The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-01-10


covered It was communicated To Gov.
Lowry, and that after consultation with
and upon the advice,of Gov. Lowry. the
returns from the second Congressional /
district were locked up and concealed |
until they were taken up to be canvass
ed. That when the Secretary of State |
the returns, in contempt of |
a writ Of prohibition from the Judge of /
the ninth Judicial district of Mississippi. !
he illegally and fraudulently counted |
the ], 472 votes from Tate county for -. |
K. Chambless," that were certified to
have been cast for James r. Chalmers,
under pretenee that the tally sheet was
the essential part of the return, although
the returns from Union, Tippah, and
DE Soto counties, where you have major
tiles certified, have no tally sheets ac-
companying the certificate.
4th. That the holding of an election
at the Graball precinct, Tallahatchie
county, where / would have received
large majority, was openly resisted by
your partisans, armed with Winchester
rifles under pretenee of fear of smallpox,
although the voting precinct was some
distance from the region infected by
smallpox, and although the infected re-
gion was then and had been for long
time previously safely quarantined and
guarded so that no one could go in or
come out therefrom.
9th. That in spite of the frauds at
tempted and practiced by your friends,
| received majority of 1882 votes, as
member of the Forty-eighth Congress of
the United States for the second district
of Mississippi, as certified and returned
by the inspector and clerk of the several
election precincts to the commissioner of
elections in their respective counties, and
but for the fraudulent and illegal prac-
tice of your friends my majority would
have exceeded 5000 votes.
JAS. II. CHALMERS.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 1SS2-Hon. J.
r. Chalmers: Sri have received your
notice that you contest my right to rep
resent the Second Congressional District
of Mississippi in the Forty Eighth Con
gress, and answer the same as follows:
!, deny that any certificates, or pretend
ed certificates, which you may have filed
sentatives, show that you have the primo
facje right to said seat.
1t is untrue that my friends either at
tempted to make fraudulent changes il
, the registration books of any precinct Of
said district, or refused to allow the
: United States supervisors Of elections
to scrutinize them, or "after the cleo
ton was over ut Chulahoma, in Marshal
: county, blew out the lights, tore up thu
: tally sheets and attempted to steal tn
: ballot boxes, or that there were no tall,
& sheets accompanying the returns from
: the East Holly Springs box" which CAV
e me a majority; or that at Lauderdale
: in De Soto county, one of my partisan
: inspectors was caught sin the act Of
' changing ballots as they were put in tn
box" or that at Eudora and Lake Coz
: morant, in said county, the boxes wer
! stuffed; or that at Graball, Hibernia an
g Bufords, in Tallahatchie county, an
+ at Nesbitt, in De Soto county, my part
san inspectors refused to hold any elet
: ton under instructions from myself Q
: my political managers, and | charge tha
!. If any exhibition of force Gas to which
7 am not advised) was made AZ Graba
= to prevent the holding of an election,
Il was made by the citizens generally, witt
out regard to party, and in the intere'
4 of the health Of the community; and
a DENY that YOU would have received IL
. majority of the votes claimed at each {
!, any of the aforesaid boxes had an ele
70 ton been held.
l. 1t is untrue, as / am advised, that Il
ID Commissioner of Election for Marsha
81 county directed the clerk, in or out
- your presence, upon Monday, Nov. |
N 1882, OF at any other time, to seal |
70 election returns and forward them to Il
e Secretary of State. The return W
rs made up on that day, and retained
10 direction of the Board of Commissio
N ers until Thursday, Nov. 10, for prepa
alton of protest, forwarded by EXPIRE
or on that day with protest to the Secreta
y of State, and you were notified by hi
ID on Friday, Nov. 18th, of the receipt
the election returns from Marshall cou
la ty within thirty minutes after they can
ne to his hands. The protest was not
nj the handwriting of Major VIM. Strit
II land, chairman of the Democratic /
- ecutive Committee Of Marshall coun
,er and no one acquainted with the facts
,;s his handwriting said that it was, a
yn the statement Of facts in said prot
Of is substantially true.
or- 1t is untrue that the Secretary of st
" fraudulently concealed from the insp
I'll ton Of yourself and your friends
~ returns Of election from the said Secc
- District, and the statement which J
- alleee that Price Porter made as
-, consultation between the Secretary
- State and Robt. Lowry, the Governor
III Mississippi, is untrue in whole and
every part, as / am informed and
of lieve.
of The charge that | and my friends g
Al. instructions to the inspectors and Gle
.oal Of election not to sign and certify the
NC turns where supposed you would
'n,e ceive majority Of votes, is utterly Il
"A and groundless, and your further cha
~; =" that when the election returns had b
NY sent by the inspectors at each preci
5od to the county commissioners for cany
~ ~ / and my friends sent messages and I
ny n.y. grams to leading Democrats in OF
IL