AKKANSAS. 



35 



practice in civil cases ; providing for the build- 

 ing and repairing of public levees by the issue of 

 seven per cent., fifty-year bonds, to an amount 

 not exceeding $3,000,000 ; and an act providing 

 for the election, by the General Assembly, of 

 one State director in each railroad company 

 for every $200,000 of its stock owned in the 

 State. Three new counties were also created, 

 as follows : Nevada, out of portions of Hemp- 

 stead, Ouachita, and Columbia, with a tempo- 

 rary county-seat at Mount Moriah; Sarber, 

 out of portions of Yell, Johnson, Franklin, 

 and Scott, with a temporary county-seat at 

 Reveille; and Lincoln, out of portions of 

 Drew, Desha, Arkansas, Bradley, and JefFer- 

 son, with a temporary county-seat at Cane- 

 Creek Church. The Legislature adjourned on 

 the 25th of March, having been in session two 

 months and twenty-three days, cost the State 

 $140,000, and passed seventy-three acts. 



The charges of fraud and corruption in the 

 conduct of the election in November, 1870, 

 were taken up by the United States District 

 Court, at its session in April, and a large num- 

 ber of indictments were found by the grand- 

 jury, including one against ex-Governor Clay- 

 ton, for issuing a certificate of election, as mem- 

 ber of Congress from the Third District, to Gen- 

 eral Edwards, when, as was alleged, he did 

 not receive a majority of the legal votes. The 

 charges that were made against registrars, 

 judges of election, and other officers, included 

 registration of persons not entitled to vote, 

 and even of persons who had no existence, re- 

 ceiving votes on the names thus fraudulently 

 registered, exclusion of persons from registra- 

 tion who had a right to vote, false counting of 

 the ballots, false returns of the results, etc. 

 These charges were never substantiated, but, 

 as the circumstances of their dismissal were 

 rather peculiar, it may be worth while to note 

 some of the facts regarding the election of 

 1870. In the first place, the entire vote num- 

 bered 53,800, or over 13,000 less than the 

 registered vote of 1867, when large numbers 

 were disfranchised by the reconstruction acts. 

 In Benton County, which has a population of 

 13,831, mostly white, there were but 854 per- 

 sons registered ; while in Hempstead County, 

 which has 13,768 inhabitants, about one-half 

 colored, there were 2,604 voters on the lists. 

 In Boone County, whose population of 7,032 

 is mostly white, there were but 312 names 

 registered ; while in Chicot County, which has 

 7,214 inhabitants, composed largely of colored 

 people, the vote was 2,561, or one for every 

 three persons in the county. Similar incon- 

 gruities were noted in other quarters, and spe- 

 cific accusations of fraud were produced before 

 the grand-jury. Soon after the indictments 

 already mentioned had been found, the United 

 States marshal, General Catterson, and the 

 District Attorney, Mr. Whipple, who had been 

 instrumental in instituting legal proceedings 

 against those charged with frauds in the elec- 

 tion, were removed by the President, on the 



application of Senator Clayton, and officials 

 friendly to the latter were put in their places. 

 The trials were then very generally abandoned, 

 and that of Clayton himself, which came off 

 in October, resulted in his acquittal. 



The general condition of society in the State 

 during the year was as peaceable as could rea- 

 sonably be expected. There were many local 

 disorders which were often attributed to the 

 so-called Ku-klux Klan ; but, although Sena- 

 tor Clayton declared at Washington that there 

 were 20,000 Ku-klux in the State, fully armed 

 and organized, investigation generally resulted 

 in a refutation of the stories. For instance : 

 there were reports of Ku-klux outrages in Se- 

 bastian County, and the people at once held a 

 mass-meeting, and chose a committee to inves- 

 tigate the matter. A large number of witness- 

 es were examined, and the result showed that 

 the disturbances had been greatly exaggerated, 

 and were local and personal in their nature, 

 having no reference whatever to the pretended 

 Ku-klux order. In Woodruff County, from 

 which the wildest reports proceeded, the judge 

 of the Circuit Court directed the grand-jury 

 to "go for, dig up, and root out" all the Ku- 

 klux in the county. After investigation, the 

 jury reported as follows : 



The grand-jury in and for said county having been 

 specially instructed by the court to "go for, dig up, 

 and root out" the Ku-klux and other secret organi- 

 zations banded together for unlawful purposes, re- 

 spectfully report that, in pursuance of said instruc- 

 tions, they have labored diligently to that end through 

 the entire term. They have examined witnesses from 

 every township in the county, being careful to select 

 reliable, truthful men, of different shades of political 

 opinion, black as well as white, in order that they 

 may not he misled in the investigation by the testi- 

 mony of interested or prejudiced witnesses ; and the 

 jurors report that they have failed to elicit from any 

 single witness any information of the existence in 

 the county of such organization, or any thing that 

 might lead to such information, and are fully satis- 

 fied, upon patient and thorough investigation, that 

 none such exists in the county. The jury are fur- 

 ther convinced, from information received in the 

 course of the above investigation, that there does not 

 exist in the county any spirit of lawlessness or oppo- 

 sition to the law, further than is occasionally mani- 

 fested in every community by individual offences 

 against law originating in personal or private griev- 

 ances. They have especially directed their attention 

 to this point, and no case that has come before them 

 could be traced to any other cause ; and the jury, hav- 

 ing performed the duty with which they were charged 

 by the court, respectfully ask that this, their report, 

 be spread upon the records. 



About the 18th of December, a quarrel be- 

 tween a white man and a negro, at Lake Village, 

 in Chicot County, resulted in the killing of 

 the latter. Three white men concerned in 

 the affair were arrested and shut, up in jail, 

 from which they were taken by a mob of ne- 

 groes and hanged. The matter caused a great 

 deal of excitement for a time, and there were 

 reports that the whites in Chicot County were 

 obliged to flee for their lives, the infuriated 

 negroes creating almost a reign of terror, but 

 before the end of the year quiet and security 

 seemed to be restored. 



