Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1890-01-17
The Gubernatorial Contest.
A dispatch from Charleston, this
Stofa eays.

after ten months OF unremlttlnS toii,
during which time it has carefully
and impartially investigated the
charges made by Judge Fleming, the
democratic candidate for Governor,
i'm his notice of contest, and the re-
suit is a complete exposure OF what
looks like the blacklist conspiracy to
debauch voters and defeat the will
of the people that was ever conceived
i'm any Southern State.
Thousands of pages of afiidavits
are presented by Judge Fleming. All
are conclusive in their revelations OF
bribery, intimidation and repeating,
and against these scarcely an afiida-
Wit has been placed by the accused re-
publicans. About 800 ballots were cast
out by the contest committee, hut for
every vote disallowed it is estimated
that four illegal votes were cast.
There were some six counties which
the conditions in the fall Of 1888 made
good fields for the operations of the
republican State committee.
Bad as the outrages in other coun
ties were, they sink into insignificance
before the crimes perpetrated in IA
nawha Valley. Thirty thousand dol
lars was allotted to this State by
Quays committee, and the best part
of this money went into the Kanaw-
ha Valley and hired Golf repeaters by
the score. The work in Fayette
county is fair sample. Within two
months preceding the election nearly
300 negroes were brought from Vlr-
ginia and given nominal employment
in the mines about Fayetteville.
Before the contest committee a
number of these negroes testlned
that they and their companions
wanted to go home to Virginia to
vote, but the republican leaders per-
suaded them to stay. They did stay
and voted by the score for Harrison
and protection. Their votes were
received by republican election
judges in spite of democratic protests
In Kanawha county methods equally
as bold, but of different character,
were used. A corruption fund OF
$40. 900 was placed in the county, ex-
perienced political tricksters han
died it, and the republican majority
was increased over 400.
THE worst frauds, however, did
not lie here. They were at the head
of the Kanawha Valley, in the thinly
settled counties of Mercer and Nc
Dowell. In the spring of 1888 the
Norfolk and Western Railroad was
extended into these counties. Coke
ovens were built during the summer,
and a large floating population
brought in and employed on these
works and on the railroad extension.
| Nine-tenths of these laborers came
from Tazewell and Giles counties, Va,
and at the time of the election had
not been in the State six months.
! The evidence shows that the republl-
can leaders marshaled the negroes
to the polls, inundated election
judges where opposition was offered
and voted 1900 of them in two pre-
cincts. Mercer county gave demo
cratic majority of 700 in 1886. In 1888
republican majority OF 100 was Sc
cured.
"a change almost as great occurred
in Mcdowell county. The startling
boldness Of the fraud can best be seen
by one circumstance which was prov
EN- by scores of witnesses. a white
republican collected seventy-six of
these negroes from the works at Blue
field, Mercer county, w. Va. They
all voted there in the morning. Then
they boarded a train, crossed the
line into Virginia, where the negroes,
who were bona fide residents, cast
their ballots without protest. Anoth-
| err train carried the whole gang into
Elkhorn, Mcdowell county, w. Va,
where they marched to the polls era
Nv with. drink, and with brandished
clubs and revolvers placed their Har-
rison and Golf ballots in the boxes.
THE Circuit Court of Mercer coun-
ty met shortly after the election.
Judge Johnson delivered a ringing
charge, and the grand jury, acting
under his instructions, returned over
300 indictments for illegal voting. Ma
ny of those indicted have been al
ready tried, but the great majority
fled the State, and the places which
knew them once know them no more.
In considering these frauds the con-
test committee acted with the greatest
conservatism. Only 175 republican
votes were cast out in Mercer and
Mcdowell, and these were the votes
of men who were registered in Vir-
ginia and at the same time voted in
West Virginia.
The above are only few of the
facts presented in the committees re-
port. The entire document is start
ling expose of fraud and trickery. AS
campaign document it will prove
the most powerful instrument which
the Democrats of West Virginia have
ever had put in their hands. Already
the tide of public sentiment has been
strongly affected by it."
Novelties and knowledge.