The Ouachita telegraph., 1881-01-07
THE CAsEoF CHALMERS AND LYNCH.
lNew York World.l

6eu. Cn6ltucrS duSWST " tie pCtAliou
of Mr.. Lynch, who seeks to unseat
him. It is q calm, clear rnarshalling
of the facts in the case, under the
light and leading of Republicans
and of precedents established by
Republican judges, and it disposes
completely of the pretensions of Mr..
Lynch, excepting for those who hold
that what is accepted as evidence and
law in other States ought not to be ac-
cepted in Mississippi. Gen. Chal-
mers, in reply to the charge that the
election commissioners in rejecting
2,O49 ballots acted fraudulently, shows
that one of these rejecting commits
sioners was leading Republican who
could have no motive for cheating his
own party, and that the acts of all of
them were upheld, not by jury of
Democrats, but by Republican Fed
eral judge after full Investigation un-
dertaken at the instance of Gacai
Chalmers contestant AS to the n-
datory or merely directory character
of the statute involved in the case,
General Chalmers quotes Republican
authority to the effect that ssit is quite
clear, where the statute distinctly de-
clares that ballots having distinguish.
ing marks upon them shall not be re-
ceived or shall be rejected, that it
should be construed as mandatory and
not merely directory" This point
once made, General Chalmers then
proves that each one of the rejected
ballots had marks upon it
"Four in number, technically known
as, first, flush dash; second, a mon
key dash; third, head dash fourth,
a monkey dash larger than the second.
These dashes are not type, but are
found in sample books of printers dis
play material along with eagles, flags,
and all such devices intended to
attract attention."
He proves that his contestant, Mr..
Lynch, sexamined and approved these
tickets before they were distributed aud
knew the marks were there. The
voters knew the marks were there, for
some who could not read, when asked
how they knew the Republican ticket,
pointed to those marks, thus showing
that these tickets were not only dis.
tinguishable but were distinguished by
those marks, and that men who could
not read had been instructed that those
marks indicated the Republican ticket.
Again, the Republican supervisors at
the polls wrote down how each man
voted as his ticket Was handed in,
which could only have been done by
some mark understood by them."
That IIr. Lynch had precise and
predetermined interest in this marking
appears from the evidence, which
shows that she could have procured
unmarked tickets in Jackson for his
district at 81 per thousand, and yet that
he paid $4 per thousand in Vicksburg
for these market tickets"
The sssuch little one" plea General
Chalmers meets unanswerabIy
cit is urged that this construction of
the law should not be enforced be-
cause it throws out such large num-
Der of Republican votes. The princi-
pie is the same whether one vote or
100000 be effected by it. The whole
vote of Wisconsin was once rejected
because a snow-storm prevented her
electors from assembling on the day
appointed by law for them to vote. The
whole vote OF Arkansas was once re-
jected because the seal of the State was
not affixed to the certificate of the elec-
toral vote. And the vote of Georgia
will probably be rejected because her
electors failed to vote on the day pres
cribed by law"
Every honest member of Congress
should read General Chalmers whole
paper with close attention. 1t makes
it plain that the marked ballots in ques-
ton were intended to be used as a
means of exercising moral coercion
upon those who cast them. The inev-
liable inference from this fact is that,
without such marking and the moral
coercion secured by it, these ballots
would have been cast for General Chal-
mers, who winds up the discussion by
good reminding his adver-
re- h,l Of 10 IF tooi
was copied from the laws passed by the
Republican party in Ohio and New
York, and no man has any right to
say it was adopted for good purpose
in Ohio and for bad purpose in
Mississippi, or that it should be enfor-
ced in one State and not in the other"
An old valet of Henry Clay is re-
ported by the Louisville Courier-J our
nal as saying that his master was very
| fond of his horses, and upon certain
occasion a fine race mare owned by
him, and called the Golden Cup, was
matched to run n fOur-mile race