Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-13
A PARTISAN OUTRAGE.

The action of the republican majority
 in congress in unseating Hon. O. w. Un- derwood and giving the seat to which he
 was elected to the republican contestant, Truman H. Aldrich, was no surprise to
 those who have kept themselves advised
 of the movements and methods of the contestants managers both in and out
 of congress.
 l We have the evidence, pro and con, in
 this case before as; also the adverse and favorable reports, respectively, of the | elections committee to which it was re- | ferred for consideration, and hazard
 nothing in saying that there is absolutely
 nothing in the whole mass of trumped- | up testimony to support the contestants claim to the seat which has been given him.
 We feel entirely within the bounds of
 modera tion in charging that the action
 of the republican majority was grossly
 partisan and unjust, and use no un-
 measured words in denouncing the re- port upon which that action was based as infamous and an outrage upon truth
 and common honesty, abundant proof
 of which is found in the report itself The report in favor of Underwood is signed by the three democratic members
 of the committee, while that in support
 of Aldrichs pretensions is signed by
 only four of the six republican members
 of the committee, the other two pre-
 sumably being unwilling to append their names to document so saturated
 and reeking with partisan injustice and untruths.
 By an utter disregard of all rules of evidence, and a reckless overriding of the
 will of the people, they robbed the con-
 testee of legitimate majority of more
 than 1000 votes, and by the bold and art full legerdemain of interruptions and un-
 restrained political jugglery they dis franchised, so far as the November 1894,
 election was concerned, every voter in
 the cities of Marion and Uniontown and
 hundreds of others in Hale and Perry,
 over the certificates of sworn election
 managers and against the affidavits of the voters themselves. Not satisfied with
 this wholesale rape of the ballot because
 more was necessary to accomplish their dishonest purpose, they came to Jeffer- son county, and, with the flimsy subter-
 fuge and unfounded pretext that they
 had been intimidated and deterred from voting, counted for Aldrch nearly 800
 negro votes that were never cast. with out a particle of testimony that they had ever been registered, or, if qualified electors, that any effort had been made by them to exercise their right of suf- frage The detail work of Aldrich's sup porters on this committee, to accomplish a fraudulent election in this district, is too comprehensive to be fully pointed out and commented upon in the editorial columns of this paper.
 It is encouraging to note, however,
 that in the final vote in the house of rep resentatives fifty-three republicans, | nearly one-third of those present and voting, not only refused to aid the per- petration of the iniquity by the majority,
 but voted to sustain the democratic mi nority in their efforts to prevent the
 outrage. Indeed the only decent thing | on the republican side in this whole mis- | erable business, from its inception to it's close, was the honest and manly conduct | of these fifty-three republicans.