The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-03-17
A Bad Florida Crop.

70 their fuIl-blOOded Northern VlSltOrS
at least they say SO, and it would be
q real naughty exhibition of doubling,
and sectional hate' on the part of
the North, to say that they have a very
queer way of showing it. And yet that
is the very first thought which will oc-
cur to the mind of every candid person
in the North who reads of the occur
rences Of the past few days at Madison
in that State. In 1873 the Hon. Hora-
ito Bisbee. Republican, was elected to
Congress from the Second District OF
Florida. But the seat was given TO his
Noble A. Hull, a Democrat
who held it until few weeks ago, when
sven the Democratic majority in Con-
gress, SO irresistible was the evidence
of fraud, were compelled to turn him
out of doors, and give to Bisbee the seat
which he ought to have had from the
beginning of the session. At the cleo
ton last fall Mr.. Bisbee was again the
of the Republicans and Jesse
j. Finley was his Democratic opponent.
Finley was declared elected and OBJ
tanned the certificate, but Mr.. Bisbee,
who had once been defrauded of his
seat for nearly two years, alleged that
the Democratic cheating in 1880 was
fully as gross as it was in 1873. He
thereupon served 3 notice of contest
and proceeded to take evidence of the
alleged frauds. 1t was out of this that
the affair at Madison grew. Evidence
was being taken before United States
Commissioner; q colored man named
Savage was a witness; what he was tcs-
tifying is not reported, but that it was
aot satisfactory to Mr.. Finley's friends
is very evident from what followed.
They had witnessed the effects of ex-
posure on the fraud of 1873, and had
seen their candidate return from WASH
ington with a permanent ticket-of-leave
given him by q Democratic majority, all
as q result of that miserable thing called
evidence. The Democrats may have
voted their man Hull out of Congress
regretfully, even with tears in their
eyes; nevertheless they voted him out,
because, as said before. of little
matter of overwhelming evidence. The
Florida branch of the harmonious and
old-fag-clinging Democracy probably
thought it was very foolish to turn
a man, especially Democratic man,
out of Congress for so trivial q matter
as that, and not unnaturally they rea-
sononed: if Democrats turned Demo
crat out of Congress for so frivolous a
matter as evidence that some other
fellow was elected, Republicans might
possibly do the same thing. And if
they did, the frauds and perjuries Of
1880 would be no more profitable to the
'.soliG South than was the Hull fraud
of 1873. Of course that would never
do-at least SO it appeared to the Union
loving Florida gentlemen, who dream
only of doves with olive branches in
their bills, and lie awake nights howl
ing for whole fiocks of them to come
along. And as it wouldn't do, it ought
to be prevented. But how prevent it?
Like others, who pluck knowledge from
misadventure. they found a way, or
-thought they had, which they instantly
proceeded to test at Madison. That
did the voters-an for the good of the
Sam and the old flag, as matter of
course. How they proceeded. and how
far they succeeded, will be discovered
from the following dispatches:
MADISON, Fla. February 8, 1881.
To the Hon. H. Bisbee, Jr., Washington, d. c..
Savage attacked in our presence in room
came, locked the room, returned with posse,
with militia, guns Some pointed at Eagan' 8
head with threats to Kill him: sheriff protect
moralized and gone home. Think muse return
and take evidence in Jacksonville. Answer.
H. JENKINS, JR-
JACKSONVILLE, Fla, February Q, 1881.
II. Bisbee, Jr., NJ. c.:
Frank Patterson killed by Savage at Madi-
Eagan in building and danger. jenkins safe.
Two companies with Governor Boxham at
Madison. Great excitement. Trouble feared.
odN-i0 a m
W. w. HICKS,
A: A. KNIGHT,
WM. LEDwITH,
Committee.
MADISON, Fla, February 10, 1881.
The Hon. II. Bisbee:
Ihaye been here since yesterday. I tele-
graphed the Attorney-General that the taking
Of testimony could probably be resumed in q
Easan at Albany, Ga He has been tele-
graphed to employ counsel and await the
requisition Of the Governor. 1t is advisable
citement Is allayed. l could not at present
afford him protection even if the United Stated
eral. JOSEPH n. DURkEE,
United States Marshall.
Savage, as already stated, was q wit
ness for Bisbee. 1t is a matter of re-
gret that he killed the man Patterson,
but the dispatches make it clear that il
was an act of self-defense. Eagan,
who is spoken of in the dispatches, has
lived fifteen years in Florida, is de.
scribed as being "brave as lion and
Every obnoxious" to portion OF the
people of Florida, who proved their af.
lection for the law and their neighbors
by running moonshine" stills. But
the hoped-for effect of this violence
was evidently produced. The dispatch
of February 8 says: MANY witnesses
(for Bisbee, Republican,, are demoral.
lied and gone home" If they can be
kept demoralized and at home that
miserable evidence which they would
rive cannot cuff this man Finley out OF
Congress; their plot will succeed, and
thew will furnish another evidence OF
the triumphs of ingenuity and bull.
doing. Here, in justice to the invent.
i've genius of other parties, it should
be said that the Madison affair is moi
patentable. A little more than one
wear ago several colored people, or
their way down the Mississippi River tc
testify in the National courts against
bulldozers, were plucked from the
steamer on which they were travelling
and incontinently disappeared from
human sight. What forest bough held
them up, or what dark swamp grass hid
them from the face of the sun, only the
.reformers' who dragged them from
the steamer can tell. The occurrence
of many other affairs of like nature will
as said before, prevent the Madison
people from patenting this result ol
their ingenuity, and they may be very
sure that the thorough investigation by
Republican Congress. which must fol
low. will rob it of success.
1t is the recurrence of affairs like
this deplorable one at Madison thai
keeps alive the feeling in the North
which some people in their Ignorance
call "sectional hate" 1t is not tht
past. not what the South did twenty o.
even ten years ago, that fills the mind.
of loyal people in the North with appre
hension. 1t is the present, the spirit o
the South to-day, and what they art
doing to-day. trampling upon the rights
of citizens and the voice of majoritiel
IL