New-York tribune., 1886-04-25
FLORIDA "CARPET.BAGGERS."
PERSONAL "REMINISCENCES OF AN EVENT
Full DECADE.

.;ble In them that through Democratic machina-
tons particularly in Louisiana. the victory mioht
he stolen from the Republicans large numoer OF
the Florida "carret- -bagrers" were ga'nered IN
ono Of the rooms Of the Capitol Mt Taliahassee win
.map of the United States spread ont before them.
whereon each man was pointing out some iaVoreu
mot TO which he would emigrate. There was
GOOD deal Of hlarity indulged in Governor "ieaso"
.ome in with the returns from Dade County" the
sane old vote from Dade "-and was greeted WIN
a bpzza. A few minutes later William f. Chandler
entered and tried to get the gentlemens attention.
nnsuccessfpllv however He Withdrew with
rem,rk Intended to convey the idea that they
woro merry lot under the circum tanccs.
Tnouch the Republicans preserved their haru
..r,ca National victory they dill lose. through an
,ncxnlirahe decision of the Supreme court 'no
faulv won State election. Still. none OF the CIT
pct-bacgersr emiorated mono oil tEe" ever ,''
onslv Thought of leavina the State lhoSe vi ."'"
that arc alive arc with two or three EXCEPTIONS
still living here prosperous coh'e"'e" "'"
s,ected citizens As CLASS '"cse '"iP''
S,ar-ors ~ vcre rs honest and as manly body OF
men ne ever administered the TEMPORAL affairs OF
any commonwealth. The other day on reading the
terrible indictment brought AGAINST "carpet-
bagrers by Mr. Cahell Of Virginia, on the noor
of the House called over in my mind the roll OF
RpO0blicaOS
Inc mental picture of the State from the time
when in 1S6a | first set foot on it's sand For the
work these men did. considering the difficulties
they had TO encounter among which we're a bank
runt treasury the constant, irritating and un-
reasoning hostility NJ nearlv one-half the people o.
the State the ceascess maIiGning of character and
moreover the dangers of shotgun and pistol. they
were and are entitled to credit. They rescued the
State from bankruptcy. they conducted its affairs
honestly. and when they turned the State Govern
ment to their successors the state securities
were practically at par-the quotations were "3d"s
and there was $50 900 in cash In the treasury
a school system had been established on n generous
bass internal improvements had been begin.
and the inducements which Florida oilers to i'm
migrants had been made known to the world. and
the influx of settlers which has now grown TO snch
wonderful proportions, lad even then become great.
Scarcely any of these men came to Florida rs
claimants for Office nearly all of them came rs
settlers who went quietly at work at horticulture or
practising their professions and thcv wee rcgu-
larly and decCrousy called upon TO rel form public
duties They were not. therefore. "carret-
hargersr in the true of that word. hut native
Democrats made no distinctions of this sort; It
was enough for them if a man was n Republican
il was more than enough if he had. in addition.
been born north of Virginia.
The name of Harrison Reed IS written broadly
and blacLv in Florida history, He WAS the excep-
ton which proves the rule, apparently for he came
in search cf office. a very entertaining novel o.
its kind might be written from the facts IN th's
mans life. He was the first Governor elected after
the readnSSion of Florida, in 1868. Mr. Reed
came from Wisconsin, where believe lie bad been.
in connection with his brother unfortunate in husi
ness At all events, he arrived here poor enough
TO be likencd to Jobs traditional turkey. Recon
structou was going forward in CONGRESS, and Reed
fastened his eyes on the GOvernorship. He conld
not canvass the State from lack of funls, and he
went to Washington and laid his case before Alex
snder Ramsdell Andrew Iohnsons Postmaster
General who was, like Reed, from Wisconsin. Mr..
Ramsdell appointed Reed an Inspector of the De
partnent which would enable him 10 travel over
Florda to canvass the Staa at Government expense.
and If he shoulh be successful he was TO appoint
Postnaster-General Ramsdells brother l. IT,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida
To the credit of the latter II may be said that he
proved 10 be the cleaTest headed and most active
member of the Supreme BeI ch. Reed was careless
in methods. and Us TO dishonesty. he perhaps never
knew what that was so far as his own acts were
concerned He was in continued jangle with
the Legislature and with the members of his
Cabinet hree several times the Assembly pre-
Sentet articles OF impeachment against ull'l,
charging HIM with corruption and bribery but lie
was never tried. The charge of bribery was that
he agreed with George w. owel son. OF NoiIn IL
Carolina. TO call a special session OF the Florida
! eglSatuTe. use his influence TO get SwepSon : bill
through granting a loan of %t.OOO.OOO state bonds
10 be exchanged for an equal amount of the bonds
of the jacksonville. PENSACOLA and Mobile HaIl-
road, for which he was TO receive l2.5UO: ami a
letter written by Swepson to Reed, reciting this
bargain. was Included among the documentary
evidence upon which the Assembly acted Among
the other charges against HIM, was one OF turning
the proceeds of 5000 State bonds and $1,000
due from the Government INTO the treasury III
deprecated State scrip; and another that in
buying ri les for the State militia he put them III
to the State at So piece more than they cost.
While he was not impeached, the Legislature
refused TO pay him more than 1t claimed to have
evidence the rifles cost, and for tie difference.
some $4,000, Mr. Reed has presented ar claim to
every succeeding Legislature without avail.
When Reed first impeached, Lieutenant-t ov.
ernor W. II. Gleason became executive. heed
refused to recognize him. claiming that he himself
was still Governor. and he issued prOclamatlo
removing Gleason from office and appointing l.. Z.
Weeks Lieutenant-OOveTnor III his place MI
way. At the time, GlcasUn's case was pending
before the Supreme Court. and that body declared
him ineligible to he office en- the ground of citizen
ship. At the next election, ,. /. Day was eIecl Ell
LieutenaDt-GOvernOT. The third articles OF I'M
peachment were presented against heed early III
1872. the last year Of his reign Day ass1 med the
Office. The Legislature adjourned ID order TO give
tie Impeachment managers time to prepare for
trial. Reed broke into Days office. seized the
Great Seal Ot tno Stdtt ana hSHcu u
announcing that he had resumed TIE GubeInatoral
chair Day issued counter proclamation t. the
effect that Reed was fraud and that lie Day. was
the only legitimate Governor. Then there Welt
more proclamations. among them one iron Day
comvening the Legislature IN special session. The
Supreme Court took up the question as pre-
ferred case decided that the ad Dnrnncnt OF TIL,
Legislature did not operate to restore Reed sc
long as articles of Impeachment were pending, and
issued a writ of custer. Almost simultaneously
the Legislature met and the Assembly almost
unanimously resolved that the charges against
the Governor were without foundation and thai
the articles of Impeachment should be quasled {
strange change of views. Governor Reed retired
from Office with the cordial approval OF every
member OF his own party. He came back 10 Inv,
on some land he had secured uLt across the rivel
from Jacksonville, the title to most of which la,
been IN, olyed in legal sQusbbles ever since Fol
a time Mr. Reed was the editor of a monthly maga
zine called = he Stnli 1rcpc0 published here, but
"a ehnrt