The Louisiana populist., 1894-11-23
LULA, La, Nov. 18th, 1894.
EDITOR LOUISIANA POPULIT:

come and gone. One hundred and
eighteen years ago religious and
political liberty was declared. In
the fifty-third congress, members
of the lower house voted in direct
violation of their oath to support
the constitution in support of ap-
preparation bills which went to
build up sectarian schools, our
member from the 4th, included in
the number. Is not this direct
blow at religious liberty, and yet
our great and good pious people
who are SO consistent, and so much
interested about the salvation of
the poor benighted heather, could
go to the polls, carrying with them
their influence, and vote for man
who was thus voting away their
God given liberty, their blood
bought liberty, and a man who
would wallOw in the mire as it
were, with the lowest scums of the
earth, who would stOOp to anything
in politics, it matters not how low,
just simply because the party of
their forefatbers had nominated
him, not realizing that the party
had long since departed from the
principles of its founders; while
on the other hand, a man advOca-
ting the principals of Jefferson,
Jackson, Calhoun and other states
men who have gone to their record;
a man known to be competent in
every sense of the word, to repre-
sent the whole people irrespective
of political or religious creeds; q
man known to be a christian gen.
tlemen, and temperate in all things,
could not get their support. Oh!
consistency, thou art a jewel. Our
political liberty bought by the
great common people with blood,
God being on their side, has almost
been stolen from us. The party in
power resorts to anything to defeat
Justice and freedom, in casting and
counting the ballot. The election
just past, in DeSoto, cannot be
beaten for fraud, intimidation and
bribery. In the first place, the
supervisors failed to comply with
the election law in selecting COM
missioners. Some precincts had
only one commissioner, one had
more than one, and some had none.
They cannot plead ignorance, be-
cause the Chairman of the Peoples
party executive committee, with
the assistance of another gentleman,
recommended two or more for each
polling place in the parish save
one, to represent the Peoples par
| ty. At Lula, one of the clerks
who was Democrat, was very ac-
tive in offering Ogden tickets to
the voters as they came in, trying
to, or rather debating what ticket
they should vote. At Mansfield,
they bribed the negroes by giving
them barbecue on election day,
having drawn the negroes out from
the different wards with their
meats, they then forced them
against their will to vote for Og-
den. Business men heretofore
commanding the greatest respect
from the people, and men who was
supposed to be christian gentlemen
marched negroes up to the polls
from other wards, their names not
being on the poll book of ward 4,
and made them vote for Ogden
against their will. A gentleman
who had the Peoples party tickets
for Mansfield, placed them on the
table where thew were voting, three
different times, and they were des-
troyed each time in less than fif-
teen minutes; two boxes in ward 5
had no tickets; suppose they were
destroyed also.
At Pelican, so far as election
day is concerned, every thing is re-
ported quiet. But previous to the
election, for several days, leading