The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-04-14
HOW KELLOGG SAVED THE REPUBLl.
CAN PARTY.
IN. y. Sun. !

tration. He claims that he asaved the
Republican party in 1876" by issuing
certificates as Governor of Louisiana
for eight electors, all of whom had been
defeated by large majorities.
In an interview on this subject, re-
ported in the Boston Herald, kellogg
asserts that Chandler telegraphed him
that unless Louisiana could be held all
was lost. Thereupon he exerted his
official power to prevent the impend-
ing catastrophe, and with success.
{ This confession reveals only part of
the conspiracy by which the Presi-
dency was stolen outright in 1876.
present Secretary Of the Navy, who
sent out the first false telegram, in the
name of Zach Chandler, claiming 1855
votes for Hayes. This was after Til
| denis election had been proclaimed to
the world, and after Hayes, in public
speech at Columbus, had admitted his
| own defeat.
The conspirators dreaded the pres
ence Of Mr.: Tilden in the White
| House. 1t was sure to result in an eX-
posure OF the corruption in the depart
ments. They had possession of the
Government, and were determined to
keep it. even to the extremity of pro-
voking civil war.
The scheme of sending visiting
statesmen, as they were called, to LOU
isiana, South Carolina, and Florida
was invented as a convenient cover for
the inquitous designs of the conspira-
tors. That plan insured a divided re-
port, by which doubt might be raised
in the public mind and the partisan
spirit enlisted on the Republican side.
Behind the authors and managers of
this foul work stood Grants Admins
tration, threatening to meet remon
STRANGE with force, and menacing the
peoples representatives with arrest
and imprisonment for defending an
no nest election. Gen. Sherman sum-
moned picked troops to Washington
from frontier posts two thousand miles
distant; and the capital was garrisoned
as if in preparation against a foreign
enemy.
John Sherman, Garfield, Stanley
Matthews, and other Republican
chiefs, went to Louisiana to organize
the fraud for stealing that State, which
had given Tilden a clear, fair, and pos
tive majority of about eight thousand
votes. Their acts have become part
of the political history of the times,
and are familiar to the country.
Despite the rank perjury, the forge
ries, the frauds, and the destruction of
returns, Wells, Anderson, and their as
sociates in the Returning Board found
the task of overcoming the large and
lawful majority for Tilden difficult and
dangerous. They determined to seize
the opportunity for great specula
ton, and to sell the vote of the State
to the highest bidder.
An overture to that effect was made
to Don Cameron, the Secretary of War
with 4 modest demand for a million OF
dollars. lie declined the offer. Mr..
Hewitt, then Chairman of the Nat
ional Democratic Committee, was next
approached by an agent of Wells with
a more moderate offer, but he refused
upon any terms whatever.
After long and unsuccessful huckster-
ing, the time drew near for final action.
On the eve of the return, Wells pro-
posed to Duncan +. Kenner, recently
a member of the Tariff Commission, to
give Tilden the vote that belonged to
him for two hundred thousand dollars
down. That attempted negotiation
failed, and Kellogg, as Governor, GER
tilted eight Republican electors from
Louisiana, every one of whom had
been beaten by a majority of thou
sands.
The act of March 1, 1892, provides
that
''Thc electors shall make and sign three
certificates OF all the votes given by them,
each of which certificates shall contain two
district lists, one of the votes for President
dent, and shall annex to each of the certiti
Gates one of the lists of the electors which
shall have been furnished to them by di-
rcction of the Executive of tho State.
"fhe electors shall seat up the certifi-
Gates so made by them, and certify upon
State given for President, and of all the
votes given for Nice-Presdent, are contain
ed dtherein.'
These certificates are disposed of as
follows : One set is given in charge
to a special messenger-who in this
case was Anderson of the Returning
Board-to be delivered to the Pres-
dent of the Senate, before the first
Wednesday in January then next
ensuing the second set, with the con-
tents superscribed on the envelope, is
addressed to the President of the Sen
ate by mail; and the third set is deliv-
cred to the Judge Of the district in
which the electors shall assemble.
| The same act declare that Congress
shall be in session on the second We'd