St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-04-16

official returns. which, certified that |
only ~ votes had been challenged,
and gave Il - their o1,iuion that
half the vote polled was Illegal:
notwithstanding the Testimony u
witnesses well acquainted with the
voters, who swoee that the vote Was
lawful. al were excluded from the
count and canvass BY the com
mittee. becaus It was supposed
that hall should have been excluded
~ the commissioners.
In the second poll 1t the eighth
ward giving 6OS majority fOr the
McEnery ticket. the entire vote was
excluded from the count and can
vass because some thirty persons
were found to state that they had
voted for Foster aud this was In
excess Of the number returned Tor
him, - having been 80 returned:
and it being claimed that he had
received 81. No fraud Was alleged :
none proved. and every commission
er and officer connected with the
election swore that no illegal vote
was received aud none counted. ex-
cept ~ cast. Yet i)s votes. were
disfrancllise,l because. ut most.
thirty people either misrcpresented
the ticket they had voted or mis-.
take in the count hsd been made to
that extent.
HUT the necessities u the case r..
quired that the Foster vote In this
box sh0uld be counted. while all
those cast for McEnery he excluded,
because otherwise Messrs. Gun.
bingham. Pickett and Heard wcald
have been defeated. even after the
sixth and ninth wards were dis.
ffancl,ised.
In the second precinct II the
ninth ward, giving the Mc:nery
ticket q majority OF 40 votes. the
whole vote wss thrown out because
the commissioners. = majority Of
whom were appointed by the fos-
ter campaign committee. refused to
permit Mr.. Zengel, . Foster mani
a2er in that ward. to bring with
him to witness tue count an individ.
ual objectionable to the commits
siouers. 1t il not pretended that
AR. Zengel himself was denied ad-
mittance On the contrary. he was
invited to enter, but because he r..
fused to do 80 the voters Of that
precinct were disfrancl,ised. not
because Ut any fraud alleged ar
proved to have been committed, but
because. in the judgment Of ma
jority Of the committee. it could
have been committed, and they.
therefore, presumed it had been
done. contrary to every rule OF law
and evidence.
In the third and fifth precincts Of
the ninth ward it appeared that the
McEnery commissioners had. at
the instance Ut those representing
the Foster ticket. agreed to increase
the vote by adding names to the
poll lists Of persons who had not
voted aud dividing the vote betwcem
the two candidates. 80 as not to
affect the result. the object heing
to increase the representation Of
the war'l in party conventions.
Tie fraudulent vote was proved
with exactmess the validity VI the
remainder was not denied: vet the
whole was excludetl-the honest
voters disfranc l,isetl because Of the
frauds Of those whom the Foster
committee had appointed to hold
the election and over whom the
voters had no control.
The final result Is that by usur.
patton Of power not granted to 1t
the committee Of seven attempted,
By adopting the methods Of the
Wells-Ander>On Returning Board,
OF infamous memory, to reverse the
result Of the election. d. feat the
will Of the people and declare .
ticket confessedly beaten the nOmi-
nees Of the party. As the
|ei1ety yoe keturuing board we're
expected to he maintained by Fed
eral power, 80 the edict Of this Re.
turning Board was expected
to be maintained by a fragrant
abuse Of the election laws VI the
State and fraudulent suppression Of
the will of the people at the general
election.
The Democracy Of Louisiana is
called upon to decide whether the
foregoing frauds are to be in.lorsed
or rcprobated; and whether you
will permit the laws Of the State to
be prostitued 10 carry them into ef-
feet; whether the usurpati0n Of
power BY the committee Is to be
submitted to or repu,liated; wlsetll-
er We are to stultify the past
record Of the Democratic party
in denouncing the acts Of the Wells
Anderson Returning Board and
now confess they are happy meth.
DDS Of arriving 1t the results Of an
electiOn-whetller the minority
shall dictate party nominations and
accomplish by fraud when It fails
BY fair election: whether McEmery
and his associates are entitled to
your support by virtue Of their
nomination by the people. Or Foster
and his colleagues by the attempt
ed frauds. Of the Young Returning
Board.
We appeal to you not to leopard.
ixe the success Of the Democratic
ticket and render the election Of .
Republican possible by giving your
support to the Foster ticket, which
has already been twice repudiatesl
by the people and can lay no claim
to be the regular nominees Of the
Democratic party.
lIy order Of the committee.
LEON JAS'rREMSkl.