The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-06-30

| could float and nave the people ON it love
and cherish it. [Applause.1
Ii SOUTHERN ELECTIONS.
| i come now to che question OF southern
elections, and | will be brief, although there
are some very interesting maneuvers that /
want to talk to you about on that subject.
We turned out of the present congress hve
men from southern states simply and solely
on the ground that they were not elected
nothing else, except that the people who
voted elected somebody else. That is the
only ground. We supposed it was sufficient.
THE FRAUD.
/ first call your attention to the Lynch VS..
Chalmers case in Mississippi. The inspec-
tors of election in that district returned for
Mr.. Lynch IL, 9l5 votes: for Mr.. Chalmers
0,257 votes, giving Mr.. Lynch a majority of
65S! Mark you, that was the return made
| by Democrats who had control of the voting
precincts in the state of Mississippi.
When the state commissioners came to
make their return they returned for
electing Chalmers by 4,437 majority, whereas
Mr.. Lynch was actually elected by 65S ma
jority. How did they do it, 1t will take
but a moment to show you. l show you
here samples of the two tickets. One has a
little dash with an SOP in the confer of it.
| " obdtO hiS ouu I'LL
votes because they said that dash is a distin-
gushing mark. The state laws of Mississippi
| declare that there has not be any figure,
mark or device on a ticket for the purpose of
distinguishing it. That was intended to stop
putting an eagle or such like device on a
ticket. The law in q good many states is the
same way. The canvassers declared that
that printers dash constituted a distinguish
ing mark and they threw out
over 1000 votes on that account.
Then they got together a supreme court
in Mississippi who were fdiotic enough to
hold that that is a distinguishing mark. The
Republican members of congress were SIM
ply smart enough to hold that it is not.
That is all there was of that case, yet with
such a fraud as that staring them in the
face, almost every Democrat in congress
voted to retain Mr.. Chalmers In his seat.
THE swINDLE.
But it is worse and worse as we go along.
In Alabama there was a Greenbacker named
Lowe who was elected. But before the cleo
| ton took place they issued u peculiar circl-
lar to the citizens of that district. The cir
| cular was this:
Make at once a complete list Of the qualified
negro voters in your precinct, in which shall be
voter. 2. With whom he works, and whether as
a hired hand or tenant. 3. What merchant or
other person advances for him.
It is deemed preferable that this census be
made by regularly appointed census takers or
committees and that the negro voter should know
that he is thus enrolled by the club.
AS soon as these lists are completed each
club will promptly forward a copy to the county
| chairman to the end that all may be collated and
printed.
There are a number of negroes who will not
vote for us, but who will promise to stay away
from the polls.
To look after these and see that they adhere
to their promise enroll the young men of the pre-
cinct uDder the voting age before the day OF cleo
ton and assign each one to his negro.
This was the rule You know you cannot
get the poor negro to vote the Democratic
ticket. You can hang him, you can drive
him into the swamp, you can torture him,
you can do almost anything, still he wont
vote the Democratic ticket. But you
may persuade him with fear hanging
over him to stay away from the
polls. Then by putting a little scion Of
chivalry under q in charge of each negro
you have the system complete. They went
into that election. Mr.. Lowe of Alabama
got Is, 456 ballots. Mr.. Wheeler got IL, GO9,
leaving a square majority for Lowe of S4S.
But a few days before election they sent out
a little joker which l will read to you:
DEAR SIR-As soon as the polls are closed in
form the inspectors of the election that the Lowe
tickets with Hancock electors on them are il
legal. They contain the figures LIST, I'd, etc, de-
signaling the district. These are marks or figures
which are prohibited by the election laws; see
acts of 1879, page q, and all such tickets should
be rejected when the votes are counted, after the
polls are closed.
They Endorsed this on the lack: "To be
shown only to very discreet friends"
Laughter. Then they went to work on
this basis. Their tickets read instead of
first, lst; instead of second, they put the
figure I'd. That is all there is on the. tickets
right down to the eighth, different from the
Democratic ticket. The Democratic ticket
had the figures AZ and several other
numerals on it but they did not
hurt the Democratic ticket, only the Green
pack ticket. That is the tact about this
figure business. This is the first time | ever
knew a Greenbacker to be disturbed by
figures. [Laughter.l They, put Lowe
can portion of that congress declared
that he was actually elected and
although, as l stated on the floor of the
house, he added to tie sins of a democrat the
folly of a Greenbacker, still everyon of US
voted to give him his seat simply because
party flibustered for eight days and then
did not one of them vote, in order to sustain
that kind of iniquity.
THE MA~cKEY-DIBBLE CAs-.
Inow come to the Mackey-Dibble contest
in tho state of South Carolina. Now there
were in the precinct at Hope engine house
1878 votes cast. When they came to count
They also found that 1858 of them were
Democratic votes; that is, there were
465 more Democratic votes found in the bal
lot box than all the votes cast at that cleo
tion. Laughter and applause.l They kept
a tally; the Republican ticket could
be easily distinguished, and when
ever a darkey came up to vote, or
when a white man came they kept a
telly and they found that there were cast
that day 597 Republican votes and 617 Dem
ocratic votes. Yet when they opened the
ballot-box there were 1850 votes in it. You
will notice that this Democratic ballot which
1 show you Is u little tis~sue-paper affair.
There are two Democratic tickets. In print
they are precisely the same, but one
Of them is wider than the other.
The way they got those in there was
hat they folded the wider ballot and put the
smaller ticket right in the last fold of the
wider ticket. Then when the ticket was
dropped in, instead of one there would be
two and sometimes as high as seven that
dropped out of the fold i'm the box. Now, by
the law of South Carolina in cases of this
kind where there is an excess in the number
of ballots, they blindfold a man who draws
out tickets until they get the number down
so it will correspond with the poll list. Then
they count the votes, n everything is fair
and square don't you see. How was it in
this case. They put a Democrat under oath
as q witness in this case, who swore that he
drew out the votes, and he said he could tell
the difference between them by feeling as
easy as he could between a piece of cast iron
and a sheet of paper.
When he got through he had taken out ev-
cry Republican vote but five. Laughter and
applause.] And he said that he hunted
to get his finger on them. prolonged laugh
ter and applause.l Now they returned that
poll list when they got through as having
loo Democratic votes and five Republican