YIK<;INI.\. 



717 



f Richmond, which attract, d much atten- 

 iiot only in tho State, hut throughout tho 

 country nt largo. The "Enabling Act," BO 

 c.illc'l, hcvi.l, , providing for tlio holding over 

 i if otlicers appointed under tho provisional 

 inneiit, contained other sections. In pur- 

 of \\hieh provisions, Governor Walker 

 on tho 15th of March appointed members of 

 the city council for tho dill'erent wards of 

 Kichimmd, who subsequently assembled, and, 

 according to tho said law, choso Mr. Kllyson 

 , and proceeded to appoint n chief of 

 pulice. and other officers of tho police force. 

 Mayor Chahoon, who had been appointed by 

 (i.'iieral Schofield, in 1808, under the recon- 

 struction acts, with his subordinates, refused 

 to deliver up their offices to tho newly-elected 

 otliciuls, regarding their election as illegal on 

 the ground that tho sections of tho Enabling 

 Act were unconstitutional, and claimed that 

 they had a right to hold over, under tho general 

 ]> ro visions of tho act, until there should bo an 

 election by the people. It was asserted, on tho 

 other hand, in behalf of Mr. Ellyson, that the 

 act was constitutional ; that Mr. Chahoon, being 

 the appointee of tho military power, had no 

 title to tho office after tho readmission of tho 

 State; and, furthermore, that Chuhoon, by 

 holding the office of United States commis- 

 sioner, was disqualified from holding the office 

 of mayor by the State constitution. Upon his 

 election, Mr. Ellyson requested a surrender of 

 the office of Mr. Chahoon, who declined. On 

 the same day Mayor Chahoon addressed a let- 

 ter to Governor Walker, expressing apprehen- 

 sions that a serious breach of the peace might 

 arise, and requesting the Governor to furnish 

 him with such force as would preserve order 

 until the courts should decide upon the question 

 at issue between Mr. Ellyson and himself. To 

 this request the Governor replied that he could 

 not recognize him as mayor, and added that 

 he could " perceive no reason for a breach of 

 tho peace, nor how it can occur except through 

 your act and approval." The request was 

 accordingly refused. Mr. Ellyson, upon being 

 refused possession of tho office by Mr. Chahoon, 

 immediately began to swear in upward of 

 two hundred policemen, and proceeded to take 

 possession of the public buildings. lie suc- 

 ceeded in occupying the City Hall and the other 

 buildings, except two or three station-houses, 

 in one of which Mayor Chahoon, supported by 

 about thirty of his police, was besieged. On 

 the following day Mayor Chahoon applied to 

 General Canby for assistance, which wan 

 granted, and tho following note was addressed 

 by General Canby to Mr. Ellyson : 



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, ) 



RICHMOND, VA., March 18, 1870. j 



Mr. IT. K. Ellyton, Richmond, Va. 



SIB: I will send, at two o'clock to-day, a commis- 

 sioned officer and ten men to tho Old Market Hall, as 

 11 u'u:ird for the building and the other public property 

 ^hat may be there, and shall request Mr. Chahoon to 

 send away all the police force and other persons that 

 111:17 be there, except such messengers, clerks, etc., 



wf may bo necessary for the transaction of busfneM. 

 Th '"Ulcer of the guard will be instructed that hi* 

 dutic* are simply to ee that the property of the city 

 is guarded, tliat free ingress and egress are secured t< 

 ull pi-ntona having huxtneiis in t!..- hull-ling, and that 

 the occupant* aro not ejected by force irom their 



possession. 



Tlii.t action cannot, of course, affect in any way any 

 question involved in the pending controversy, and it 

 t:tK< n I'un-ly as a precaution uguinut any act* 

 order or violence, un.l until tin- .jiii--ti-.n at issue can 

 bo brought to a judicial determination. 



Very respectfully, - 



EDWAED CANBY, Bvt. Muj.-Gen. commanding. 



Upon tho receipt of this note Mayor Ellyson 

 ordered tho withdrawal of his police force, 

 and the city was thus left with tho military to 

 preserve the peace, and two claimants to the 

 Mayoralty, the one exercising his functions at 

 th,e old Market Hall, and tho other at tho City 

 Hall. General Canby's note was forwarded by 

 Mr. Ellyson to tho Governor, who, on the fol- 

 lowing day, addressed the general as follows: 

 COMMONWEALTH OF VIBOINIA, 



OINIA, 1 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, V 

 9, 1870. ) 



RICHMOND, V>. t March 19, 

 Major- General Canby, commanding, etc. 



Siu: From the morning press and from other 

 sources I learn that a military force under your com- 

 mand has been interposed to prevent the mayor of 

 this city, elected, qualified, and acting under the 

 laws of the State, from the proper discharge of his 

 duties, and with the seeming intention of enabling 

 another person, a mere pretender to that office, to 

 discharge the ''current business" of the office. As 

 there has been no request by the Legislature or any 

 of the civil authorities of the State for military aid, 

 I cannot understand how or why the military forces 

 of the United States should be employed in such a 

 case, or why the military officer of the United States 

 should discriminate against a recognized civil officer 

 in favor of one not recognized as an officer by the 

 laws or the constituted authorities of the State. 



As Governor of the Commonwealth, I ask by what 

 law or authority vou have taken such action? 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

 G. C. WALKER, Governor of the State of Virginia. 



In his reply to the Governor, General Canby 

 used the following language: 



I have not discriminated in favor or against cither 

 of the contestants in this case. The legal questions 

 involved in this controversy are proper subjects for 

 judicial determination by the civil courts, and the 

 action taken by me has no other object than to aid in 

 the preservation of tho peace of tne city until that 

 determination can bo reached, or the proper civil 

 courts can take jurisdiction of the matters in question. 



The warrant for that action is the instructions of 

 tho President of the United States and the Secretary 

 of War to district department commanders, and 

 the precedents established heretofore, taken under 

 the authority of such instructions in precisely similar 

 cases, some of which 1 have already had the honor 

 to cite to your Excellency. These instructions are 

 substantially that, until the legal questions involved 

 in any controversy of this kind arc solved, there can 

 bo no action by tho military except by such inter- 

 position between the contesting parties as may bo 

 necessary to prevent breaches of tne peace and hos- 

 tile collisions between citizens, and to tho end that 

 in any event the peace may be preserved. 



I think it proper to add to this that from several 

 conferences witn Mr. Ellyson and one with Mr. Cha- 

 hoon, I had reason to infer that this action would 

 be concurred in by both, and that both would abstain 

 from action of force that would bo likely to produoo 



