
having been cut down in recent years TO 250.
Thus, If the Republicans can do as well as
they have already done in two Of the three
counties, and as well as they have reason for
thinking they can do in the third, the State
wilfb theirs next November with its three
Electoral votes, Indeed, they insist that if the
Election laws were Of kind to encourage in
stead of hinder full Republican vote, their
majority would be at least 1000.
1t is in the application of these laws
that the Democratic leaders are seek
ing to disfranchise Republican voters
and to keep control Of the Electoral
votes next fall. The law provides that
before man can vote he must be us
sessed for a tax, and must bring his tax
receipt to the polls, and, of course, was
originally intended to wipe out the
negro vote as far as possible. Under
the law, the list of taxpayers is printed
toward the end of February, and three
days are allowed for correction. If a
voter is not put on the list by his
Assessor and fails to get on the amend
ed list, the only way he can get his
name there is by the application to the
| Levy Court in person to have himself
assessed. If therefore, person does
not get on the assessment by the 1st of
April, either through the Assessor or
the Court, he is disfranchised for a
year, and equally if he is assessed and
fails to pay his tax within a specified
time, though he may offer to pay tax
and penalties many times over Taking
advantage of these provisions, the
Assessors, under instructions from high
official authority, omitted thousands of
names of Republicans from the lists,
for the most part names of col
ored men, but Including also many
whites who had paid their taxes
regularly for years. They evil
IDENTIFY considered that the negroes
were too ignorant to discover the omis-
sion, or, if they should discover it, that
they were too poor to goto county-seats
and appear before the Levy Courts.
The Republican leaders, however, have
discovered the swindle and are making
every effort to thwart it by bringing the
voters before the Levy Courts, though
even in the courts, which are Demo-
cratic and do the bidding of the lead
ers, their efforts are impeded bv DELAYS
and the consumption of the utmost
possible time on each case. But having
obtained the appointment of Federal
Supervisors of Registration, something
hitherto unknown in Delaware, they
hope to make stand against this out
rage and obtain their rights. The feel
ing of indignation is intense among the
businessmen of Delaware, who are Re-
publicans- The party did not 90 into
the election of 1873 at all, though it had
polled 10,7 votes for Hayes out of a
total of "a, 1856, and under q fair assess
ment list could poll $4,000 votes; but
this year il is going in. The New York
| Times correspondent thus represents
the feeling in Wilmington:
BY the aid of the United States laws they
hope toget something like fair play. Whether
question IL is not merely a matter of con-
/ tending parties and struggling partisans, but
half the citizenship Of the State Is 20 be
| stripped Of its franchise, and whether by
| systematic manipulation Of the States func-
tions. $4,000 of its voters are 20 be reduced 60
political bondage by another l8,000 There is
| principle involved that men here are con-
tending for. They are deeplyin earnest They
/ feel indignant, as they have a right to feel.
/ They mean 10 test to the bitter end the oapao-
! ity of their partisan opponents TO dd-them
further wrong aud outrage in the elections OF
] the present year.
Now, let it be repembered that these
Democratic ouTages are not in South
ern States which have never been prop
er1y reconstructed, but in Northern
States whese it has been supposed laws
were obeyed and all classes Of people
had the right 70 vote; and let it be
! further remembered that in each casa