The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-17
The Two LOganS.

John A. Logan. candidate for Vice
President, processes to be the special
friend and champion of the coiored
people, and the Memphis appeal has
taken the trouble to hunt up his record.
The result will be somewhat surprising
to the colored voters that he now courts
and flatters, and the colOred man who
studies it will be apt to hesitate before
giving this arch demagogue and time
server his support.
Logan voted in 1S4S for constitu-
tional provision prohibiting any negro
or mulatto from settling in the State of
Illinois. He also voted in favor of a
constitutional provision to exclude ne
groeS from the right of suffrage or the
right to hold office. But this is not all.
Logan was a member of the Illinois
Legislature in 1858, and as a member
of the Judiciary Committee, he report
ed the following bill:
If a negro or mulatto. bond or free, shall
hereafter come into this State and remain
ten days with the evident intention of reSid-
ing in the same, every such negro or mulatto
sha be deemed guilty of high mIsdemean-
or, and for the first ofense shall be fined the
sum of fifty dollars. If such negro or mulatto
shall be found guilty, and the fine assessed be
before whom the proceedings were had, it
shall be the duty of said Justice to Commit
said negro or mulatto to the custody of the
Sheriff, or otherwise keep him. her or them in
custody; and said Justice shall forthwith ad-
vertise said negro or mulattO, and on the day
and at the time and place mentioned in said
advertisement the said Justice shall, at pub
lie auction, proceed to sell said negro or mu-
lattO to any person or persons, who will pay
such fine and costs for the shortest time: and
said purchaser shall have the right to compel
Goid mn I'Qtf RI To ynrLrf for nd
out said time. If said negro mulattO shall
not within ten days after the expiration of
his, her or their time of service, as aforesaid
leave the State, he, she or they shall be liza
bic to second prosecution, in which the PEN
atty to be inflicted shall be one hundred dol
lars, and so on for every subsequent offense
the penalty shall be increased nfty dollars
over and above the last penalty
He drew up his bill; he reported it to
the House, and he advocated it on the
floor. 1t was his bill and it became a
law. and remained a law until 1865.
The records of the Illinois Legislature
establish all that we have stated. 1t is
therein printed that Logan was before
the war the most bitter and unscrupu-
lous enemy of the colored race that
could be found in the country. He hes
itated at nothing. If Il colored man
came into the free State of Illinois he
wanted him sold into slavery if he
could not pay a series of heavy fines.
The most cruel and arbitrary measures
were the measures he preferred in the
cases of negroes or mulattoes found in
the State. And this man is John A.
Logan. 1t is the same man that is now
seeking the votes of colored men, on
the ground that he has been their best
and truest friend. The bare truth is
he is the same Logan at heart that he
was in 1858, and if he was in earnest
then he is a hypocrite now. The print
ed records of the Illinois Legislature
leave no doubt of his desire at that
time to persecute any colored man that
came within the bounds of the State
atlanta Consultation.