496 



LOUISIANA. 



ators elect so furnished upon the roll of the House 

 and of the Senate respectively ; and those Bepre- 

 sentatives and Senators whose names are so placed 

 by the Clerk and Secretary respectively, in accord- 

 ance with the foregoing provision, and none other, 

 shall be competent to organize the House of Eepre- 

 sentatives or Senate. Nothing in this act shall be 

 construed to conflict with Article XXXIV. of the 

 constitution of the State. 



At twelve o'clock it. on January 4, 1875, the State- 

 House being surrounded by an excited crowd of sev- 

 eral thousand persons, the members assembled in 

 the hall of the House, and the Chief Clerk called the 

 roll of the House. Immediately afterward, or a lit- 

 tle before the Clerk had finished the announcement 

 of the number of members who answered to their 

 names, which was 102, Mr. Billieu, representative 

 from Lafourche, moved that L. A. Wiltz, represent- 

 ative from Orleans, be elected temporary^ Speaker. 

 The Chief Clerk replied that the legal motion was to 

 elect a Speaker. 



Mr. Billieu, paying no attention to the protest of 

 the Clerk, proceeded hurriedly to publish his own 

 motion, against the protest of all the Eepublican rep- 

 resentatives. 



The motion was put in a quick and excited man- 

 ner, and not in a loud voice, and -was voted for only 

 by a portion of even the Democratic members. The 

 negative was not put at all. 



Mr. Wiltz, having previously taken a position 

 near the Clerk's desk, as quick as thought, upon 

 putting the motion, and without waiting for any 

 announcement of the vote, sprang to |he Speak- 

 er's desk where the Clerk was standing, seized the 

 gavel from his hand, and pushed the Clerk vio- 

 lently off the stand, and declared himself temporary 

 Speaker. Following him was W. T. Houston, first 

 justice of the peace in the parish of Orleans, who 

 took from his pocket a book looking like a Bible, 

 and proceeded to go through the form of administer- 

 ing an oath. 



Mr. Wiltz, as temporary Speaker, assumed to ad- 

 minister the oath to members en masse, against the 

 protest of the Kepublican members. Some Demo- 

 cratic members then made a motion to elect Treze- 

 vant as Clerk. Mr. Wiltz put the motion, and 

 declared it carried. Mr. Trezevant at once sprang 

 forward and took the Clerk's chair. Immediately 

 after, in a hurried and excited manner, a Mr. Flood 

 was elected Sergeant-at-Arms upon motion by a 

 Democratic member : also, a motion was made from 

 the same side of the House that a number of Assist- 

 ant Sergeants-at-Arms be appointed by the Chair, 

 which tne Chair declared carried, when a large num- 

 ber of persons at once appeared wearing badges, on 

 which was printed " Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms." 

 While all the above motions were being put, the 

 Eepublican members objected, and called for the 

 yeas and nays, all of wtiich was disregarded by the 

 acting Speaker. Colonel Lowell, a Eepublioan mem- 

 ber, made the point of prder that the constitution 

 of the State allowed any two members to call for the 

 yeas and nays on any motion. Mr. Wiltz decided 

 the point or order not well taken. (See constitu- 

 tional provision above.) The pretended House then 

 proceeded, in defiance of the law, to swear in five 

 additional Democratic members, to wit: James 

 Brice, Jr., of Bienville ; Charles Schuler and John L. 

 Scales, of De Soto; C. C. Dunn, of Grant, and 

 George A. Kelley, of Winn, by which the Democrats 

 gave themselves a majority. The Eepublicans pro- 

 tested against this violence and lawlessness, but 

 their protests were disregarded. The Democrats 

 then assumed to elect a permanent chairman. Mr. 

 Wiltz declared hims.elf elected, after going through 

 the usual form, having received, as he claims, fifty- 

 fiye votes, which included the five men seated in 

 violation of law, the Eepublican members withdraw- 

 ing and not voting, as they deemed the proceeding 

 illegal. About the time of the withdrawal of the 



Eepublican members of the House Mr. Wiltz gave, 

 or caused to be given, instructions to the persons 

 assuming to be Sergeants-at-Arms, not to allow any 

 one to pass out of or to enter the House. Great 

 commotion at once ensued, and quite a number of 

 knives and revolvers were drawn and displayed in a 

 threatening manner. Most of the Republican mem- 

 bers had already left the room amid great confusion, 

 when Mr. Dupre. of Orleans, a Democratic member, 

 moved that the Speaker be requested to call on the 

 United States troops to preserve the peace of the 

 House. The motion prevailed, and a committee, of 

 which Mr. Dupre was appointed chairman, was ap- 

 pointed to wait on General de Trobriand and request 

 the interference of United States troops to preserve 

 the peace. In a short time the committee returned, 

 accompanied by General de Trobriand and staff. 

 Upon the appearance of General de Trobriand on 

 the floor, loud applause came from the Democratic 

 Bide of the House. General de Trobriand moved to 

 the Speaker's desk, and Mr. Wiltz stated in substance 

 the reason for his being summoned, and informed 

 him of the impossibility of his being able to enforce 

 prder and preserve peace. General de Trobriand, 

 in substance, the committee being unable to get the 

 exact words, asked Mr. Wiltz whether it was riot 

 possible for him to preserve order and keep the 

 peace without calling on him as a United States 

 officer. Mr. Wiltz replied that it was impossible ; 

 that he had already instructed the Sergeant-at-Arms 

 to do so. Then General de Trobriand took action 

 in the matter, and quiet was restored with little 

 trouble. Mr. Wiltz then assured General de Tro- 

 briand that his coming_ had prevented bloodshed, 

 and, as your committee is reliably informed, on mo- 

 tion thanked him in the name of the General Assem- 

 bly of Louisiana for his prompt response to the 

 summons of the House, and the general retired. 

 The Eepublican members then signed and presented 

 the following application to the Governor, request- 

 ing that the legal members be put in possession of 

 the hall : 



NEW ORLEANS, January 4, 1875. 

 To His Excellency WILLIAM P. KELLOOG, Governor. 



DEAK SIR : The undersigned, members-elect of the 

 House of Eepresentatives of the General Assembly of 

 the State, assembled at the hall of the House, in the 

 State-House, at 12 M. this day, and answered to the 

 call made by the Clerk. Immediately thereafter the 

 chair was forcibly taken possession of in violation 

 of law, and an attempt was made to organize the 

 House contrary to law. We cannot obtain our legal 

 rights unless the members-elect are placed in pos- 

 session of the hall. Whenever the hall is cleared of 

 all persons save the gentlemen elected we will pro- 

 ceed to organize. We therefore invoke your aid in 

 placing the hall in possession of the members-elect, 

 that we may attend to the performance of our duties. 

 Eespectfully. 



Here follow the signatures of fifty-two, including 

 the following : 



I have consented to sign this document on the 

 ground that the conservative members of the House 

 have set a precedent by appointing a special com- 

 mittee to wait on General de Trobriand, who imme- 

 diately appeared at the bar of the House, escorted 

 by said special committee. 



EOBEET F. GUICHAKD, 



Eepresentative of St. Bernard. 



This was signed by fifty-two legally-elected and 

 returned members. In response to this application 

 the Governor applied to the military force of the 

 United States to assist his officers in expelling in- 

 truders and disturbers of the peace and preserving 

 'order, which assistance was rendered, and by it or- 

 der was restored. 



When the Kepublican members returned to the 

 hall, following General de Trobriand at his request 

 and under his protection, and attempted to follow 



