criminate against travelers of the colored | Amendment as the one most likely to comrace to such an extent as to exclude them mand favorable action: lowing article is hereby proposed as an tiguous territory, and to be as nearly equal in population as may be; and the person having the highest number of votes in each district for President shall receive the vote of that district, which shall count one presidential vote. from any part of the inns or public con- Resolved by the Senate and House of Rep veyances which was set apart for the ex-resentatives of the United States of America clusive accommodation of white travelers. in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of each The Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an House concurring therein:) That the folact of 224 of March, 1867, altered the law in this respect as to passengers on railroads. But the law of the State was not changed as to inns by any act of the State Legislature. Therefore, independently of the amendment of the Constitution of the United States and of the act of Congress now in question, the conduct of the defendant on the occasion in question might, "I. The President and Vice-President perhaps, have been lawful. It is not ne- shall be elected by the direct vote of the cessary to express an opinion upon this people in the manner following: Each point, because the decision of the case de-State shall be divided into districts, equal pends upon the effect of this act of Con-in number to the number of Representagress. I am under opinion that under the tives to which the State may be entitled Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitu- in the Congress, to be composed of contion the enactment of this law was within the legislative power of Congress, and that we are bound to give effect to the act of Congress according to its fair meaning. According to this meaning of the act I am of opinion that if this defendant, being in charge of the business of receiving travelers "II. The person having the highest in this inn, and of providing necessary and number of votes for President in a State proper accommodations for them in it, re-shall receive two presidential votes from fused such accommodations to the witness the State at large. Cook, then a traveler, by reason of his color, the defendant is guilty in manner and form as he stands indicted. If the case depended upon the unsupported testimony of this witness alone, there might be some reason to doubt whether this defendant was the person in charge of this part of the business. But under this head the additional testimony of Mr. Annan seems to be sufficient to remove all reasonable doubt. If the jury are convinced of the defendant's identity, they will consider whether any reasonable doubt of his conduct or motives in refusing the accommodations to Fields Cook can exist. The case appears to the court to be proved; but this question is for the jury, not for the court. If the jury have any reasonable doubt, they should find the defendant not guilty; otherwise they will find him guilty. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty, March 1, 1876, and the Court imposed a fine of $500. The Morton Amendment. In the session of '73, Senator Morton, of Indiana, introduced an amendment to the Constitution providing for the general choice of Presidential Electors by Congressional districts, and delivered several speeches on the subject which attracted much attention at the time. Since then many amendments have been introduced on the subject, and it is a matter for annual discussion. We quote the Morton "III. The person having the highest number of presidential votes in the United States shall be President. "IV. If two persons have the same number of votes in any State, it being the highest number, they shall receive each one presidential vote from the State at large; and if more than two persons shall have each the same number of votes in any State, it being the highest number, no presidential vote shall be counted from the State at large. If more persons than one shall have the same number of votes, it being the highest number in any district, no presidential vote shall be counted from that district. "V. The foregoing provisions shall apply to the election of Vice-President. "VI. The Congress shall have power to provide for holding and conducting the elections of President and Vice-President, and to establish tribunals for the decision of such elections as may be contested.” VII. The States shall be divided into districts by the legislatures thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter the same. The present mode of election is given in Book V. of this volume. covered in the West. It was an associa- Those "voting not guilty" generally detion of distillers in collusion with Federal nied jurisdiction, and so voted accordingly. officers, and for a time it succeeded in de- Belknap had resigned and the claim was frauding the government of the tax on dis-set up that he was a private citizen. tilled spirits. This form of corruption, Impeachment of Belknap. The White League. By 1874 the Democrats of the South, who then generally classed themselves as Conservatives, had gained control of all the State governments except those of Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina. In nearly all, the Republican governments had called upon President Grant for military aid in maintaining their positions, but this was declined except in the presence of such outbreak as the proper State authorities could not suppress. In Arkansas, Another form of corruption was dis-Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, Grant covered in 1876, when the House im- declined to interfere save to cause the peached Wm. W. Belknap, the Secretary Attorney General to give legal advice. of War, on the charge of selling an Indian The condition of all these governments trading establishment. The first and main demanded constant attention from the Exspecification was, that— ecutive, and his task was most difficult and On or about the second day of Novem-dangerous. The cry came from the Demober, eighteen hundred and seventy, said William W. Belknap, while Secretary of War as aforesaid, did receive from Caleb P. Marsh fifteen hundred dollars, in consideration of his having appointed said John S. Evans to maintain a trading establishment at Fort Sill aforesaid, and for continuing him therein. The following summary of the record shows the result, and that Belknap escaped punishment by a refusal of two-thirds to vote "guilty: The examination of witnesses was begun, and continued on various days, till July 26, when the case was closed. August 1.-The SENATE voted. On the first article, thirty-five voted guilty, and twenty-five not guilty. On the second, third and fourth, Mr. MAXEY made the thirty-sixth who voted guilty. On the fifth, Mr. MORTON made the thirty-seventh who voted guilty. The vote on first was: cratic partisans in the South for home-rule; another came from the negroes that they were constantly disfranchised, intimidated and assaulted by the White League, a body of men organized in the Gulf States for the purpose of breaking up the "carpetbag governments." So conflicting were the stories, and so great the fear of a final and destructive war of races, that the Congressional elections in the North were for the first time since the war greatly influenced. The Forty-fourth Congress, which met in December, 1875, had been changed by what was called "the tidal wave," from Republican to Democratic, and M. C. Kerr, of Indiana, was elected Speaker. The Senate remained Republican with a reduced margin. The troubles in the South, and especially in Louisiana, had been in the year previous and were still of the gravest character. Gen'l Sheridan had been sent to New OrVOTING GUILTY Messrs. Bayard, leans and on the 10th of January, 1875, BOOTH, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cockrell, made a report which startled the country Cooper, Davis, Dawes, Dennis, Édmunds, as to the doings of the White League. As Gordon, Hamilton, Harvey, Hitchcock, it still remains a subject for frequent quoKelly, Kernan, Key, McCreery, McDonald, tation we give its text: Merrimon, Mitchell, Morrill of Vermont, Norwood, Oglesby, Randolph, Ransom, SHERIDAN'S REPORT. Stevenson, Thurman, Wadleigh, Wallace, HON. W. W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War: NEW ORLEANS, January 10, 1875. Whyte, Withers-35. VOTING NOT GUILTY-Messrs. Allison, Since the year 1866, nearly thirty-five Anthony, Boutwell, Bruce, Cameron of Wisconsin, Christiancy, Conkling, Conover, Cragin, Dorsey, Eaton, Ferry of Michigan, Frelinghuysen, Hamlin, Howe, Ingalls, Jones of Nevada, Logan, McMillan, Paddock, Patterson, Spencer, West, Windom, Wright-25. Mr. JONES of Florida declined to vote. hundred persons, a great majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and wounded in this State. In 1868 the official record shows that eighteen hundred and eighty-four were killed and wounded. From 1868 to the present time, no official investigation has been made, and the civil authorities in all but a few cases have been unable to arrest, convict and punish per- Judge Baker, the United States Commis petrators. Consequently, there are no cor- sioner and parish judge, together with rect records to be consulted for informa-O'Neal, the sheriff, and Walker, the clerk tion. There is ample evidence, however, of the court; and they have compelled the to show that more than twelve hundred parish and district courts to suspend operapersons have been killed and wounded du- tions. Judge Baker states that the White ring this time, on account of their political Leaguers notified him several times that if sentiments. Frightful massacres have oc- he became a candidate on the republican curred in the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, ticket, or if he attempted to organize the Catahoula, Saint Bernard, Saint Landry, republican party, he should not live until Grant and Orleans. The general charac-election. ter of the massacres in the above named They also tried to intimidate him through parishes is so well known that it is unneces- his family by making the same threats to sary to describe them. The isolated cases his wife, and when told by him that he was can best be illustrated by the following in-, a United States commissioner, they notified stances which I have taken from a mass him not to attempt to exercise the functions. of evidence now lying before me of men of his office. In but few of the country killed on account of their political princi- parishes can it be truly said that the law is In Natchitoches Parish, the num- properly enforced, and in some of the parber of isolated cases reported is thirty-ishes the judges have not been able to hold three. In the parish of Bienville, the court for the past two years. Human life number of men killed is thirty. In Red in this State is held so cheaply, that when River Parish the number of isolated cases men are killed on account of political of men killed is thirty-four. In Winn Par- opinions, the murderers are regarded rather ish the number of isolated cases where men as heroes than as criminals, in the localiwere killed i- fifteen. In Jackson Parish ties where they reside, and by the White the number killed is twenty; and in Cata-League and their supporters An illustrahoula Parish the number of isolated cases tion of the ostracism that prevails in the reported where men were killed is fifty; State may be found in a resolution of a and most of the country parishes through- White League club in the parish of De out the State will show a corresponding Soto, which states, That they pledge state of affairs. The following statement themselves under (no?) circumstances after will illustrate the character and kind of the coming election to employ, rent land these outrages. On the 29th of August, to, or in any other manner give aid, com1874. in Red River Parish, six State and fort, or credit, to any man, white or black, parish officers, named Twitchell, Divers, who votes against the nominees of the Holland. Howell, Edgerton and Willis, white man's party." Safety for individuals were taken, together with four negroes, who express their opinion in the isolated under guard, to be carried out of the State, portion of this State has existed only when and were deliberately murdered on the 30th that opinion was in favor of the principles of August, 1874. The White League tried, and party supported by the Ku-Klux and sentenced, and hung two negroes on the White League organizations. Only yes28th of August, 1874. Three negroes were terday Judge Myers, the parish judge of shot and killed at Brownsville, just before the parish of Natchitoches, called on me the arrival of the United States troops in upon his arrival in this city, and stated the parish. Two White Leaguers rode up that in order to reach here alive, he was to a negro cabin and called for a drink of obliged to leave his home by stealth, and water. When the old colored man turned after nightfall, and make his way to Little to draw it, they shot him in the back and Rock, Arkansas, and come to this city by killed him. The courts were all broken way of Memphis. He further states that up in this district, and the district judge while his father was lying at the point of driven out. In the parish of Caddo, prior death in the same village, he was unable to the arrival of the United States troops, to visit him for fear of assassination; and all of the officers at Shreveport were com- yet he is a native of the parish, and propelled to abdicate by the White League, scribed for his political sentiments only. which took possession of the place. Among It is more than probable that if bad govthose obliged to abdicate were Walsh, the ernment has existed in this State it is the mayor, Rapers, the sheriff, Wheaton, clerk result of the armed organizations, which of the court, Durant, the recorder, and have now crystallized into what is called the Ferguson and Renfro, administrators. Two White League; instead of bad government colored men, who had given evidence in developing them, they have by their terregard to frauds committed in the parish, rorism prevented to a considerable extent were compelled to flee for their lives and the collection of taxes, the holding of reached this city last night, having been courts, the punishment of criminals, and smuggled through in a cargo of cotton. In vitiated public sentiment by familiarizing the parish of Bossier the White League it with the scenes above described. I am have attempted to force the abdication of now engaged in compiling evidence for a detailed report upon the above subject, but P. H. SHERIDAN, President Grant said in a special message to Congress, January 13, 1875 "It has been bitterly and persistently alleged that Kellogg was not elected. Whether he was or not is not altogether certain, nor is it any more certain that his competitor, McEnery, was chosen. The election was a gigantic fraud, and there are no reliable returns of its result. Kellogg obtained possession of the office, and in my opinion has more right to it than his competitor. "On the 20th of February, 1873, the Committee on Privileges and Elections of the Senate made a report, in which they say they were satisfied by testimony that the manipulation of the election machinery by Warmoth and others was equivalent to twenty thousand votes; and they add, to recognize the McEnery government 'would be recognizing a government based upon fraud, in defiance of the wishes and intention of the voters of the State.' Assuming the correctness of the statements in this report, (and they seem to have been generally accepted by the country,) the great crime in Louisiana, about which so much has been said, is, that one is holding the office of governor who was cheated out of twenty thousand votes, against another whose title to the office is undoubtedly based on fraud, and in defiance of the wishes and intentions of the voters of the State. culty, which grew out of an attempt of white persons to drive the parish judge and sheriff, appointees of Kellogg, from office, and their attempted protection by colored persons, which led to some fighting in which quite a number of negroes were killed, the judge states: "Most of those who were not killed were taken prisoners. Fifteen or sixteen of the blacks had lifted the boards and taken refuge under the floor of the courthouse. They were all captured. About thirty-seven men were taken prisoners; the number is not definitely fixed. They were kept under guard until dark. They were led out, two by two, and shot. Most of the men were shot to death. A few were wounded, not mortally, and by pretending to be dead were afterward, during the night, able to make their escape. Among them was the Levi Nelson named in the indictment. The dead bodies of the negroes killed in this affair were left unburied until Tuesday, April 15, when they were buried by a deputy marshal and an officer of the militia from New Orleans. These persons found fifty-nine dead bodies. They showed pistol-shot wounds, the great majority in the head, and most of them in the back of the head. In addition to the fifty-nine dead bodies found, some charred remains of dead bodies were discovered near the court-house. Six dead bodies were found under a warehouse, all shot in the head but one or two, which were shot in the breast. "The only white men injured from the beginning of these troubles to their close were Hadnot and Harris. The courthouse and its contents were entirely consumed. "There is no evidence that any one in the crowd of whites bore any lawful warrant for the arrest of any of the blacks. There is no evidence that either Nash or Cazabat, after the affair, ever demanded their offices, to which they had set up claim, but Register continued to act as parish judge, and Shaw as Sheriff. 'Misinformed and misjudging as to the nature and extent of this report, the supporters of McEnery proceeded to displace by force in some counties of the State the appointees of Governor Kellogg; and on the 13th of April, in an effort of that kind, a butchery of citizens was committed at Colfax, which in blood-thirstiness and bar-stand them to be admitted.' barity is hardly surpassed by any acts of savage warfare. "To put this matter beyond controversy, I quote from the charge of Judge Woods, of the United States circuit court, to the jury in the case of the United States vs. Cruikshank and others, in New Orleans, in March, 1874. He said: "In the case on trial there are many ficts not in controversy. I proceed to state some of them in the presence and hearing of counsel on both sides; and if I state as a conceded fact any matter that is disputed, they can correct me.' After stating the origin of the diffi "These are facts in this case, as I under "To hold the people of Louisiana generally responsible for these atrocities would not be just; but it is a lamentable fact that insuperable obstructions were thrown in the way of punishing these murderers, and the so-called conservative papers of the State not only justified the massacre, but denounced as Federal tyranny and despotism the attempt of the United States officers to bring them to justice. Fierce denunciations ring through the country about office-holding and election matters in Louisiana, while every one of the Colfax miscreants goes unwhipped of justice, and no way can be found in this boasted land of civilization and Christianity to punish such awards shall be made, we hereby the perpetrators of this bloody and monstrous crime. severally agree to abide by the same: And such of us as may become members of the House of Representatives, under this arrangement, hereby severally agree to sustain by our influence and votes the joint resolution herein set forth. [Here follow the signatures of the Demo Not unlike this was the massacre in August last. Several northern young men of capital and enterprise had started the little and flourishing town of Coushatta. Some of them were republicans and officeholders under Kellogg. They were there-crats who claimed that their certificates of fore doomed to death. Six of them were seized and carried away from their homes and murdered in cold blood. No one has been punished; and the conservative press of the State denounced all efforts to that end, and boldly justified the crime." election as members of the House of Representatives had been illegally withheld by the Returning Board.] And the undersigned claiming to have? been elected Senators from the Eighth and Twenty-Second Senatorial Districts, hereby The House on the 1st of March, 1875, agree to submit their claims to the foreby a strict party vote, 155 Republicans to going award and arbitrament, and in all 86 Democrats, recognized the Kellogg gov-respects to abide the results of the same. ernment. The Senate did the same on [Here follow the signatures of the DemoMarch 5th, by 33 to 23, also a party vote. crats, who made a like claim as to seats in Under the influence of the resolution the Senate.] unanimously adopted by the House of Representatives of the United States, recommending that the House of Representatives of that State seat the persons rightfully entitled thereto from certain district-, the whole subject was, by consent of parties, referred to the Special Committee of the House who examined into Louisiana affairs, viz. Messrs. George F. Hoar, William A. Wheeler, William P. Frye, Charles Foster, William Walter Phelps. Clarkson N. Potter and Samuel S. Marshall, who, after careful examination, made an award, which was adopted by the Legislature in April, 1875. It is popularly known as the "Wheeler Compromise." : Text of the Wheeler Compromise. NEW ORLEANS, March, 1875. Whereas, It is desirable to adjust the difficulties growing out of the general election in this State, in 1872, the action of the Returning Board in declaring and promulgating the results of the general election, in the month of November last, and the organization of the House of Representatives, on the 4th day of January last, such adjustment being deemed necessary to the re-establishment of peace and order in this State. Now, therefore, the undersigned members of the Conservative party, claiming to have been elected members of the House of Representatives, and that their certificates of election have been illegally withheld by the Returning Board, hereby severally agree to submit their claims to seats in the House of Representatives to the award and arbitrament of George F. Hoar, William A. Wheeler, William P. Frye, Charles Foster, William Walter Phelps, Clarkson N. Potter, and Samuel S. Marshall, who are hereby authorized to examine and determine the same upon the equities of the several cases; and when And the undersigned, holding certificates of election from the Returning Board, hereby severally agree that upon the coming in of the award of the foregoing arbitrators they will, when the same shall have been ratified by the report of the Committee on Elections and Qualifications of the body in session at the State House claiming to be the House of Representatives, attend the sitting of the said House for the purpose of adopting said report, and if said report shall be adopted, and the members embraced in the foregoing report shall be seated, then the undersigned severally agree that immediately upon the adoption of said report they will vote for the following joint resolution: [Here follow the signatures of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives in relation to whose seats there was no controversy.] JOINT RESOLUTION. Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That said Assembly, without approving the same, will not disturb the present State Government claiming to have been elected in 1872, known as the Kellogg Government, or seek to impeach the Governor for any past official acts, and that henceforth it will accord to said Governor all necessary and legitimate support in maintaining the laws and advancing the peace and prosperity of the people of this State: and that the House of Representatives, as to its members, as constituted under the award of George F. Hoar, W. A. Wheeler, W. P. Frye, Charles Foster, Samuel S. Marshall, Clarkson N. Potter, and William Walter Phelps, shall remain without change except by resignation or death of members until a new general election, and that the Senate, as now organized, shall also remain unchanged except so far as that body shall make changes on contests. |
