St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1902-09-20
..s,s,e rsapc of Garland"

(whefe more IMAM oue l'httSH Peh
ticipate) is such a rarity that that
method has won but disrepute
and caused dissentions and often
disruption wherever tried. LII 1t
were possible to get an honest ex-
preston OF the people; ii the bal
iot-box stuffer had disappeared
with carpet-bag times, there GER
.ainly could be no reasonable objec-
tions urged against primaries.
Rut. aIt is a hard to teach an old
dog new tricks"
AS conditions are now, unless a
candidate makes up his mind to
steal. stuff, rob aud falsify, ha had
better stifle his ambitions when a
district or State primary is ordered.
What better illustration of the
absolute faIiacy of State and Dis
trict primaries ear. we have than
the Foster-M Emery primary, the
Brazeale-Sutlierland primary, and
now the recent Congressional pri-
mary held In this, the new Seventh,
District.
Tho last-named, tho, easily wins
the prize rs the dirtiest, most cor
ruut. unblushing feat OF thievery
known since the days OF Ba-
YOU Pigeon and Cheneyville. 1t
was the climax of fraud! the para
ron of base and shameless politl-
cal rape, supported, sustained aud
sanctioned by a packed, brazen,
partisan committee; this disgrace
ful action of the committee advis-
ed, counselled and accepted by the
now fraud-tainted candidates, Mr.
A. p, Pujo and Judge w. +. Black
man. 1t is stencil in the nostrils
Of fair Democrats; a black, shiny
streak on the record of the Demo
cratic party; an everlasting shame
to those connected with this gigan-
tic steal.
An idea can be formed of the
methods by which st. Landry's
candidate was shut out of the con-
test by reading the following ex-
cerpts from the Times-Democrats
repor5 OF the District Committee
meeting:
Mr.. Garland introduced as evidence
the noll lists from three precincts i'll the
ninth ward, and one precinct in ward 4,
OF CaIcasieu parish, showing that 20
1rotas hud been cast, out OF which, ac-
cordiny to the regular certified tax list
gurnished by the sheriff of Calcas1eu,
there we're 1863 voters who had not paid
the poll taxes i'll l9Ul.
Mnch other evidence Of a similar ma
ture was introduced by .1hf. UaIianu'
hut the committee refused TO accept IL,
inasmuch as he had not specified the
nrecincts separately, but, instead, made
charges against the parish as whole.
Mr.. Garland made an iinpassionate ap-
peal to the committee to afford hlm
some relief from such a ruling. He sta
tad that if his evidence was to be exelu-
ded on a mere technicality, il was use-
less for him to proceed, as nothing he
conld saw or do would have influence
with the committee.
aMr. Chairman he said, "if the great
ast inrist in the worlds history were
here to plead nv cause and my rights
before this committee. it would be fa-
tile.n
At this iuncture Committeeman Moore
Of Calcasieu rose and branded such q
statement as false. He SAID ne was
there to do his duty as he saw it:
The crowd rushed into the enclosures,
and Messrs. Garland and Moore were
both cautioned as to the use OF person
alities.
mant. and continued: H0yer sixteen
hundred persons voted in Calcasieu. and
IL Mr.. Puio will furnish me list OF the
uualified voters of that parish, 1 Will
proye to the committee that there were
not 1000 of them legal voters.
4You speak of the grand old parish OF
Calcasieu aud its honesty. ! tell you
that the frauds that have unearthed III
that parish is beyond what you gentle
men of that parish may choose TO term
frregularities.' Every person ndt IN Ia "a.
mitted misdemeanor in the eyes of tht
law. and call upon your district attor
new Mr. Moore, to see that they art
prosecuted to the fullest extent or tht
law. have polluted them out to you
Youhave confined me to few precinct:
In which to make my charges OF fraud
In those few precincts, / have shown
that out of 275 votes cast l69 OF then
were Illegal -.
The committee, after considerable dis
eussion, ordered the 1863 votes proved e
be fraudulent in Calcasieu to DE strlkei
from Mr.. Puio's total.
Grant parish was then taken up, ant
Mr.. Garland and his attorney, Judg
Lewis, offered no further evidence thai
the face of the returns.
In the Nugent precinct, 20 votes Wer
cast for Rlackman, and listed on the POI
lists In alphabetical order, commencing
with "a !" This entire box was throw
out. os
The Pollock box,. containing over =
votes. WIS h1SO tAJAaSEt W bC
lent, the lists OF voters being submltte
an alnhabetieal order. The committe
refused to throw out the entire Polloc
box. but picked out what they consic
cred to be ll6 illegal votes, and the ha
anee were counted. Had the box bee
entirely thrown out, Garland Woui
have had lead over Blackman. AS
was. lSl votes in Grant We're adJudge
fraudulent
When the committee. after refusin
to vote to allow the entire Pollock vol
TO be expunged, recognized half OF tn
votes to be illegal and the other half
be legal, Judge Lewis stepped to tn
center of the floor and declared that
wished to wipe his hands of particIpa
ing further in such Democratic prima
les. where honesty had been insure
and fraud had been most outrageous
nraetfeed In the parishes OF Calcasle
and Grant. and protected by the con
mittee. The Judge left the conventio
hall.
shdri1f Marion Swords of st. Landr
uarish addressed the committee. u
said that fer the benefit of both cand
dates then declared qualified for secon
primary, he wished 80 promise that
Landry would have nothing further
NJ say.
a ayery eloquent address. He was co
seryatiye in his remarks and kept h
temper, but declared that Acadia pa
fsb, which polled clean vote, had e
erv reason to feel disgusted at the on
come of the committee meeting.
Nnxy5 fhnrn q hnt nnA w9V of r