Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-02-22
PURGING THE LEGISLATURE

fiji ce holders. or non residents of the
cnuntlrs which they were voted for t"
epresant, and therefore were never eligi
BILE to electi N and had no seats to beun
seated from o. the other ten it is cora
planned that they are all of one party. What
would you have? The whole election
machinery was in the hands of the Cnai-
ton; of the three judges at every precinct
two and often all three were Goa itlonists.
Is it likely that any Of them " uld hav
committed or Permitted frauduh Mt means
at the polls to elect ID. nncr* 81 TIL
dullest brain would not assent 10 even
the probability OF this. Ana ST. it comes
to pass that of the ten who were illegally
elected and legally unseated, oil were of
the same politics W 81 IN iii ers of elec-
ton Now how came it about that out of
legislature of Que Hundred 81 d Forty
members one tenth have been " will be-
for if the House does it duty it will unseat
turned out as members who have no right
to sit in the legislature. Let US SET
how!
When the Coalition was in power the
leaders believed that it had come to stay.
t-r Lheu TIE drIuga, Wa. tl,elr motto.
Presidents, the protest of the then Dem
ocratic minority, even the constitution
| we're as nothing to them. They elected a
man Railroad Commissioner and he con
t.nued To hold his seat as Senator The,
procured the appointment of a man a.
post master of Norfolk and he continued
| hold his seat as Senator! When thu
fall election came on, they conducted then
campaign with recklessnes5 that could
not fail to bring them to grief if the Dem
| ocrats got control of the two houses of tn.
| legislature They nominated and elected
men who were publicly known as officer
| of the United States, in violation of tn.
constitution of Virginia. They elected
| men who did net even reside in the coun-
| ties they were elected from.
This mad travesty of representing thu
popular will was brought up, sober and
repentant. after che Democrats last NJ.
btuUCI CdIIlCu UbCu vi 0uCuOo VI Uuo ICY IL.
lature. Then it was ID take the hind
most as to no should get ''flxed" first.
| S-DatOrs who had accepted other State
| and Federal positions and forfeited then
| Senatorial seats, tried to resign what the,
did not have to resign, into Gov. Came
ron's bands. The Governor tried to bach
them in the trick. but he encountered th
Senate of Virginia and went under. Tht
| contested seats sprung as naturally out OF
| the methods of the election as weeds do gu
of badly farmed land. We wish our read
ers could read, and that we had the spac
to publish, some of the evidence in tn.
| election Contests, particularly that o.
| Rockingham. The Coalitionists through
| out the Stat e S. emed to think that having
| GOTTEN all the machinery If the electlO
| INTO their haDds, there was no possibii
| of Il judgment day at which to arrai9,
| theii acts. AS a sample of the freehandec
| way they carried out the election law il
| our neghbOring county of Rockingham.
! two judges of election at one precinct left
| theii post and with Coalition tickets II
| their hands electioneered up and down TIL.
! road for them, holding loug arguments t.
turn Democratic voters to their ticket
There seems pervading all the evidenc.
we have read ia the infested elections,
ruling sense of responsibility to anybnd,
but Malone. Irregularities seemed I.
come as Il m utter of course if they tende,
IN the right direction. The whole thin,
| SEEMED based ON the calculation that tn
| Legislature would be G. 'alition again and
as in the Case of Frazier and Lady of ROCK
bridge, put in the Coalition members
all hszai DIS REGARDLESS of law or guilty. /.
the county of York the Negro postmaste
| DIT Yorktown ran for the House and wa,
elected, and after the election, on the 1871
of November, rendered his resi- gnation o
the postmastership. 1t was not accepted
at Washington. and yet be is sitting il
the House of Delegates to day as the men,
brr from York in violation of the const,
tuition of the State, and has cast an hun
dred illegal votes. He is ,e Fifteenth
member of the legislature that ought t,
be unseated. Perhaps there are other.
whose relations to the National govern.
ment have not yet been unearthed.
N" party can live 10 Virginia that doe,
not respect its laws. No party can VIII
permanent success on deception and
.rickery. The leaders of the Coalition
corrupted their rank and file. They i'm.
bued the mass of their party with John
Sherman's morality, that "anything is
justGdble in law and morals that viii
beat the Democratic party, and that cod
was put in force in the fall elections. Had
4 Coalition legislature been elected, ever
Federal flee holder who has since BET,
unseated would have occupied bis seat j.
the Senate and House, and the protest OF
the Democratic minority would have bee,
laughed at. Every fraud and violation %
the election laws would have been covered
over, and those who reaped b-nefits from
them would have stood as high as honestl,
elected members Their fraudulent vote,
would have gerrymandered the State 70,
Congress, created soft places for PAL; iSans
raised an election fund for the support OF
the Coalition press. turned Democratic
judges out. removed the school trustee
and done everything else to strengthe,
the One Man power just as eff-ctually II,
If they had been fairly elected to, an,
honestly represented the people by tn.
votes they cast in, their seats.
But these things did not come to pass
The people of Virginia rose in their might
aud threw the tyrant to the earth and dis
pers+ his army. And then came da,
of reckoning. Double dealing was rebuk
ed Fraud WIS puniahed and those Uh