New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-06-16
RECORD.
rBr TELEGRAPH TO THE TRrBuSE.I


IN favor Of Republican contestant and the other in
favor Of the sitting member. who is Democrat
In the first the Democrats, of course, VIII ME
"vicws of the minority which Mr.. Wilson, OF Mis-
sonri. has been instructed by his colleagues to submit;
in the other case it understood that Judge iIouk. of
Tennessee, will file statement Of his views, dissenting
from the conclusions Of his colleagues
The report in the Miller Elliott case, which has
been prepared by Chairman Rowell. is an extremely
strong and able document and II crtclScS with I'M
sparing severity the by which, under color of
laws which in plain contravcnlon Of the 'onsttu
ton 81 Sonth Carolina. the Democrats Of that state
have dsfranchised thousands Of voters simply because
they are Republicans and colorcd men. The pending
case comes from the With District respecting the
geographical form Of which Chairman Rowcll say IS:
In rcdstrictlng the the Of 1850 tho
Legislature South Carolina utterly ignored the Federal
statutes. Tho territory Of tho Win District Is in no
sense contiguous mons'rosiy cannot thoroughly
without examination Of map OF the dts
trct An examination Of the description Of the district
the Congressional Directory. viii show that IT. con-
tguty Is secured by puttinG into It the scabeach OF
Charleston County. strip Of sand few feet wide ana
many miles long covered hall Of every day by the waters
Of the Atlantic Ocean and Incapable Of human haba,ion
All the habltablc land Of this county Is in another
district
The avowcd design Of this unlawful act was to
throw a, many A. practicable of the heavy Republican
counties and precinct, into single district which
was to be- allowed Republican representative IN
CongresS-in order 50 To reduce the Republican majority
in the other districts as to make IT comparatively
easy for the Democrat, 10 steal them II was not
until $50 that even a south Carolina Democrat was
found with sufficient to attempt to capture
district with registered Republican majority OF more
than f. 900 votes and an actual Republican majority
OF than - 900 votes In that the attempt was
made and with the help Of partisan Democratic Com
mittcc and House il succeeded Emboldencd by this
haiia hat
wonld De r,cIcctcd and Democratic majority returned
T., the House. the attempt renewed In 1853, aud
Elliott, majority If j32 in 1556 was increased 10 a
majority Of 1888.
Mr. Rowell thoroughly dissccts the registration law
Of the state and forth the manner in which IL Is
administered bv the officers Of rcg-tration-all Of
whom are Dcmocrts-and reaches the conclusion that
there IS valid registration law I'm South Carolina
a conclusion which will be approved by every fair
minded man who reads Mr.. Rowells mastery cNpoSi-
ton Of the case. He reaches a Ike conclusion in
regard 10 the election law because II virtually imposes
an educational test which IS in direct violation of
the constitution OF tho State. one of the provisions OF
the law requires that there shall be separate ballot
box for each ofcc % be voted for. and prohibits nc
counting Of any ballot found I'm the wrong box that
is To- say a ticket bearing the name Of the candidate
for Representative I'm Congress woud be rejected If
found In the box labelled Presidential Electors ~
The Democratic Governor formally refused to give
the Rcpubcaus any Official representation whatever
At the polls and the Democratic election officers. who
had everything In their own hands devoted consider
able time to shifting tho hoNc, IN order to confuse and
deceive Tie Republican voters on this point Chairman
Eowcll say.:
II the two boxes put position btorc the voting
higlns and ar. permitted 10 remain III the same po-
durnz the day. there IS ute danger o any mistake.
all the voter being instructed 10 their position by those
IN whom th,y have confidence. Eu' Il tho boxes a.,
shit.d about at intervals during tic diy follows.
matter course, that uniccrd voter who goes o
poll the change and bofos IT, discovery deposits
hl, ballot box. and Loses M- No" 80 FAR a. the
count a. the is concerned There Is prohlb
ton IN the statute AGAINST shifting thc boxes, and u
a-.umcd by the naiagcr Of election that they have right
70 shift boxes often they please for the cNprc-,
purpose they acknowledge. o. confusing the voters and
causing them deposit thdr ballot, IN the wrong box
Il Wa graScy argued before the committee 10y emf
ncnt lawyer there nothing In this shifting Of
boxes aud that The contesec cutt u all tho benefits
accrung him by Of such action An at may not
expressly forbidden by law but Is done with an un
lawful purpose and succeeds IA accomplishing that pur
pose the +, thereby made unlawful At this election
In large number Of prccncs this shifting Of boxes was
rc-ortcd The facts and the motive are proven beyond
a reasonable doubt
The United states supervisor AT Jourdins testified
that the boxes that precinct were shifted about
blk or times" IN the Of the day. and that
the managers refused 10 allow him Ia call the dttcn
tion of voters to the fact. Al klngstrce sixty six
ballots for Miller were found In The Presidential b"A
and rejected the box having been shifted a number
Of times by the Democratic managers At indian
town. ~ the United states supervisor testified elghy
Miller ballots found In the presidential box were
destroyed and not counted. and the boxes were shifted
at least tines in the course of the day. The
Emitted states Supervisor AT COrbct, store ieStlhcs
that twenty nine Miller ballots found in the wrong
boxn destroyed and not counted by the manascrs
who had shifted the boxes about cight or
nine tines At sumter Miller was cheated
ont Of nine votes by the sane process
Not only were the transpositions made at some
thirty precincts, but in many ca,cs behind light barri-
cadc, which prevented the United states supervisor
from seeing ihc performance. The law provides that
an enclosure e" shall be rallied of, or otherwise pro
vdcd.7 thu, showing that the law does not contcm
plate a tight barricadc which shall shut OIL the New'
BY the Democratic political monte game thus
,kilfny PLAYED BY the managers of election. Miller
was deprived of no less than l.Oi9 votes. Every one
Of these managers. be IL remembered. was Demo
crat appointed by Governor Richardson. who, I'm hi,
bombastc and untruthul letter refusing TO give the
Republicans any approximation on the election board,
said
10 the eternal honor Of our state and The Democratic
lnrty IL can now b. said that election, are the 'es
and farest I'm the world, aud that not single cu@c o
her, no matter what his rank color condition. can
just equal laws. imparaIly administered a.
tcy bc by pcrNorsion or intimidation D'r'u ''
free ana run exercise o hi7 auli'''
There Is nos only perfect freedom in voting but the anes
protection Afforded the voter.
What would be thought Of an election board In the
state Of York. for example which should hdc the
ballot boxes so that clector desiring to see them
should be compelled 10 climb - tree Ana what
would be said OF an election board which should use
such "A screen In order to shift ballot boxes with IN
tent 10 deceive voters? But the Democrats were
afraid to rely upon the monte game alone proh'apie
A. II was necessity rs well habit and inclination
induced them to do "A good deal oi pIdIh sVc"I
Ing BALLOT boxes Wcic sum" uer,.
made and in the Of one large Republican precinct
nn return was ever sent forward at all, the Demo
cratic election manager having made ont ulc return
on the back Of envelope, put IL IN MS pocAc' AN a
kent IL there That manager was not even rcsi
dent Of the Congress District In which ne served ~
The testimony quoted by Chairman koweI SHOWS HOW
that the stufing OF ballot-boAes II ngt geherai va"
conducted In the boldcSt manner ana II, cooiS a. a.
though IL one OF the usual II not ,Ic.edS .r, AZ
Incidents ~ south Carolina election. NIler , uc
scribing the frauds at number oi lIc'l"''"' "''
summing them up the committee states
slleQations made and proof taken III frSaTu