The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1900-05-25
HOW IT WORKS
In LOUISIANA,
FIcticious Vote in Rins.RuIed
Towns, and Suffrage Destroy
ed In Country.
FREEDOM AND INTEREST PAR
ALYZED.

In On. ward Of 2.oS7 Citizen. bot Sever
vot.d-ons Man Elected to Two Once.
NJ single vots-ro wonder Joey
says % Works Well.
Especial dispatch 10 the y. Y. SUM-
New Orleans, May 11.-Some Of the
delayed returns coming in from the re
cent State election In Louiana give
new constitution In cutting down the
vote. IL II told In the history OF Switzer-
land thnt az the time the old Swiss con
federacy was overthrown by Napoleon,
The restrictiOns placed on the suffrage OF
the canton Of Berue were such as to re
dnce the number OF electors to PIT, who
did all the voting for n population OF
10000. That n somewhat similar con
dition prevails in some parts OF Louis
lAnA today the election returns clearly
indicate, and the votes hy which officers
were elected are almost ludicrous.
In the parish Of Assumption, for in
stance, there were only seven votes In
the Third ward, yet these seven votes
were sufficient TO elect three officers, n
police Juror OF county commissioner. n
Justice OF the pence and constable.
-Four voters served az election commits
SionerH. This accounts for every voter
IN the ward-four or them were behind
The ballot box and the other three were
candidates before IL and were elected
In Concordia parish, the vote in the
first four wards was: First, 10: Second.
10; Third, 13; Fourth, L total for four
wards, or hnlf the parish, 40. These
voters elected twelve officers and TWEEN
~ persons, or half the voting population.
were needed 10 man the baxes. In the
Second ward not vote was cast for
police juror, a most important Office and
OF fnr h.a
Jury has complete control Of the govern
ment. finances, assessments, etc. Of the
parish.
The Seventh ward Of Caldwell did
oven better. Columbus Payne was
elected justice OF the peace Of the ward
by the votes OF two. Fortunately fol
him he had no serious opposition. or his
majority might have ben small. The
constable, George Williams was not
quite as popular and received only 81
single vote, but as there was no op
position that one vote Is sufficient &c
elect and Mr.. Williams name figures
among those Of the successful candi-
dates. AS the Australian ballot pre-
walls In Louisiana, IL is impossible t.
know whether the solitary vote that
elected Williams was his own. II T.
were II Is evidence that the candidate
for Justice, Mr.. Payne. did not vote fail
and return the compliment by voting for
Williams.
In the parish of East Carroll the tota,
vote cnst was 1877. These voters elected
a full parochial ticket, including sheriff
coroners, members Of the legislature and
clerks Of court, besides the local officers
Some twenty polls with eighty election
commissioners were necessary for the
polling OF these votes. A fair sample of
the vote Is seen in the First ward, where
two polling places were located. There
o1o fxxn fnc ~ hn
two constables and one police juror, five
officers In all. and Il votes were cast.
The result will figure as follows: Flee
ton officers, g; local officers, elected. 5:
total, IL: votes cast, II. The Third
ward Of the parish also east II votes,
hut the Second ran the total up to the
high figure Of 13.
Small az the vote IN East Carroll was
II was larger than that Of Madison
where only 151 votes were polled &c
elect n full set OF parish or county as
we'll as local officials. The First ward
elected two Justices, two constahles and
one police juror, total Of five officers
voted as follows: Second, 1S: Third. Is
Firth, 20; Sixth, 16; Seventh, 13. Each
of these wards elected three or more Of
fcers and had from four to twelve cleo
'ion commissioners. On an average
there was one parish or local Officer
in Madison
These two parishes. East Carroll ant
Madison, constitute judicial district
The district Judge. r. Y. Ransdcll. re
cptved n total Of 2Si votes. and the dis
trict attorney, Mr.. D. ". Evans. 3t3
The contest In the Third ward o.
Norehousp must have been exciting
There were four votes cast. and thre,
candidates. T.. Ballard was trium
phantly elected justice OF the peace b,
vote 81 three, hut the candidates 70
"onstables were not 80 fortunate. JOSEPH
Cox received two votes and Philip High
lemer two, making Il n tie, and requiring
a new election so as to allow the fou
votes of the ward to decide betweel
COX and Highlemer. In the next ward
he Fourth. W. NJ. Taylor was luckier
We received only one vote. Il Is tru
fnrobahly his own), but as there was n
opposition the ono vote was sufficient /
n'Nct him constable ~ the Justice court
Even closer was tho contest in IN
With ward 81 Franklin parish. wher
'he result would he worth investigation
m election curiosity. One vote wa
cast. hut " was sufficient 70 elect W. VI
Eincain justice Of the peace. Mr.. Kir
cain secms 10 have been the only car
tlidste. II not tho only voter. Of the ware
for ne was not only elected justice c
The peace. hut also police juror of hi
ward There should have been electe
constable TO execute the mandates {
Justice Kiucain. but there seems
have been no candidate for the Office an
no vote cast for it, Mr.. Kincain ev
dcutly thought IL would be ill-advised [
elect himself constable as we'll as ju
ticc Of the peace and police Juror. an
refrained from voting for himself for II
lesser Office. Indeed II is difficult to 81
how he could have acted Simultaneous
rs Justice and constable. declaring u
lar or1A ftpo xrn y
vote for constable cast in the MIN
ward Of Franklin and the Office is st
vacant
Nor Is II to be imagined that the
small votes are due TO lack Of popul
tion. The Third ward in Assumptit
lation OF posi-. The Fourth ward
"oncordia. which cast votes. has 1,O'
inhabitants. The Seventh ward Of Cal
veil, which cast two votes. has S06
habitants, and the Ninth ward Of Fran
lin, with single solitary vote, has
ward OF .Morehouse, which also cast
single vote for constable. has 1884
nohitants and ordinarily would have ca
450 votes
These figures will give some idea
The effect OF the new suffrage clause
tbe vote. As the representation is has
on population. not votes. the result
very urfavorable 70 the white famili
thus Madison, with 151 votes. has I
same representation in the Legislatu
two memhers) as Calcssieu, which CT
2,S70 votes; and as the constitution
1uires that the representation in all pal
conventions shall he based on populati
Madison with it's 1h1 votes has nea
'he same representation in the Der
cratic convnntioun as Calcasieu.
nrovisions give the few whites in the
gro parishes an extraordinary inf1uel
N politics. far ont Of proportion TO th
1nnher As matter of fact, In tn
.'arishes there are just enough WI
men Z" hold elections. fill the Offices o
"erve ae delegates 10 the party conv
ion. Every white man is politici
Thore is seldom any opposition car
dntes NJ the election: indeed there
scarcely enough voters In some Of
wards 10 allow ~ political opposition
Asheville Gazette, May Is
The SEABOARD is the battle
route m the Confederate Reunion