Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-02
A Letter From the State Demo-
 cratic Headquarters,
WHICH IS SELF EXPLAINING
The Oath Business Fully Ex- ploded by Stern and Un-
 deniable Law.

To the Voters of Alabama: The Kolbite campaign committee have recently issued an address over the sigma ture of D. s. Troy of this city, in which it is charged that in one beat in this county the names of eighteen persons have been forged and illegally entered upon the regis tration list. That charge is shown to be false by the affidavit of MT. Benbow, the registrar of that beat, which is as follows:
 STATE OF ALABAMA,
 MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
 Personally appeared before me, E. J. Goodwyn, justice of the peace in and for precint No. 12, Montgomery county, E. M. Ben bow, who, after being duly sworn, deposetb and says:
 That 1 have read the circular letter Of Col. D. $. Troy, addressed to Thomas Me- Cullough and B. k. Ponder, in refe rsnce to the registration of precinct No. 12, Montgomery county.
 That am the registrar of precinct No. 12, and every one of the 154 names on the registration list was put there by authority and not one of them was forgery, as Col. D. s. Troy seems to believe. 1 invite free and full iuvestiga- lion of the registry of said precinct. l am reliably informed that the atfida- wits were procured in secret in the back room of a store upon the John w. Moody plantation from ignorant negroes, the said Moody having the negroes to meet him for the purpose. had no notice Of said intention to take the affidavits. circumstance that goes to show that there is no false registration of precinct No. 12, is that there are 300 negro voters in said precinct and out of that number sixty-four registered. If there is nane upon be there, it is John w. Moody. He lives in Chiffon county, and has re- sided there number of years. Yet, he took the oath and put his name upon tbe list. l have been informed since his regis tration that he has stated repeatedly that he never intended to return to this county. This information 1 did not have at the time of his registration. It may be that Col. D. s. Troy will have the pleasure of defending MT. Moody at the next term of the city court, rather than prosecuting me.
 E. M. BENBow.
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, July 30, 1894. D. J. GOODWIN, J. P.
 Mr. Benbow has been for many years a resident of this county, and iu the neigh borhood in which he now resides no man hes higher character for truth and hon. esty and no man more fully enjoys the con- hdence of the people who know him. This is a sufficient answer to the address ferred to. There are in that address, how ever. certain statements of law which we cannot permit to go unchallenged. The fact that there were voters entered upon list who had not registered, would not in any manner affect the right of any person can office unless the election of the per- sPn depended upon the votes of the persons sAillegally registered. We do not suppose 1t the writer of the address referred to W find disinterested reputable lawyer iny 0 state who will agree with him in the& &roposition that the fact that there are few illegally registered voters in one or in all of the beats of A county voids the election in that county.
 The writer of that address has today pub- lished another opinion in the aid of the election of Kolb, in which he takes the position that voters having registration certificates, but who may not actually have been sworn, though they subscribed to the registration oath, will, if they vote, be liable to a prosecution for illegal voting, and that all the votes of that beat, where there are any such, must be thrown out.
 We deny both of these propositions. Every reg gistraton list is required by sec- tion of the law to have attached to it the certificate of the registrar, certifying that every man whose name appears upon 1t was duly registered and that he was duly sworn, and that each one of them took and subscri bed the registration oath. This list, with the certificate attached to 1t, Is evidence that every man whose name ap- pears upon it did legally register.
 Yet 1t seems to be the opinion of D. 5. Troy that voter would have to introduce extraneous evide nee to show that he took the oath. The purpose of these various documents put out in the form of legal opinions is plai h.. It is an attempt to
  from voting. Other campaign docu- ments of the same kind will no doubt fellow. Let democrats pay no attention to them, but let them vote. These so-called legal opinions but actual Kolbite campaign documents, are put out ostensibly in the interest of fair elections; but with all the diligence and activity of the writer and his numerous assistants, we fad that they have not been able to discover but one beat in the black belt in which there is any ground Tor a charge of fraud, and MT. Benbow's affidavit shows conclusively that that is baseless. It is strange If the persons engaged la this work are so zeal ous for fair elections as they pretend to be, that they write lengthy documents tul! of righteous indignation over pretended democratic frauds, have net word to say against the action of Kolb county officials in this state in ap- pointing as the only representatives of the democratic party on the boards of inspec- tors men who cannot read or write, which Ii has been open ly charged and not denied, has been done in Pickens and other counties.
 Let democrats remain firm and do their duty. Pay no attention to such docu- ments. No doubt the country will be flooded with them. They are but scheme to distract attention from the purpose of the Kobites to defraud us if they can. The scheme cannot succeed.
 DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE.
 By H. 0. Tompkins, Chairman.
 Montgomery, August 1, 1894
 nr Dr;roSc C~oaer, RaL;r,or Doudas