National Republican., 1885-11-14

rtcrgnlud. EXPRESSED desire that his ntmc
should nnt g introduced into the canvas, IL Il
could be nvo dcd. chrcrfully Promised to re-
sptct his Nishps. aud did So | odd him, how
ever explicitly tha had taken leave to visit
him. not only for the purpose OF sllgylns my
own mind aS to the truth Of the charge before
! Undertook to make II. but IN order to kn)w
precisely upon what evidence cnnli rely In
cnse my statcmen! should be Gh9lleng.i' MI.
Baldwin replied that he would always be ready
when called on to testify 10 what he nal told
me- As you have to some extent relied In
fS9r 9is IN bS nSsr aSSn @ 3 &c yc
you In detail the grounds on which nave
made them. Very respectfully yours;
The following is letter from Mr.. r. NJ.
Venablc on the same subjects
BALTIMORE, March %, iSSj.--IIon. j. HALL
PLEAsANTs. President Civil Service Association
of Mnryland-DBAR SIR: Some two years since
MIR Robert 4. baldwin. president of the Ma
bunk, Informed me that Charles Keys, q poll
tician of the eighteenth ward, had made con-
fess!on TO him OF the facts connected with the
election frauds Of 1876 In this city Keys lid
that he aud others, among whom was Eigeno
Higgins, went into the Record oilce aud re-
manned over Sunday. They took out from
the ballots n large number In favor Of the Re-
form candidates and burned them and subst.
iutcd Democratic tickets in place Of those
burned. Very respectfully,
The charge here made Is definite and pre-
else; II is that Mr.. Higgins with his own
hand removed honest ballots from the bal
lot box, and burned them and substituted
fraudulent ballots In their stead, thereby
reversing the result OF tho election and de-
feating the will of the people Of Maryland.
The names of the witnesses are given, and
the witnesses themselves arc easily obtain
able. They are Mr.. :. T. Wallis, Mr.. II. M.
Venable, Mr.. Robert T. Baldwin, Judge
VIM. A. Stewart, of tho supreme bench of
tho city OF Baltimore; Mr. Provost, the
clerk Of one of the courts of that city, and
Moi. Richard 7. Allison also q clerk of one
Of the courts. Maj. Allison can give the
names of his deputy clerks who Informed
him of Eugene Higgins participation in
this fraud
THE FRAUDS IN HOWARD COUNTY.
Again in 1879 the ballot box was pol
lnted by this same man. In their letter TO
the Secretary Of the Treasury protesting
against the appointment OF Higgins, the
officers of the Civil Service Reform Asso-
clation Of Maryland say:
Mr.. Eugene Higgins has been accused, with
Tmo Hnd psnen. y ws
county, of completely in criminal frauds nj the
election held In that county In the autumn of
1879. 1t is alleged that he sought TO promote
the election OF the present senior senator from
this state then candidate for the state senate,
by forgery OF names on the poll.books, fraudu-
lent personatlon by hired repeators OF absent
and orderly citizens nj the polls.
These outrages are said to have been perpe-
| tratcd at the village of Clarksvllle, IN that
| county, and several reputable residents of the
vicinity claim to nave personal knowledge OF
| the facts. Mr. Higgins was accused of them by
| Mr.. John II. Clarke, very well known gentlc-
| man, at one time chairman Of tho Democratic
| central committee ior Howard county in q
| letter published In the Ellicott City Times on
June H. 1881, containing the following Ian
"Eugene Higgins y was the champion
| bulldozcr Of Clarksvillo district at the last
| election, who, under rowdy alins, aud with
| pistol and whisky bottle In hand tcrrorized
the quiet citizens and illegally voted hundreds
| of negroes and others brought from outside by
the assistance of the district register and other
| conspirators."
Mr.. Clarke's statement was republishcd with,
| his sanction, in the Morning Herald. of this
| city on the 10th inst. The proprietors of the
Herald were Ncssrs, Wm. J, Hooper & Son,
being thoroughly responsible business men.
Substantially the same charge, but in q form
| rendering 1t, If false, still more actionablc,
was made by Mr.. Henry T. Wootteu, one of the
| vice presidents of this association, formerly
state's attorney, and now leader of the bar in
Howard county, in speech during the canvass
of 1881, which was printed in several newspa-
| pers at the time. In this speech Mr.. Wootten
| pointedly challenged either Mr.. Higgins or his
alleged patrons TO submit the facts to judicial
scrutiny they dared. Invlew the premises,
and of the entire failure of Mr.. Higgins 10 take
any steps whatsoever to vindicatc his character,
we ieel fully justified In asserting on behalf of
our association, that he has thus been con.
victed In public opinion of seeking to falsify
| the peoples Judgment as lawfully expressed by
| their votes.
MIR. wooTTEN's LETTER.
Mr. Wootten, who was for sixteen years
the state's attorney for Howard county, by
the votes of the Democrats of that county,
renews these charges more definitely and
precisely In a letter under date Of Oct. 8,
1885, in the following language
tl,. iat o1a
held November 1879 Mr.. Eugene Higgins made
his appearance at the polls of the NTH election
district this county ,hcldat Clarksyille,a small
village situated about ten miles from this city,
| with squad of negro repeaters and one or two
white ruilians from the city of baltimore. He
successfully piled his vocation for several hours,
aud about IL O'Clock, being fully detected, was
warned to leave, and thereupon took his de-
parture. 1t would be useless for me to furnish
full details Of this revolving. conspiracy against
The rights Of the people "a pon, OF fac, the
and used by them, was not prepared by the reg
lister of voters, Robert L. Scaggs, but was manu-
factured by Eugene Higgins In the city OF Balti-
moro at Democratic headquarters. Inthat cleo
tion district more than fifty names Of registered
voters were dropped from the poll book fur
nished the judges of election and thereby
other names were misspelt, and in this mode
other voters were dsiranchised, and the re-
peaters and rutiians brought from Baltimore
voted upon names placed upon that manu-
iactured poll book. Immediately upon the
closing of the polls, Scaggs, the register, re-
quested that manufactured poll book from the
| return judge of the election, II was delivered
TO him, and 1t has never seen the light OF day.
The pollution of the ballot box at the election,
including official perjury, ,suboInatlon OF per-
parallel in the annals of the returning boards
southern states.
In this role of iniamy Mr.. Higgins bore the
leading part. Every link In the chain binding
him to the body of this crime Is solidly welded,
and 1 am prepared to prove the conspiracy by
cloud OF witnesses and by lrrefragable tcsti-
mony. If this charge Is false, l de-
serve the reprobation and contempt of every
honest man. Let Mr.. Higgins - sue me
for libel. will plead the truth and justify,
and II he obtains verdict against me will
never look my iellow'man in the face, and
will at once pay any judgment therein rem
dered. rely not upon the confessions of CO.
conspirators. When the most responsible gem
tlemen from that district came to my office and
furnished the facts within their knowledge, l
carefully studied and prepared the whole case
Here is another definite and precise
charge; the witnesses are named, and they
are easily accessible. Mr.. Wootten resides
in Ellicott City and John r. Clarke near
Clarksville. Mr.. Wootten has publicly given
the names of Mr. Wm. Clark of T., Mr..
John I. Hardy, and Mr.. Andrew Linthi-
cum, of Howard county, all my neighbors
and most reputable gentlemen, as Witnesses
of the facts above stated The character
and standing Of these gentlemen, and per-
haps other useful information in regard to
these occurrences in Howard county, can
readily be obtained from the Hon. VIM,
M. Merrick, of that county, whose appoint
ment to q position on the bench Of the su-
preme court Of the District Of Columbia
was so honorable to your administration
and SO acceptable to the people Of the Dis
trict.
MIR. cowAN's STORY.
In q letter published in the Baltimore
American Of Oct. 20 last, Mr.. John X.
Cowan, the well-known lawyer Of Balti-
more, relates the following incident:
IN 1881 Mr.. Higgins was secretary of the SEN
ate of Maryland, In 1881, In the city Of Phlla.
delphia, there was convicted of the crime OF
burglary, gentleman, so-called, named Con
rad Fullz Conrad Fnltz wished suspension
of sentence for that crime Of burglary OF which
ha was convicted until he could get his certil'
cate of character from those who knew him in
his better days. Among those certificates was
| the fOllOwinp lpttar,