The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-12-14
He EXPLAINS WHY BALLOT Ron
SUFFERS AND PFRJURTD FLEC-
IIOS OFFICERS HANI NOT
BIIS PUNISHED.
EDITOR TIE Caucasian:

! the following from the tDaFIOttt
Observer IF Nov. 18th:
Judge y. l. Russell leading North Car
/ ollna lawyer i al the Entlt ou has way
/ home from New York. where he has been ou
important legal business He j. 4 strong
Republican. and SAYS that If the State could
have absolutely fair elections the Democrats
! would not carry twenty cOuutlts out Of the
nlnetySeYcn, instead OF carrying as they
now d" all but twenty. w ashiu-ton Post.
Its an often a krd and never an
swered question. hut We ask il again:
! T the Republicans are the victims Of
systematic election frauds at the
hands Of the Democrats of North
Carolina, Why is ii that these robbed
and swindled Republicans, who have
had all the machinery of the United
States courts in their hands for all
these years, excepting the period
from 80 to '93, have not had the
guilty Democrats put ia the peuIten-
tiary? That would have gained for
them more respect at the North than
pleading the baby act will gain them
sympathy. Charlotte Observer.
Why don't we send election thieves
to prison; .; That would never do: il
might embarrasss the Democratic
machine. What would they do for
leaders; Who would be left to send
to the legislature and to congress !:
Then again how unjust and cruel it
would be to try these high-toned
statesmen for falSifying returns, sup
pressing lawful votes and making
perjured certifca es. Who could or
would try them: TO obtain an un-
biased jury would be impossible.
How could the criminals get ID fair
trial? Would not the case be ''pre-
judged :" Imagine the embarrass-
ment which existed in the case Of the
hog thief. Conceive his terror when
he looked at the iury and saw that
eleven of the twelve were the men
who with him had divided The pork.
In 1882, there were convictions
and punishments in the |. 5. courts
for election frauds. This was ac
complished by ". 5. Or. Robinson,
the then United States District At
tOrney - an achievement perhaps
without Il parallel in Southern pDlI-
tics. The const quence was that tie
election that year was fair and hon
est. The Democratic party got the
S ate, and got it on the honest vote.
Since then, while there have been
many precincts, and even counties
W acre the votes were honestly count
ed, taking the State as Il unit, there
has not been an horest election, el-
cept in 1886 The monster mock
cry of 1892 was the elimination of
all this pol tlcal knavery. And the
defrauded were white men who had
broken from the rule to which they
had previously submitted.
Take one instance, which is only
one out of many. At the election in
Warren county, the Returning Board
threw out the returns from six or
seven precints out of about eleven on
the flmsy pretence that the certiii-
cate was not dated at the bottom, or
not being brought by the right per-
son to the Board; or the polls not be-
ing opened at the right moment or
some irregularitY or other which was
committed for the purpose of making
an excuse for disfranchiSing the yot-
ers. The members of the Board were
tried, the facts proven, the law eX-
planned by the court and the defend
ants acquitted by the political sym
pathy of the jury.
Jury verdicts in political cases go
to the politics of the jury. |
Perhaps the greatest political trial
since the Renaissance was that of the
Seven Bishops who were brought to
the bar of the Kings Bench by com,
mand of James the Second. They |
were acquitted because the revolt |
against the Crown had obtained such |
headway with the aristocracv lthe |
people had no power and no rights
that the King could not pack jury.
Within a few months after the YER
dict the King was trembling fugi- |
tive living on the bounty Of his kin
dred despotS in France. Whenever
the revolt against political lawless- |
ness here shall get strong enough to
be felt in the jury-box then, and not
till then will political crimes be pun
ished
Has the Observer heard of any
body being punished for lynching
negroes charged with assault on d
white woman? Perhaps about all
the victims deserve what they get,
but the lynching is inexcusable, be-
cause the barbarian brutes can be
hanged just as well and just as sure
ly and intinitel y more decently by the
law than by the law-breakers.
] hope the Observer agrees to this.
If so, suppose he undertakes the job
of sending the lynchers to the peni-
Tertiary, Or would it sound better
to say "there are no lynching,' no
negro is ever hung except by law,
and the proof of it is in the fact no.
body has been convicted of lynching.
ID. L. RUSSELL.
THE WILSON BILL Is