Nevada County picayune., 1889-07-10
Free and Fair Election.

clareS that eleCtloHS 51ail pe 'i'' "hN' fair. This means that every quail fled voter shall deposit his ballot without let or hindrance. It means that no coercive measure, physical or otherwise, open or concealed, shall prevent him from voting, or force him to cast the ballot he would not have cast if left free to act on hls own judgment.
 In the Patton-Coates contest for County Judge in this county several years ago, the contestant, Patton, charged that his opponent was de- clared elected by the illegal methods that voidcd the election. The proof went to sustain this charge; and the Supreme Court so held on appeal. The opinion of the court was deliv- cred bv Mir. Justice Eaken, whose love of justice forbade the bare sus- picion of any eXtraneous influences to produce conclusions. He went to the bottom of the matter, and de- clared, as the opinion of the court, that taking the evidence together 1t cannot be well doubted that there was coercive, systematic and im- proper obstruction of votes of the minority, intimidation and fraudu- lent introduction of improper votes. s We are satisfied from the evidence that there was, on the part of the great body of colored voters, throughout the county sentiment and a determination, if possible, to enforce it, that it was wrong in any one of their race, to vote the peoples 8 ticket, upon which the defendant (Patton) was candidate. In summoning up, the Court held:
 When the time comes when no unquali- fled voter dare approach the polls, and when every qualified voter may do so .peaoeabiy, quietly and without further question or ob- struction than may be necessary to show hls qualifications without fear of or responsibil- ity to any other voter or body of voters, white or black, the object of the constitution and the highest desire of every true patriot will be fulfilled. They never will be II thls election is allowed to stand as successful precedent These questions now come De, fore Us for the first time. and have ai1oroed no little anxiety. But we have resolved to face them thoroughly and frankly, and lay down in limine the principles oy which the conduct of elections must be guided.
 We think his honor, the Circuit Judge, erred in excluding the evidence of conversa- tions at Warmers; in declaring the law to be that the intimidation, to be fraudulent, must be such as would affect men of ordinary frmness; in finding that the fraud and m, limitation at the polls in the sixth ward were not sufficient to render the result un- certain; and on declaring the appellee Coats, elected.
 The contest ended favorable to Patton; for the election in the pre- cincts designated by the evidence and reviewed by the court, was clearly no fair and free election as guaranteed by the constitution
 And if that be true-and no one can successfully dispute the facts or the correctness of the conclusion Of the court-what term shall be ap- piled to the county election in Pulaski county in September, 1888: A contest is now pending in the Cir cult Court for possession of the office of County Treasurer. It IS known as the Jones-Glidewell case, and all persons who desire to know the meaning of a fair and free elec- tion, from q Republican standpoint, should read the testimony of George Jackson, printed in to-day Gazette:
 Jackson is colored man, who had determined to vote the Democratic county ticket. He lived in Eastman township; and his narrative ot the outrages practiced, and of violence and ostracism, furnishes revelations that dwarf the deviltry committed by the colored voters to defeat Pat ton to mere pecadillos, by compari- son. No fair-minded man will read Jackson's sworn statement without pronouncing the so-called elections held in townships where the colored voters largely dominate not only illegal. but among the grossest out rages ever perpetrated on qualiied electors. For Eastman is but one of a number of townships in which the various forms of coercion, Of force and intimidation, were em- ployed to prevent colored men from voting the Democratic ticket. It IS unnecessary to enumerate them Tn this article. They are brought out clearly in the revelations we print to- day.
 To pronounce an election of this kind free and fair; to declare 1t a legal expression of the choice of the voters in the various precincts, is to exalt and cnnoble the blackest, most damnable of frauds, and to strike down common justice and common decency.- Arkansas Ga zette.
 A New Discovery.