The Caucasian., 1897-01-07


H thr next Legislature for contests
...r ..sts Of those who were fairly
,l.',I will be- cOntested, and the
... of those who il is alleged were
"A u., u.rJy elected will be contested)
N ar a..l take the liberty To review
n ,un %, the methods used To- run
\ uu.tlcE in this county since the
n p.r,h of the populist Party.
In ISgt n number of the good
citizens ia the county became dis
gu.t,d and tired of ring rule and
hosalam "a. they did 10 ali parts Of
d., State ard mon. The voice OF
the reupic had become n hiss and 2
"A by word, and about SIX hundred OF as
good men as the county affords
aAWalkcd Out Of the 50 called Demo
~tetic party, bag and baggage, and
Abun,t all bridges behind them. They
3orgiLi1od what rs known and much
". leap.sel by the sO-called Democrats
Mthc Peoples Party. In August
'~lhry held "a county convention and
IN Nominated full legislative and
&eouuty ticket. These people and
N their candidates submitted, like men,
4. during the campaign 10 all manner
A oi abuse and ridicuIe from the Dem
ucratic press, candidates and heelers,
n and in some Instances had their
IN meetings broken up by hoodlums
N IoadCd by Democratic leaders.
At the regulation time in that
N tcar for appointing election judges,
a .ho chairman Of the Populist Party
N went before the Democratic com
migsioucrs with list of names and
asked that they be appointed. He
# Taa informed that he had no party.
af The Republican chairman went
N before them at the same time with a
~ list of names Il all white) and in
4 formed them that he had a party
and asked that his party be recog-
nized by having part of the Judges.
! They agreed to consider his list, but
instead of appointing the names he
presented they appointed eleven ne
groes of the most ignorant type as
judges. But few of them could read
.or write one word, and two of them
were so blind they could not have
read if they had been graduates OF
Yale.
One of the commissioners who was
at that time a Democratic candidate
for the Legislature was asked by a
newspaper reporter how he could vote
for negro Judges, he being Il Demo
.crat. His answer was that he die
not know they were negroes.
A leading lawyer of the city said
Fthey put on the most ignorant ne
groes they could find. So that they
y ..,r,l1 anntrnl Nh.
ballot boxes, and if they had q
chance they would. do the same thing
\ again. Anything he said TO down
8 populists and Republicans.
M The same old registration books
were used that had been used fol
several years. Everybody had beer
voting hy them year after year with
out any questions being asked a:
.loug as they voted the Democrati,
ticket straight. Nearly every voter
in the county, it not all, visited the
Registrar and asked If his name wa:
correctly registered. He was tol(
in all cases, II he was not a Demo
crat, that his name was correctly
registered. II he was q Democra
it was corrected if it was not right
When the sun went down on tn,
tday of election 800 had the pleas
ure of knowing that they had no
been allowed to vote and they coul(
boast that they did not belong t.
the Democratic party. In one town
ship with 500 voters 90 of them wer
not allowed TO vote-every one Re
publican or Populist. One man wa
disfranchsed who had been votin
| In the township for twenty year
! and had never lived out of the town
ship. He was n Pop. In anothe
township a we'll to do farmer live
on the township line but had bee
Sworkiug the roads, paying tax an
voting in the same township for. Fl
teen years without any questio
being asked He had left the dea
old party and LIE and his employee:
four or five, were required to swea
\ which side of the line their dwellin
4 was on. No one of them knew and the
4 were not allowed to vote. Thes
are some OF the things that kept
I Pop or Rep from voting. If th
registration book did rot say exactl
\ what State, county and township b
X was born in, his age and occupation
l he was "goner" notwithstandin
N he had been voting without all ths
N for twenty years.
Il Men were hauled in from tn
II county poor house in livery carriage
ii aQd made to vote the Democrat
n ticket who were both blind an
N crazy. We could name some {
n them who died and were buried
Y the potter's field soon after the ele,
ton.
In 1894 their was no cooperate
a between the Republican and Pop
N list parties, conseq quently their va
no demand for wholesale frauds.
The elections just closed give Il
k people of the county another samp
of rule or ruin. The new electie
law knocked them out of the contr
III of the registration book or packi1
the Judges. The registration W
a conducted honestly and the on
MI thing left was on challenge day
challenge Unfortunately. TT
they did challenged nearly i
voters IN the county; not that the
~ was any charge against one out
Ni ten as was shown on trial day;
they failed to convict one huudre
but the idea was TO scare them ava
IN The next thing, when that faile
was to hunt up every negro that b;
- not Sde his tax returns, arrest al
pm u in jail. That worked to
II considerable extent for they &
A aUJ.y eighty in Jail and tn
.aG ,. de red effect in anoth
". b. -eareI about 200 more
the y..y away I'm the ballot be
In c., 'wush he township Ii
was chluy. ! wlt-,nt law or shade
of law at,el t'r reg. 2, ton was ov
and 20 vot, IN out and u