St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-12-04
and eIseRhere bouqht lots amonnting

and elsewhere bought lots amounting
to 100000; after having obtained
the peoples money for these lots,
some Of the same Court House bucks
turned around and had the unlimited
gall to say to the same people who
bought these lots with their good
money and in good Gath "Mamou is
not the place, bas Enuise is" So the
Eunice b~eosSsrs, who Fad invested
money N she Mamou toU'ns;ss, kasa
eithe- told a falsehead GaxS Aamou
cH else obtained she ISIS money
undeg felse pret8nssE
Some of the sane Eunice boosters
would tell tbs people to vote for the
Court House at Funice on account OF
its railroad facilities" and that the
mileage paid the witnesses in crimi-
nal cases was 10c to and from the
Parish Seat and that would leave the
witnesses a net profit Of &c on his
round trip, but they forget to tell
the voters that this tax was paid BIZ
the White people and that about rs
per cent of the criminal cases was
brought about by the Negroes, and
Mr.. Negroes witnesses would be the
men TO reap this so-called profit paid
by the honest White men.
The election for the location Of the
Court House held on the 9Th inst.
was not an election that was left to
the dictation of the conscience of
the voters. This election was simply
controlled by the money, whiskey and
misrepresentation of but a small num-
Der Of people and not by the free and
voluntary will and consent Of most
Of the people of the Parish of Evan
geline.
The Vile Platte and Eunice boost
ers did go all over the Parish Of Evan
geline, and they would and did tell
the great majority of the voters that
"Msmou is the place where the Court
House ought to be, but it has no
chance to win. Mamou has no lead
ers." OF course a great number of
the voters not being posted and not
realizing the fact that it did not re-
quire leaders, but that it required
votes to place the Court House at
Mamou, became discouraged, and, to
follow the great leaders, they did do
as one of the Vile Platte speakers
told them TO do: Whip your senti-
ments and vote for Vile Platte" and
about tWo-thirds Of the voters did do
SO, and voted some for Vile Platte
and others for Eunice, because they
were foolish enough to listen to the
advice Of the Vile Platte and Eunice
wind-bags, and in this way voted
against their own interests, and
against their own sentiments.
So | say let's knock Division in the
head until the people can and will
vote for their interests, their fam
lilies interests, and the best interests
of those to come.
/ am reliably informed that the
poll book for the Point Grand Louis
precinct had several pages torn out
of it, and in this way several voters
lost their ballots. I am also reliably
informed that on the morning of the
election, November 9th, 1909, a GER
tain EuRice booster, though he does
Rot live in Evangeline, went to a GER
tain poll, which was known to favor
Mamou, and told the voters at that
place that "Mamou voters were all
casting their ballots for Vile Platte"
This was done, thinking that the
voters of that precinct would rather
Eunice than Vile Platte, which they
had. And the same thing was done
at Lake Cove, but in this instance,
by a Vile Platte booster, he knowing
that the second choice of the people
at that precinct was for Vile Platte.
and, in this way, obtained several
votes which otherwise would have
been cast for Mamou. I am almost
certain that the names of these two
| Eunice and Vile Platte boosters can
be furnished if il becomes necessary.
| am only giving you a slight idea Of
the manner in which the campaign
and election was conducted.
Vile Platte has never been more
than Is miles from the Parish Seat,
and therefore can not sympathize
with us who have never been nearer