Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-01-29
The Maine Connpirnov-
New York Trihnne.

70 recent discoveries have shOwn--laiC
l. traps to catch the town and CITY can
/, vassersin slight technical Irregularities
,, which could afterward he made pre-
texts for disCarding the votes; we neet
u only refer to the fact that in the five
Republican cities disfranchised because
the returns were signed by three Alder
men instead of four, the blanks fol-
these returns, with ruled spaces fol
Il three names only, were furnished by
the Democratic State Printer, Mr.. Pills
bury, who is understood in Maine to
0 have engineered the whole movement.
f When the returns were counted it ap-
! peared that the Republicans had con-
siderable majority in each branch of
the Legislature--7 in the Senate, 30 in
S the House. Their candidate for Gov
! ernor, Mr.. Davis, had large plurality
--GS 900 votes against AZ 600 for his next
competitor, Smith; but there were va
rious others in the field, and Mr.. Davis
lacked 400 votes of majority over all.
The choice, under these circumstances,
F devOlved upon the new Legislature.
The Governor and his Council--all
DemOcrats--nOW shut themselves up to
canvass the votes for members of the
Legislature. A law of the State pro-
vided that returns imperfect in form
should be corrected by comparison with
the original town records. This law,
by an extraordinary assumption of ju-
diCial functions, they declared to be
unconstitutional" and summarily set
aside. When they emerged from their
retirement twenty-siX Republicans
about the validity Of whose election
there was no dispute, were found to
have been counted out on the most friv-
OlOus pretexts of technical infOrmali-
ties, clerical errors, etc., in the return
ing officers certificates; twenty-four
Democrats and Greenbackers, defeated |
at the polls, were counted in; five inn
portant cities, with twelve representa-
tives, were entirely disfranchised by
means of Mr.. Pillsbury's trick with the
blanks, and fraudulent Legislature
was thus constituted with an apparent
majority Of nine in the Senate and tiP-
teen in the House. Before the day fixed
for the assembling of this body, ex-
Senator Morrill,, the chairman of the
Republican State Committee, proposed
to Governor GarcelOn to avoid public
excitement, scandal and possible danger
by submitting the whole case to the de-
CisiOn of the Supreme Court. The Gov
ernOr, after artfully framing a set of
questions to suit himself, consented to
this proposition, and both parties-Mr.
Morrill, as the representative of the Re-
publiCans, Governor GarCelOn as the
official head of the acknowledgement {
to abide by the arbitration thus invoked. {
The full bench of the Supreme Court
(whose members are divided in pOlitlcs) {
received the Governors points and de- I
cided unanimously against him on c
every issue. Whereupon Governor a
Garcelon, without word of excuse or I
explanation, fatty refused to abide by a
his agreement. c
Up to this time the Conspirators NAV
be said to have preserved an outward
pretenCe of respect for the forms of !,
law; but with the reputation of the h
decision of the Supreme Court they en- a
tered upon the bolder course of violence. a.
The Republicans refused to take part in n
The proceedings of the manufactured v
Two or three of the count a
9d-in members were honest enough to l.
jtay out, and others would perhaps RI
rave followed their example If the con- m
piratOrs had not invented a charge of h,
bribery to stop the stampede. The az
FusiOnlsts had no quorum. In spite of n
his fatal defect they declared them h
elves organized and proceeded to busi-
less. Their own poll of the House, in
he election of Speaker, Clerk, and other
'tficers, Invariably showed that quo Fl
um was not present; but they refused
o recognize this fact; they rode over tn
very protest; and they inscribed lie pc
lpOn their record that quorum was be
,resent and voting. 10 guard against y
contingencies, they next proceeded to y.
xpel Republicans and admit some more to,
efeated FusiOnists, to whom even Gov
rnOr GarcelOn had not ventured to A.
ward certificates, This was done on Of
ummary proceedings, without a con- SG Si.
est or trial, in defiance of the remon- ay
trance of the more prudent of the Fu- ur
Onists, and amidst excited decIama- up
ions and shouts and cheers. Next, del
lis illegal body, summoned without fec
Ights, organized without quorum, !
WOllen by the admission ofintruders, it
'ent on to the election of Governor, @er5 @
lr. Davis, the clear choice of the peo- frJ
lie, was, of course, ignored, and the bio
surpers bestowed their tainted and IRE
votes upon Joseph L. saI
mith. And this pretended official, Tn
ected by sham Legislature to an inc 6l.,
lice he will never be allowed to fill. tiGSN
nd the impertinenCe to deliver him uni
If yesterday of an Executive Message. sho
The behavior of the Republicans un- buss
,r this coup d'etat does them lasting ant
)nor. They INDUCED in neither threats gay
)r violence; but in quiet and orderly ''D
amer all their members of the SEN
g and House came together at the
apitOl, formed an organization, laid
g whole case before the Supreme G
'urt, and, without attempting to trans con
t any other business, adjourned to OF
1ait the legal decision. The Republi- iarl Iu
ms promised to abide by that decision, qua
hatever it might be. The Fusionists clas
clared that they did not care for the i5u@ i5pg
urt, and would pay no attention to it s2.5t
any case. They proved their sincerity a.;
sleCting Governor yesterday, when S.a SSa
BY knew that the decision ofthe Court to g,
'uld be divulged in few hours, and erSsi
red that it would be adverse to them. onit M,
It the Republicans have throughout mum
zen manly and honest stand. No ship
Al