Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-28

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 Showing a majority for Elliott of 1737.
 The report of the republican majority on the elections committee unseated FL liott by wiping out his majority and giv- ing the negro Murray majority of ASA. Goodwin voted to sustain this report, and as before stated, was the only pop ulte member of congress who did vote for the negro. In order to unseat Col onel Elliott 1t was necessary for the re- publican elections committee to reject the returns from twenty out of the twen- tyfour precincts in the city of Charles ton, which twenty precincts gave Col onel Elliott 2218 votes and the negro Mur- ray 264 votes, thus dsfranchising near ly 2500 voters, large majority of whom were white men. The voting population of Charleston is S437 colored and 6492 whites. Colonel Elliott received 2S11 votes and Murray only 397 The pre- tense for throwing the twenty precincts out was alleged irregularities in the ad- ministration of the registration laws, and at the same time ignoring the great mass of testimony introduced proving Murrays unpopularity with his own party in the district, and that number of the most influential and prominent colorsd politicians of the district openly opposed his election.
 Abstracts of few samples of the tes- timony in this case are given below:
 H. G. Thomas, colored, swore (p. 335 of the record):
 "I am republican, and have been since reconstruction; have been promi- nent in politics; didn't vote for Murray because I didn't regard him as the regu- lar legal ca udidate of the republican par ty, and did not regard him as citizen of the district. He is not generally re- garded as a citizen of Charleston and of this district; as a rule the intelligent colored people of Charleston did not sup port him; some of them did"
 w. A. Thomas, a barber, swore (p. 337
 q am a republican,: have never been a member of any other party. In No vember, 1894, I voted for Colonel Elliott for congress-; didn't vote for the repubi- can candidate. I objected to him be- cause he was not considered a resident of the district he wanted to represent, and he was not my choice; the colored people of Charleston generally did not support him. He derived the majority of his support from the ignorant colored class"
 J. J. Young, colored. swore (p. 350)
 'I am republican. and have been since I have been allowed to vote In South Carolina; have taken an active part in all elections, having been a man. ager and supervisor at various times. Under the republican party have held the position of deputy coroner. port war den light house keeper and baliff of the United States court. I am now colonel commanding the Second regiment of the National Guard, co1ored Since 1882 I have been a registered voter of the city of Charleston ,>have never had any trou- ble in getting my certificate. I don't think the better class of the colored peo- pie were in favor of Murray. He was considered by large majority of us not the regular republican candidate" D. l.. Adams swore (p. 34D: q have always been republican,; am congressional chairman of the republican party; have been active and prominent in politics some twenty-five years; didn't vote for Murray in November, 1894 be- cause he was not my choice; did not con- sider him the regular candidate of the republican party; Smalls was the nomi- nee of the regular convention; do not consider Murray a resident of the dis trict; I never had any trouble in getting registration certificate"
 William Scott, colored swore (p. 21D: "I am a republican,; on November G. 1894 I voted for Colonel Elliott, the con- testee, for congress and opposed Murray because he don't belong to this district; know of my own knowledge that large number of colored republicans voted for Colonel Elliott"
 Simon w. Goodwine, colored, swore | (p. 219):
 q voted for Colonel Elliott for congress in November, 1894 and know other repub- licans who voted for him."
 Hastings Gautt, colored, swore (p. 22O) q was a republican member of the South Carolina legislature fourteen years; voted for Colonel Elliott for con gress in November, 1894, and there were many other colored republicans who sup. ported him."
 York Smalls, a colored republican swore (p. 222 substantially the same as Hastings Gautt.
 Oliver Middleton, an ex-union soldier member of the Grand Army of the Re- public. swore (p. 22S) that he supported