Year: 1875

Had not the intricacies of Louis


lana politics exhausted public patience


no inconsiderable interest would be


taken in the evidence supplied by the
Committee Of Investigation, and OF


which we have had a pretty fully re-


port from day to day.


Those, however, who have read the
| evidence can not fail to have been
| impressed by the fact that the result
of the last election in Louisiana was
shared by such influences as consid
erably diminish the claim set up fol
| it as a fair and free election by the
| people, if the colored citizens of the
State are to be reckoned as people ano


entitled to the fh,nchise. Whether
these influences were sufficient to in
/ validate the election and justify the
Returning Board in throwing out the


vote of whole parishes and districts,
as was done, is question we do not


propose here to consider, but it may


be safely predicated, on the action OF


previous Boards, and the temptation
to secure partisan ends. that this
Board omitted no pretext upon which


it could, with any show of decency,


reject vote whereby an opponent of
| the Kellogg administration could be
| returned to the Legislature.


/ The point We wish TO make, and
| which the evidence confirms, is that
| there was an organized attempt to
| persuade the colored voters that it


would not be wholesome to get to the


polls with kellogg ticket in their
| hands. The devices resorted to pro-
duce this impression were as various
as the emergencies OF the different


districts demanded, and ranged from
simple assurances of fnon-employment
to downright murder. There is no
going back of the evidence in these


particulars; it is too specific In names.
dates and circumstances.


As to intimidation by threatenings
of non-employment, there was no


particular effort to conceal that.
Resolutions were in many places pub
licly adopted urging the whites not to
employ those who voted the Radical
ticket, and after the election the
names of those who did vote it were,
in one instance at least, published
with no other object in view than 70
mark them out as persons who must
in this way be punished for voting ac-
cording to their political convictions.
That this method of intimidation had
the effect OF keeping hundreds of col
ored voters from the polls there can
be no doubt; and the evidence is con
elusive that such was the result. The
laboring men counted the cost and
staid away from the polling places.


But this method did not work sue
cessfully in some parishes where there
were more intrepid voters. or where
they had such backing as made them
bold in their avowal of a purpose to
vote the Radical ticket. 1t was in
these parishes that warnings of peril
and murder were frequent just before
the election. 1t does not appear that
murders were committed from any
mere bloodthirstiness. The victims
were selected with some care, and
were chiefly those whose taking off
would serve as a most salutary ad-
monition.


In how far the White Leagues were
responsible for this blood shedding is
not clear. 1t was a political associa-
ton, organized on a military basis,
and though not like the Ku Klux, an
avowedly secret society, it was adapted
to accomplish all that secrecy could
achieve, having quite as effective ma
ehinery, and moving to its purpose as
quietly and with as certain an issue
Had it not been for the mobility de-
rived from its military character. and
thority with which its head was in
vested, the revolution of September
could not have been carried into effect
SO silently and promptly that neither
Kellogg nor any of his Radical associ-


l. Al q
extent and power. That it was pre-
pared to shed blood to accomplish its
ends, either In turning out the exist
ing administration, or in controlling an
election, may be fairly inferred from
what it did not do, owing to the re-
straining influence of the United
States forces. or from what it did do
in dealing with the Metropolitans.
The fact also that it armed its MEM
bers is presumptive of meditated
purpose to use them, either as an or
ganiZed body, or for individual emer-
gencies. When a man is put on trial
for murder, the fact, if proven, that he
was armed before its commission. is
taken to be evidence of deliberate in
tent to shed blood.


But if the murders, of which there
is abundant proof. were committed at
the instigation of the White Leaguers,
it is to be said they were committed
only where other and milder methods
would not succeed. The Leagues, we
have been repeatedly assured, are
composed of high-toned gentlemen,
and high-toned gentlemen do not go
about shedding blood miscellaneously.
and with the freedom of a Texas des-
perado. There was no needless noise
about the bloody business. As the
evidence shows. the victims seIecte1
were put cut of the way auietIv-so
quietly In most eases that murder was
not suspected until there was disap-
pearance to be accounted for; and
then came the alarming intimation.
which was quickly spread about. that
such or such Radical had been dis
posed of as warning to others.


1t is a serious mistake for those
who defend the action of the Conser
vatlves in Louisiana to deny these
facts. They are matters of proof. and
the evidence is accumulafing in a
formidable mass. IF they wish to OBJ
tain credit for intelligence and sim
eerity, they will not undertake the
folly of denial, but dwell upon the
provocation which led the people to
adopt such desperate remedies. And
this is, indeed. the only mitigating
circumstance Believing the kellogg


Il