National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-10-08

Tie Grrcarancc Of Fitzhugh Lees leglons |
tfClmpaigu cavalry dressed In confederate |
ginv, ard other incidents Ola similar chardc-
ter IN Lees remarkable campaign, have set |
the solid men Of the old Dominion TO think /
Ing ON tie tendency of these things. They |
are lcgiuuing tO understand that a state .
cannot 90 backward and forward at the |
sllnc time; that people who arc determined /
TO 1--we IN and ON aud for the past can have /
little hope Of great future.
The recent breaking up Of a Republican !
meeting IN Alexandra has cost the bour- |
lCrs good many votes. There are Demo- !
Ciats IN every county who feel ashamed OF
the disgrace brought on their state by the
bourbon mob that howlcd down the gallant
son Of Henry A. Wise. They regret, as
well they may, that this outrage has called
attention TO other ard greater outragos in
tie past aud that their state Is getting into
lad rcputc throughout the north aud west.
Wien the news of the Alexandria incl
dent was sent to the country the papers
lcgan TO loUl, up the history Of buldozinC
in Virginia. Among other newspapers to
tpkc up the subject was the Philadelphia
Press, which sent staif correspondent
INTO the state. This correspondent goes
back to 1872, and tells the story Of Il tragedy
IN Norfolk during the exciting campaign of
that year /. appears that 'Nlessrs. G.. VI.
Robson ard John VI. Laugston addressed
a Republican mass meeting from the steps
of the court house. There w0sa very large
attendance, the majority Of those present
being colorcd men. The telling points
made Ivy the distinguished speakers were
loudly GppNudcd, and the audience be-
came enthusiastic. Suddenly those on the
court house steps saw a commotiOn In the
crowd, and instantly the sharp reports of a
score OF pistol shots were heard. Like
flock of frightened sheep the negroes
rushed in different directions, and about
SEQ Of them sought refuge against a high
board fence that surrounded one side Of the
grounds. There was lull IN the firing,
add then twenty or thirty men rushed
toward the crowd of negroes huddled against
the fence, cmptyng their reyOlycrs into the
defenseess blacks as they ran. One or two
dead men were carried of the field as the
result Of this exhibition Of bourbon
proves, and a dozen or more were
wounded How many of the seriously in
iurCd met death afterwards in hiding places
never has and never will he known"
How much this reads like chapter from
the political history Of Virginia in lSS3-
the story Of the Internal butchery at Dan
! Vile, the massacre that Parsou Massey con
| fessed and indorsed.
A year or two after the Norfolk affair,
the same core spondcnt says, in the kcmps-
| vile precinct, IN Princess Anne county, adj
| joining Norfolk, about fifty negroes stood
around the polling place, awaiting the re-
suit Of the count The precinct ordinarily
! gives over 2C0 Republican majority, and the
negroes had voted all their r4cn. One Of the
! judges threw open the windows of thero
/ IN which the votes were cast aud triumph
antly declared the count showed q Demo.
cratic majority. The negroes knew that such
result could not have been obtained eX-
cept by the commission of outrageous
frauds, and they gave vent to their dissat-
isfaction in complaints Of ill-treatment.
ThercupOn q dozen or more bourbOns
drew pistols and began "A promlscuous
firing into the crowd The negroes ran
down the road, but they had not gone fai
before they were overtGken by another
party of whites, who opened fire upor
them. The demoralZed blacks jumped
fences and made off across the fields, leav
ing two dead men aud half dozer
wounded behind. The correspondent addt
that "no person engaged in either Of thes'
two political massacres was brought Il
Justice. Some Of the assaulted party wer,
arrested for melting riot, and they wer,
forced to leave the state. Thus were til,
out Of the way and the murderers escaped
punishment
To show how artfully the bourbons man
age to prevent the black men from voting
the Press correspondent recalls a sampl
case. As early as midnight the day befor
last fall election, he says, 500 or more col
ored men were In line in the fourth ward, a
Norfolk, waiting for the polls to open on tn
following morning. There are only abou
100 white Democratic voters in this ward
They came to the polls before daybreal
prepared to prevent the casting Of as man
Republican votes as possible. Instead {
; giving the Republicans the chance to vot
first, to which they were entitled, the lin
' was warped around to bring the white me
to the front, and then the days farce begar
: The whites voted as slowly as possible, an
: when the negro line approached, the bus
- ness of preventing the exercise OF the ballC
D started In earnest, and 1t was prosecuted S
successfully that when the hour for closin
the polls arrived no less than 800 Repul
lican voters were in line, unable to vote, an
', deprived Of the right Of suffrage by col
= spiracy and fraud.
!, Thoughtful men who belong to the Demt
cratic party in Virginia have endured IL
> rcproach of this sort of thing as long {
they care to. They want their state to el
joy that industrial prosperity to which 81
y is entitled by reason of her almost unlir
II tied natural resources. AS a writer in u
Il New York Tribune puts 1t:
IS The widc.awake Vlrginian who sees ho
. railroads ana immigration and diversified
J. dustIy have made the northern states prosp
3 with far less natural advantages than the o
con monwealth can boast has learned tn
capital, industry, and sclr.rcspcctlng labor W
rot come to n state where elections are carri
u ly the shotgun or where honest citizens a
J. oslRCi2Id for their political opinions. II
10 Of no use to argue the matter. Twenty yea
% Of cxIer,nce since the war has proved tn
o- bumlOn Democracy creates state OF thin
, in which industry and enterprise Will u
!. thrive.
~ Tie election of Ice would be a plum
backward into the iueXoable past.
would be decree against progress, again
=, material prosperity, against all that max
- up the greatness Of state. That t
10 y, people Of Virginia are capable Of such fol
u, is scarcely Il supposable case.
" "THE most impudent and hypocritlC
II sham in the canvass" says the New io