Mannings v. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, Florida Transcript of Record

    t

PEYTON MCCRARY
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

r)EPARTMENT OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH .ALABAMA

M()BILE. ALABAMA 36644
(2os) 460 62lo

2A SOUTH REED AVENUE
MOBILE. ALABAMA 36504
(zosl 479'oo45

February T, ]-9B3

l4s. Lanl Oulnler
NMCP Lega1 Defense and
Edueational Fund, Ine.

10 Columbus Cirele
Nev York, Nev York 10019

Dear Lanl,

EneLosed you wilt find sone htghllghts from Dianne Thompsonrs notes
on the tB?5 etection fraud 1as. She has made some Thermofa:c copies of
key artieles, for possible introduetion as exhiblts (and for your reading
ptlasure, as the aas say). I hope these quotations give you some idea
of ,ny I an so villing to testif! that the statute was enaeted vith a

racially diseriminatory Purpose.

I viII have Dianne pursue the questlon of how the t8?5 statute vas

enforced, that is to say, the degree to vhieh it vas used to arrest blacks
but not whites. Note that there are one or tvo references to arrests
for eleetlon frauds in the enelosecl notes. None of these arrests vas a
result of the applicatlon of the ner 18?5 statute.

The easy part of the researeh has now been done. Ttre enforcenent
of sueh a statute is not generally reported in the newspapers, but we may

get ]uclry. I will have Dianne look up the eases mentioned tn the Code'

io" op"n"rs, and. see if we can find further evldenee about the cases'
Beyond that, I shall have to invent a nev approaeh'

I apologize for the long deIay ln sunxnarizlng this naterial- for you

in vrltinL. I have been preoecupied rrith the Sumter County case for the
Justiee Departnent. That trlal is nert week, so I should be better able
to work on the electlon fraud statute ln the near firture.

Let me know lf you need anything further ln rriting at thls time.

Sineerely,

r.l 
i1(1 

z \
peyt-J Mecrary



Mobile Da1ly Reglster

Mareh 6, ].875, p. 1. Lgrrm FRoM MoNTGoMERY. Rep. James Greene elted
the eLectlon fraud blIl as more evl.dence of "the proscription of Republicans
in the State.rr He also contended that having one box for federal elections
and. another for state eleetions was designed to confuse black voters.
(Greene is a black legislator. )

Leter, during the campaign to call a new constititional convention (vhlch
sueceeded), the Demoeratic and Consenrative Exeeutive Comnittee of Alabama
included the folloving eomment ln its Address to the Voters:

July-?3,.L875, P. 3. "You may obJect to having to vote in a beat /electionprecinct/, but there can be no fair election in the Black BeIt vith&t tlat,
and' in your general elections do you deslre to be cheated out of the election
of 'cancliclates of your choice by fraudulent voting?"



Mobile Dally Reglster

Jan. 9, 187r, p. 2. WTIITE'S ELECTION BILL. "It is undoubtedly the purpose
of'the Alabama legislature to enact an Election Lav vhich will prevent
hereafter the great frauds which have been committed with the negro vote.
The voter vilI hereafter be compelled to vote ln the precinct in whlch he
resid.es, ln ord.er that lt may clearly be knovn that he is a 1ega1 voter, and.
to prevent the lntimidation and terrorism to which he is subJected by the
carpetbaggers /siclf , uho hold their League and NationaL Guard. meetings at
the county seats. l.Ie intend to break up the practice under vhich the
ad.venturers have collected. their dupes at the country ehurches, marched. them
in a:med bodies to the county seat, placed tickets in their hand.s, and
lnstructed. them hov to vote."

Jan. 17, 1B?r, p. 1. LETTER FROM MONTGOI\.{ERY. "The negroes opposed. a suspension
of the rules in a number of cases, ln order that biIl,s might not go to a second
reading. . . . Any bi11s affecting the conduct of elections in any loca11ty
or the agricultural lnterests of the state, or punishment for the commission
of a crime, invariably meet with obJeetions."

Jan.28, 1875. ELECTION LAw. "1,1r. Cobb has introduced. in the Senate a
general election bill, vith nany changes from the present lav.t' Among the
changes summarized. are the requirement that voters east ballots only in
the vard where they reside, a provlsion allowlng any quallfied voter to
challenge anotherrs right to vote at the polls, the eliminatlon of "obnoxious
features about lntimidation, simulation of ballots, ete.r" and a provision
giving election officials free rein to stuff ba1lot boxes, vhich reads as
follovs: "The ballots are retained by the inspectors in the several wards
or precinets, and only the eertiflcates and poll lists are forwarded to the
Frobate Judge, who . shall open and count the returns."

Jan.29, f87r, p. L. BY TELEGMPH FROM MONTGOI\mRY. In the House Datus Coon
of Selma introduced. a biLl to enforce the right to vote in Alabarna by
regulating punislunents of voters for election fraud. (fn other vord.s, the
Republicans elearly sav the election fraud. bill sponsored by the Denocrats --
the one which passed and under whlch Ms. i}oseman and Ms. Wilder vere found
guilty -- as a partisan statute which vas likely to be enforeed in a raclally
d.iscriminatory manner. )

Feb 7 , L875, , p. \. LIfITER FROM l,lONTGoMiRY. Committee on Privileges
and Elections reports a nev version of the election b111, includlng among
other changes a new seetion 38: "that any person voting more than once is
gullty of a felony."

l'eb. 27, l.t)T5, p. I. I.l,;l"l'1,;R l'lloM MoN'l'(;oM.l':llY. 'l'tre rlelrrrL(: over Llre l'rrllrd-
ufent votlng btll ln the llouse lncludes "vlolenL opposltlon from the Rcrdlcal
members." Among other issues, Rep. Coon argued that "the biII vould
prevent the free exerclse of the bal-lot in that negroes would be lnfluenced
and lntimlclated by their employers who vote in the s&me preelncL vlth them,
vhile this vould not be the case lf they were aLloved to go ln a bo<ly to
such points as they preferred.rl



Mobile Daily Register

Noy. 3, IBTI+, p. 2. 'Ve varrr the fraudulently registered ne8roes that they
are marked; that there is a clifference between registering and voting, and
iu.voting iI1ega1Iy they viII go from the poIls to prison."

Nov. l+, 1B?\, p. 1. THE ELECTION. The Register reports 300 "fraudulent
votes poIled by Negroes who escaped being arrested.r" but also notes that
lrO-50 Negroes vere imprlsoned. for "repeating." Among these vere 2 or 3
ttcol-ored" U. S. Deputy Marshals.

Nov. 5, 18?\, p. 1. THE COURTS. "A negro named. Henry Willians vas
arraigned, for illegal voting."

Nov. 7, lBTl+, p. 1. The char8es of illegal voting against Henry Williams
were d.ropped. for lack of evidence.

Nov. I\, lBTl+, p-. 2. OUR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. "The apparent vote for
Jere Haralson /a bLack Republicail Ln thls congressional district is 19,r51.
The vote for Mr. Bromberg /white Republican Frederlck Bromberg of the
"Bromberg letterY is 16 r9r3. This gives Jere an apparent naJorlty of
21598. The vote for Haralson is evidently frauciulent."

Nov. 20, t8?l+, p. 2. 1'tre Register mentions
deslgned. to prevent voter fraud-m'is refers
also ineluded the first unequlvocal provision
Mobile city government ).

a Mobile voter registration law
to a portion of the statute that
for at-Iarge elections for the

Nov. 29, lBTL, p. 2. Rep. And.erson (f ) spoke in the House in favor of
the b111 regulating nunicipal electlons in Mobile. He said the bill was
tntended to rid the people of Mobile of "the notorious and admltted frauds
in public elections and the d.isorders, d.emoralizatlon, and other great
evlls flowlng from sueh fraucls. t' Exlsting laws dld not penallze election
fraud. in Mobile, he contended, adding that state election lavs in general
were ln neecl of revision to deal with this problem.

Dec . 2, 18?l+, p. 1. oun MoNTGoImRY LETTER. f'ft is sald that the Rad.icals
have detennlned ln caueus to vote against prolonging the session, whieh, if
true, will . prevent the passage of an electlon law and revenue 1aw."

Dec. 6, 1B?l+, p. 2. PREPARE FOR ACTION. ,Under the nev munlclpal electton
1aw for Mobile, elections vere to be held vlthln a fev rlays, promptlng the
Register to urge vhite men "under the banner of the rDemocratie and Conserva-
tive organizationt" to be "true to tfreir colors" and vrest city government
"from the hands of the nergoes and ballot-box stuffers."

Dec. 15, lBTl+, p. \. I'rom Montgomery. In reference to the Motrlle clty
electlon (prevlously held), Datus Coon, a vhlte Republlcan from Dallas CounLy,
presented a petitlon from a Mobile Republlcan, I'etatlng that 1,000 col.ored
Republicans ln the Seventh Ward vere dlsfranchlsed under the new election
law.r' The communicatlon from Moblle lncluded the charge that "the registratlon
nas conducted slowly by design, and that voters couldn't register." The
author of the comrunicatlon, one Ben Lane Posey, asked Rep. Coon to lntroduce
a b111 correcting thls situation if Mr. And.erson (from Mobile) vould not.



llontgomery Daily Advertieer

Nov.. II, lBTl+, p. I. "The lst Distrlct remalns in doubt. The Negroes
stuffed 1,000 fraudulent votes in an obscure box of Dallas County."

Nov. 25, lBTl+, p. 2. "Russe11, a Tuskaloosa negro, vho voted in the last
electlon there ilIegaI1y, has been tried, convicted, and. sentenced. to the
penitentiary for two years."

Dec. 12, lBTh, p. 1. From the Florence Journal. "The present legislature
owes it to the good of the comnonvealth to enact a Iav looking to the
suppression of ilIegaI voting. A lav should be passed alloving no man
to vote save in his ovn preelnet. Under the exlsttng laws, enaeted ln the
lnterest of the Radical party, the ner6loes can easlly fo]=Iow the teachinfls
of Boss Spencer /U. S. Sen. George Spencer, a Republican/ -- rto vote early
and vote often.I Should a lav &s ve have suggested be passed, the negroes
would most probably be knovn to the challengers. Such a Iav, curtailing
or d.bridging the rights and privileges of none, vould, be highly satisfactory
to the friend.s of good. government throughout the state."

March 3, 18Tr, p. 2. ALABAMA LEGTSLATURE. The folrowing is a defense of
the election fraud bill by a vhite Denocrat named Jerrell (f) or Ferrell (?)
vho says:

t'It is an established fact that a vhite m&n cannot easily vote more
than once at one eleetion -- they are generally knovn -- they do not
all look aIike, and, in many cases, for the past ten years, courts,not of
their own selection vere only too glad to trump up such charges."

March ,, 1875, p. 3. "Governor Houston has approved the new election law
for the state. Good-bye to negro repeatlng and paeking of negroes around
the courthouse on election day."