"That truth should be silent I had almost forgot"--Enobarbus in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, back in Rome after having been too long in Egypt.--------- Melville's PIERRE, Book 4, chapter 5: "Something ever comes of all persistent inquiry; we are not so continually curious for nothing."
Friday, September 10, 2021
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
An 1880s template for ongoing ongoing ongoing "recount" of Arizona ballots from 2020.
“Miller
Ragsdale, who is a notorious card sharp handled the ballots, and as I knew his
reputation I watched him. The first colored voter offered his ballot a few minutes after the
polls opened. Ragsdale, to my astonishment began to open the ballot, and as he
opened it he slipped from his sleeve another Republican ballot and held up the
two ballots and exclaimed: ‘the black
rascal is trying to vote a folded ballot!’
“Thereupon
the Democrats gathered around, with hands in their hip pockets, and said they
did not intend to have Mahone methods adopted there. Ragsdale said he would
open every colored man's ballot thereafter, and whenever a colored voter
appeared he did open his ballot and expose it. I protested against this and
told him that the law guaranteed a secret ballot. He said he knew the law and
did not want any Republican advice, and continued all day to open the colored
men's ballots. Runners were posted outside to warn colored men that their
ballots would be known and their employment taken away if they voted the
Republican ticket.
“The
judges then proceeded to conduct the election according to their plan. No
Republican voter was allowed to vote who had been absent thirty days in the
last twelve months, although their homes and families were there, while
Democrats were allowed to vote who had been absent two years. Colored voters
who had always lived and voted there were told that they had been transferred
to precincts twenty-five or thirty miles distant, although they protested that
they had never heard of the precinct and could not get there. Many were told
that their names were not registered, although they had heretofore always voted
there. The recently registered colored voters were all told that they did not
look like they were of age, and on their offers to prove their age they were
told they would not believe a negro on oath. Some were refused votes because their families were in Danville, while they worked at Chatham. Others were told
they they could not vote at Chatham, although their families lived there,
because they worked a month in Danville.
“Colored
voters who had regular transfers from other precincts in the county were denied
the right to vote because their transfers were not in proper form, although
they were issued by Democratic registrars. These are only a few of the many
outrages perpetrated, and I wrote every one of them down, giving names and
acts, and forward the list to Petersburg last night.
Sample of Democratic Rabble-Rousing (not Republican Rabble-Rousing)--white women with negro babies
Staunton Spectator 6 November 1883
VIRGINIA IN SACKCLOTH AND ASHES . . .
Infamy.--D. R. Strouse, from Salem, reports that Gov. Cameron in his speech there said, "I understand there are white people here who are afraid that their daughters will have negro babies."
If Gov. Cameron or any other man talks in this way from the stump in Virginia, he should be taken right out and treated to a coat of tar and feathers, be he drunk or sober.--Charlotteville Chronicle.
A new headline from Texas? 2 Negroes Appointed to the School Board . . . . No, it's Richmond, VA
The State Board of Education has appointed two negroes on the School Board for Richmond. Are the white people of this State going to stand it? Will they not rise up in a body and put down the Coalitionists?--Danville Times.
as copied in the Richmond Dispatch 24 February 1883


