LOUISIANA. 



493 



sub-committees, to conduct different branches 

 of the inquiry. Numerous witnesses were ex- 

 ainincii in New Orleans and in the various 

 localitios whciv tacts wore to be ascertained, 

 and many affidavits and other papers were re- 

 r.i\t<l. The investigations were continued 

 into the month of January, 1877, and the re- 

 ports were made to Congress late in the ss- 



On the 1st day of January, 1877, the date 

 for the meeting of the Legislature, the State- 

 House was occupied by armed police and mili- 

 tia, and barricaded, by order of Governor Kel- 

 logg. No persons were admitted to the legis- 

 lative halls except those having certificates of 

 election from the Returning Board. The Dem- 

 ocrats refused to enter and take part in the 

 organization and proceedings of the two 

 Houses, and, withdrawing, met at St. Pat- 

 rick's Hall. Here all those were admitted who 

 were declared by the Democratic committee 

 to have been duly elected. The body which 

 occupied the State-House consisted of 19 Sen- 

 ators and 68 Representatives. Of the former 

 8 held over aud 11 had certificates of election 

 from the returning officers. All the Repre- 

 sentatives had Returning Board certificates. 

 The St. Patrick's Hall Assembly consisted of 

 21 Senators and 62 Representatives. Of the 

 Senators 9 held over, 8 were declared elected 

 by the Returning Board, and 4 claimed to have 

 been elected, but held their certificates from 

 the Democratic Committee on Returns. Of 

 the Representatives 40 were returned as 

 elected by the official board, and 22 had no 

 certificates from that body. By the constitu- 

 tion the Legislature is made to consist of 36 

 Senators and 120 Representatives. 



In the Returning Board Legislature C. C. 

 Antoine presided over the Senate, and Michael 

 Halm was chosen Speaker of the House. In 

 the St. Patrick's Hall body Louis A. Wiltz was 

 President of the Senate, and Louis Bush 

 Speaker of the House. Each body claimed to 

 be the legal Legislature of the State, and to 

 have a quorum of members lawfully chosen, 

 and each protested against the existence of the 

 other, and proceeded with the business of the 

 session. On the 2d of January the Republi- 

 can Legislature, in joint assembly, received 

 from the Secretary of State the returns of the 

 election, as compiled by the Returning Board, 

 and declared the election of Packard and An- 

 toine. On the same day in joint assembly of 

 the Democratic Legislature all the parish re- 

 turns were read, and Nicholls and Wiltz were 

 declared elected. Subsequently an act was 

 passed making the Lieutenant - Governor, 

 Speaker of the House, and three Senators to 

 be elected by the Senate from different political 

 parties, a Board of Canvassers to canvass and 

 compile the vote for other officers. This board 

 organized and performed the duty assigned 

 to it, declaring the result of the election as it 

 appeared on the face of the returns. 



On the 8th of January Packard and Antoine 



were formally inaugurated as Governor and 

 Lieutenant-Governor at the State- House, and 

 Nicholls and Wiltz were inaugurated at St. 

 Patrick's Hall. The Democrats established 

 new courts and new offices, and the complete 

 machinery of government was set up under 

 Nicholls. Collision was prevented partly by 

 the presence of United States troops, under 

 General Augur, and partly by the forbearance 

 of both parties, who were disposed to await 

 the determination at Washington of the elec- 

 toral vote of the State, and the recognition of 

 the result of the election. Packard called 

 upon the Federal Government to recognize 

 his claims and protect him against domestic 

 violence, but orders were given to General 

 Augur to confine himself to the preservation 

 of the peace. 



General Francis T. Nicholls was born in 

 Ascension Parish, in 1834, and belongs to one 

 of the most prominent families in the State. 

 He received a military education, and gradu- 

 ated at the West Point Academy in 1855. He 

 served as a lieutenant of artillery in the reg- 

 ular army for one year, a part of the time in 

 the Seminole War in Florida, the residue on 

 outpost duty in California. In 1856 he resigned 

 his commission, and began the practice of law 

 in Assumption Parish. At the breaking ont 

 of the civil war he entered the Confederate 

 service as captain in the Eighth Louisiana Re- 

 giment. He advanced rapidly in promotion 

 until he attained the rank of brigadier-general. 

 He lost an arm in Virginia while eervingunder 

 " Stonewall " Jackson, and at the battle of 

 Chancellorsville received a wound that neces- 

 sitated the amputation of his left leg. Though 

 incapacitated for active service, he remained 

 on duty in the army until the close of the 

 war. He then resumed the practice of his pro- 

 fession in Assumption Parish, and has held a 

 high position at the bar. 



The case of J. C. Moncure against Antoine 

 Dubuclet, contesting the election of the latter 

 to the office of State Treasurer in 1874, was 

 decided by the Supreme Court in May. A 

 majority of the judges took the ground that 

 the action of the Returning Board was conclu- 

 sive in declaring Dubuclet elected, although he 

 did not receive a majority of the votes cast, 

 those of De Soto, Grant, and Winn Parishes, 

 having been thrown out. Judge Taliaferro, in 

 rendering the decision, said : 



The act creating the Returning Board provides 

 that the returns of elections thus made and promul- 

 gated shall be prima- facie evidence in all courts of 

 justice, and before all civil officers, until set aside 

 after a contest according to law. The contest, then, 

 which involves the rebuttal of the pnma-facit evi- 

 dence of the correctness of the returns of the Return- 

 ing Board, and the reopening of the investigation of 

 the election returns in order to determine which of 

 two opposing candidates is entitled to a given office, 

 is a contest to be made according to law. If the law- 

 maker has omitted to enact the law under which 

 proceedings in such cases are to b conducted, it is 

 eatut omifgut, which the courts cunnot supply. In 

 civil goTernment rights are enforced by rules and 



