New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-02
BOURBONISM REBUKED.
AN ALABAMA CONTEST.
REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE IN THE CASE OF
LOWE AGAINST WHEELER.
,pY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNEl

iBY TELEGRAPH To THE TRIBUNE.l
| WAsHINGroS. Nav 1.-The report of the sub
| committee having charge Of the contested election
| case of Lowe against Wheeler. OF the Vlllth Con
eressiona District of Alabama, will be submitted
| 10 the III 1use Committee on Elections tomorrow
General heeer, the sitting member, Is Democrat.
He was n gallant Confederate soldier, and gained
| distinction as commander of Rebel cavalry uV-
sion which all the old soldiers of the Army of
| Tennessee have reason TO remember. Coionel
Lowe the contestant, is a Greenback- Democrat,and
| was a REPRESENTATIVE in the XLVIth Congress. lie
| also served with distinction in the Rebel army.
| Until within a few years he was regular
| Democrat but his liberal views at last maze
it impossible for him to remain LII
| the Bourbon ranks. The contest IN 1880 between
these two eX-Confederates was very close, eNcit-
| ing and bitter one Colonel Lowe received con-
siderable majority of the votes cast ana was lairy
elected but the Democratic election managers
threw out about GOO Lowe ballots and Wheeler
was declared elected by majority OF fo III to'a
| poll of %. 573 votes.
| Tho contest before the Elections Committee has
Inv no means been free from bitterness; ard the
personal ill-will of the contestant and contestee
| toward each other has been manifested
| on several occasions and In various
ways. The briefs and counter-brieis are
very spicy and interesting reading In It's re-
port the subcommittee says the case hinges on two
propositions: FIRST as to the proper and legal form
of the ballot; and second, as to registration. Inc
Alabama law requires that ballots shall be on plain
white paper without any figures, marks, rulings
| characters or embellishments thereon"
Now on several hundred of the Lowe ballots the
name of each candidate for district clector was pre-
coded by the number of his district, thus: First
District Second District" etc. Immediately before
or ON the day of election the Democratic Committee
issued the following circular:
As soon as the polls closed inform the inspectors
Of the election that the Lowe tickets MIN ba nnSss
LIST ID etc. designating the district. These are marks
or sTEes When mare are and al such tickets should be
rejected when the votes are counted AFTER tne poS are
closed.
This precious document in whichthe chairman of
the Democratic Committee ordered election officers
| to adopt a certain construction OF the laws oil
| Alabama-an order which appears to have been
obeyed with alacrty-was Endorsed on the back in
| writing as follows: "To be shown only to very
| discreet friends"
This consp racy to de fraud the Anti Bourbon can
| didates and defeat the will of majority of the
voters in the With Alabama District was success
full: at seventeen precincts Col Lowe ballots were
| rejected, and by this easy method an honest Anti
Bourbon majority of more than 500 was transformed
| into fraudulent Bourbon majority. In regard to
|
takes the ground that it was gross violation OF the
true intent and spirit OF the law.
The subcommittee also holds that. if the ballots
are printed or written ballots" in the of he
| National law we must recognize them such or
| ignore our own statutes. We hold, therefore, that
even if the rejected ballots were illegal under the
State Constitution and laws. nevertheless they are
LEGAL under the statutes of the United States. Ihe
subcommittee makes copous citations from the
testimony which show that at nearly every precinct
| the law which requires the election inspectors ana
clerks TO lie appointed from among the mem
| bers of the opposing political parties was openly
violated, and none except pronounced Democrats
and Wheeler men" appointed; and also that
at some Of the precincts the ballot boxes were
STUFFED and otherwise tempered with for Wheelers
| benefit.
| At some precincts the colored voters, most OF
whom voted for Love- agreed beforehand that they
would keep q checklist against the inspectors. The
ballots for Lowe went into the boxes all right bat
they were never counted for him. At precincts
where it was known that the Lowe men were an
overwhelming majority difficulties were IN
! ierspersed to prevent the holding of any election at
all. thus at Laniers Precinct the registrar did not
| appeal at all on the morning of election day, ana
| several witnesses testified " that lie had gone IL
hunting" 1t was nearly noon before the inspectors
could be induced TO appoint an assistant registrar as
| provided by law. At this same precinct
| where the men who kept the checklist OF voters
| swore that Lowe received 153 votes and where,
after the election 12S voters testified that they vo-
ed Tor Lowe, the balI0-box was tempered win
while the inspectors at supper after the polls
were closed and before the votes we're counted; so
that the vote returned was Ia Tor W heelef ana
ONLY 81 for Lowe. At tins precinct the committee
| found that all g. the State officers, sherlfis aud
| clerks were ardent partsans OF Wheeler" aud that
Love had not a friend among them. This was in
fiat violation Of the laws of Alabama,
for which Wheeler and his friends profess to be
tgIEn Eggs
at Cave spring Precinct Lowe was cheated out Of
ten votes by the election managers an OF whom ~
violation of law, were Democrats and partlsans OF
Wheelers. These are fair samples OF the methods
rcsUrtcd to by the bourbon chiyalry of Alabama to
nuify the will OF a majority OF the voters III the
| With Congressional District
| The subcommittee says:
The contestce mas adduced great mass OF testimony
and presented briefs OF extraordinary length ot mas IN
our opinion failed to sustain MS This testimony Is
almost altogether irrelevant ana much OF II IriVo2us
| proofs fail 10 snstain his allegations
After a careful and thorough investigation of the
subject and Il searching analysis OF the testimony
| the subcommittee concludes that Lowe was fairly
elected, and that lle was WI0hglully counted out
Il submits tai q OF results according towhlch the
legal vote cast for Lowe was IL, 45B ana that Tor
! Wheeler was 2,7O9, giving Love majority OF
| 747 and IL submits resolutions in the usual form
| decaiming Wheeler not entitled and Lowe entitled
" 10 "A seat this House as Representative III the
| ALNllth Congress from the With congressman
| District of Alabama"
Colonel Lowe has discovered some evidences
| of fraud on the part of the cOntestee, winch he
will submit TO the elections Committee Tomorrow
morning. In the record made UP Tor the COM
mttee. there appears among Orher dispositions, that
of l.. l.. Wheecr, taken before a magistrate at
Wheeler Post Office, A,a the residence OF General
Wheeler, the cOnlestee. In this deposition the dec
ponent testIiies having examined the poll list OF
vote. east at the Congressional election and COM
pared IL with the registration list aud to having
discovered between 100 and 900 names on the poll
list which were not on the registration list These
names are appended To the deposition, ana
the contestee asks that they be not
counted. Colonel Lowe has compared the