en bitterly and persistently alleged that Kellogg was not
elected. Whether he was or not is not altogether certain, nor is it any
more certain that his competitor, McEnery, was chosen. The election
was a gigantic fraud, and there are no reliable returns of its result.
Kellogg obtained possession of the office, and in my opinion has more
right to it than his competitor.

On the 20th of February, 1873, the Committee on Privileges and Elections
of the Senate made a report in which they say they were satisfied by
testimony that the manipulation of the election machinery by Warmoth and
others was equivalent to 20,000 votes; and they add that to recognize
the McEnery government "would be recognizing a government based upon
fraud, in defiance of the wishes and intention of the voters of the
State." Assuming the correctness of the statements in this report (and
they seem to have been generally accepted by the country), the great
crime in Louisiana, about which so much has been said, is that one is
holding the office of governor who was cheated out of 20,000 votes,
against another whose title to the office is undoubtedly based on fraud
and in defiance of the wishes and intentions of the voters of the State.

Misinformed and misjudging as to the nature and extent of this report,
the supporters of McEnery proceeded to displace by force in some
counties of the State the appointees of Governor Kellogg, and on the
13th of April, in an effort of that kind, a butchery of citizens was
committed at Colfax, which in bloodthirstiness and barbarity is hardly
surpassed by any acts of savage warfare.

To put this matter beyond controversy I quote from the charge of Judge
Woods, of the United States circuit court, to the jury in the case of
The United States _vs_. Cruikshank and others, in New Orleans in March,
1874. He said:

In the case on trial there are many facts not in controversy. I proceed
to state some of them in the presence and hearing of counsel on both
sides; and if I state as a conceded fact any matter that is disputed,
they can correct me.

After stating the origin of the difficulty, which grew out of an attempt
of white persons to drive the parish judge and sheriff, appointees of
Kellogg, from office, and their attempted protection by colored persons,
which led to some fighting, in which quite a number of negroes were
killed, the judge states:

Most of those who were not killed were taken prisoners. Fifteen or
sixteen of