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Valley Spirit: May 08, 1867 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Despotism Advances
(Column 1)

Summary: In the wake of Congress' decision to place the former Confederate states under military rule, the editors claim that the Radicals have now focused their attention on the border states -- Maryland, Tennessee, and Kentucky -- and "are threatening them with the same absolute despotism, unless they vote the Radical ticket."

Full Text of Article:

It seems the Radical revolutionists are not content with overturning the civil governments of the ten underrepresented States of the American union, and subjecting their people to the rigors of martial law.-Having accomplished that, in flagrant violation of the Constitution, they are now turning their attention to the other States, and threatening them with the same absolute despotism, unless they vote the Radical ticket. Maryland, Tennessee and Kentucky are the first to be menaced by the "iron heel"" of Congressional usurpation. Our readers are aware that shortly before the adjournment resolutions were introduced into the "Rump" and passed by that delectable body, instructing the Judiciary Committee to inquire into the expediency of putting Maryland under the provisions of the "Military Reconstruction" bill, and one of her Senators, elected by a Legislature chosen by a large majority of her citizens, and with the broad seal of the Commonwealth upon his credentials, was denied admission to his seat, and is still so denied, because his political sentiments differed from those of the Radical majority. And at this very moment, under the auspices of this Radical "Rump Congress," its adherents and partisans in the State of Maryland are conspiring to set up a revolutionary government, in opposition to the regular and legal government of the State; which bogus government is to be recognized by the Radical majority in Congress as the lawful government of the State, provided its concoctors, aiders and abettors deem it safe to consummate the outrage.

In Tennessee, the notorious Parson Brownlow is a candidate for re-election to the Gubernatorial chair of that State. In a fair and free election the old reprobate would not have the ghost of a chance, the Radical party being in a hopeless minority in Tennessee; hence Congress comes to his aid by furnishing him with ten thousand of arms, to arm his militia, composed of negroes and the worst class of whites.-Thus armed, he has sent his militia into all parts of the State, to inaugurate a reign of terror, and, if need be, drive the conservative voters from the polls when the day of election arrives. For fear, however, that all this machinery of despotism, which has been placed in the hands of the Radical party to carry the election in Tennessee, might, after all, not prove successful, they declare in advance that if the verdict of the people should be against Brownlow and his faction, it will not be accepted. The Press & Times, a torch-and-turpentine organ, published at Nashville, threatens that if Mr. Etheridge, the Conservative candidate for Governor, should be elected, he shall not be permitted to exercise the functions of his office. Congress is to be called upon to keep Brownlow in authority by military power. Says the Press & Times: "He who supposes that Etheridge, even if elected would be suffered by Congress to rule Tennessee knows little of its iron will and determination." And this is called "universal liberty!" Oh, shame, on the miscreants and tyrants who are stabbing to its vitals the grand system of Constitutional Government, framed by the wisdom of our revolutionary ancestors. The mailed hand of despotism has been laid upon the freedom of the ballot in Tennessee, and, through the usurpation of a fragmentary Congress, orders have been issued to crush it to death!

Kentucky is threatened with the same interferences. A special dispatch from Louisville to the Cincinnati Gazette , says: "The withdrawal of Harding, Union Conservative candidate for Governor, renders the election of Helm pretty certain, as the Radicals here have little hopes for their candidate.-But the question is mooted whether Helm will be allowed to take his seat." This is following closely in the track of the Tennessee Radicals, and shows that the movement is a predetermined one-a plot to enslave the people of the States named. Even the proud old Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been threatened. Thad. Stevens in his place in Congress lately denied that Pennsylvania ever had a Republican form of government, and he expressed the hope that "Congress would take her hand and give her a Republican government." And unless the people speedily awake to the dangers before them, Congress will make the attempt to "re-construct: the government of every State in the Union by the exercise of despotic and usurped powers.

On this subject the Age pertinently remarks: "The action of the Radical party in the instances named, shows the point to which they are prepared to go in their mad desire to hold possession f power in the States and in the nation. While forcing the ballot in the hands of the negro, they would at the same time not only deprive white men of the elective franchise, but disregard State elections, if against their candidates and policy. If Mr. Helm is elected Governor of Kentucky, or Mr. Etheridge of Tennessee, the party now clamoring for "impartial suffrage" is prepared to trample all forms of suffrage into the dust, and to rule the people by military power under the assumed authority of a sectional Congress. This is Radical regard for the elective franchise."

How long, oh! how long, will the people patiently submit to these things?

Great Democratic Victory in Lancaster
(Column 1)

Summary: The article celebrates the Democrats' victory in Lancaster city's municipal elections.

Origin of Article: Intelligencer

Editorial Comment: "The municipal election in Lancaster city, the home of Thad. Stevens, on last Friday, resulted in a glorious triumph for the Democracy. Mayor Sanderson was re-elected by 511 majority. His majority last year was 181; a gain of 330 in one year. The Democrats also elected 26 out of 36 members of the council. The Intelligencer thus speaks of the result:"

Full Text of Article:

Most heartily do we congratulate the conservative citizens of Lancaster city upon the decided and complete triumph which they have achieved. The radicals made a desperate effort to carry the home of Thaddeus Stevens. They felt perfectly certain that they would be enabled to do so under the provisions of the new Ward Bill, which they had forced through the Legislature.-They even went so far as to put up as a candidate for Mayor, a man who is regarded as the special friend of Mr. Stevens. They had not the slightest doubt that they would be able to secure control of both branches of the City Councils. For that they had provided with especial care. We do not know how they will undertake to account for the terrible defeat they received. It was most complete and crushing. Very many Conservative Republicans are joining hands with the Democracy. They can no longer follow the lead of such men as Thaddeus Stevens, and are deserting the organization to which they have been attached for years. In that single fact the Radical leaders of this city can find one great reason for the rebuke they have received at the hands of the people. A revolution is going on which will sweep from their places the corrupt men who are now in power. All the signs of the times show a great change in public sentiment. A brighter day is dawning.

"Radical Veracity"
(Column 2)

Summary: According to the editors, at the end of the last session of Congress, Radicals asserted that the "Pope had closed the Protestant Chapel at the American Embassy in Rome." The Radicals fabricated this "falsehood," the editors contend, in an attempt to discredit a "conservative Republican" and justify his removal from office. Such misinformation, they argue, is symptomatic of the "mountain of lies" that the Radicals have foisted upon the "Northern mind."

A Good Joke
(Column 2)

Summary: The editors lampoon members of the legislature who agreed to vote for Simon Cameron for Senate in exchange for a bribe. Unfortunately for them, the editors maintain, once in power, Simon substantially reduced the amount he had earlier promised the corrupt legislators for their vote.

Riding with Negroes
(Column 3)

Summary: Commenting on the recently enacted legislation outlawing discrimination on the railroads, the article notes that it is white women who suffer the most from the consequences of Radical rule since it is they who are forced to sit beside blacks while traveling.

Origin of Article: Philadelphia News

Full Text of Article:

The editor of the Philadelphia News has been written to by a lady who complains that she was obliged, some days ago, to occupy a seat in a street railroad car between two negroes. They were of the masculine gender, and by "no means tidy," and she requests the News to be assured that she has not, not even when writing, got rid of the peculiar odor that attaches to a perspiring darkey. She says that she is frequently obliged to go some distance from her home to visit an invalid relative, and that she is not able to walk so far, and asks what she is to do. This question the News rightly considers a little difficult to answer. It says: "The law makes a specialty of the negro, and, if we use the cars at all, we must necessarily submit to the disagreeable annoyance. Our correspondent will probably excuse us for saying that she belongs to a Radical family, and that her husband cast his vote at the last election for the men who have imposed this degradation upon her and her daughters. It will be remembered that, during the last canvass, we frequently warned our readers of what they must expect if they elected Radical members of Congress and of the Legislature. They did so, and the result is before us. The negroes ride in the cars by legislative enactment, and, in so far as the action of our Legislature goes, by its agreement to the proposed fourteenth article to the Constitution, they are entitled to vote if it is adopted. The next movement is to admit them into the public schools, when our children will be compelled to sit by them and inhale their hot and fetid breath or leave the schools."

Let ladies who object to being riveted down to the negro use what influence they can with their male friends to induce them to break up the Radical party, and send decent men to the Legislature. That's the only remedy we know of.

A Negro Opinion
(Column 3)

Summary: The article recounts a speech recently made by Beverly Nash, a black man, in South Carolina. In his address, Nash asserted that the "intelligent Southern negro" recognizes "the Southern white man as the true friend of the black man." Moreover, Nash avowed that there is "less prejudice everywhere south of the Potomac against the colored man, than there is north of it."

Origin of Article: Patriot and Union

Publication of the Laws
(Column 3)

Summary: The editors criticize the state legislature's "present absurd mode" of publishing recently enacted laws on the grounds that "the public" does not find out what measures have been passed until "six or eight months after the adjournment" of that governing body.

The Radical Traitors and Revolutionists at Work in Baltimore
(Column 4)

Summary: Reports on "fraternization" between blacks and "white Republican unionists" at ward meetings held in Baltimore on May 3rd. The "chief object" of these meetings, the article relates, was "to take into consideration the condition of political affairs in Maryland" and to select delegates for the State Union Convention, scheduled to take place on May 14th. Yet this development has not been welcomed by all Marylanders. Under the leadership of Governor Swann, the Democrats in the state have declared their intention to ignore any resolution passed by the "Republican" convention, an act that may likely lead to the imposition of "martial law and military rule."

Origin of Article: Baltimore

The New Jury Law
(Column 5)

Summary: Contains a copy of the jury law recently enacted by the Legislature.

Full Text of Article:

The following is the text of the new jury law:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That on the general election to be held on the Second Tuesday of October, Anno Domini, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and tri-ennially thereafter, at such election, the qualified electors of the several counties of this Commonwealth shall elect, in the manner now provided by law for the election of other county officers, two sober, intelligent and judicious persons to serve as jury commissioners, in each of said counties, for the period of three years ensuing their election; but the same person or persons shall not be eligible for re-election more than once in any period of six years: Provided: That each of said qualified electors shall vote for one person only as jury commissioner, and the two persons having the greatest number of votes for jury commissioners shall be duly elected jury commissioners for such county.

SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of said jury commissioners to meet at the seat of justice of the respective counties, at least thirty days before the first term of the court of common pleas, in every year, and thereupon proceed, with due diligence, to select from the whole taxable citizens of the respective county at large, a number, such as at the term of the court of common pleas preceding shall by the said court, be designated, of sober, intelligent and judicious persons to serve as jurors in the several courts of such county, during that year; and if the said commissioners cannot agree upon the names of the persons to be selected by them as jurors, they shall proceed as follows:--Each of the commissioners shall make a list containing the names of one-half of the requisite number of persons and ten percentum in addition thereto, and the proper number shall be obtained by each of said commissioners striking form the list furnished by the other, a number equal to the said addition; and the names not stricken out shall be the selection of the names of the jurors, and the said jury commissioners shall, in the mode and manner now directed by law, place the names of persons so selected, in the proper jury wheel, and the said jury wheel locked, as now required by law, shall remain in the custody of said jury commissioners and the keys thereof in the custody of said county.

SEC. 3. The said jury commissioners and the sheriff of the respective county, or any tow of them, shall draw from the proper jury wheel panels of jurors, as grand jurors of the proper county, and as petit and traverse jurors, for the trial of issues in fact which may be taken in any action in any of the courts, civil and criminal, in the several counties aforesaid, in the manner now practiced and allowed; but before the said jury commissioners and sheriff shall proceed to select or draw jurors in the manner aforesaid, they shall severally take the oath or affirmation now prescribed by law to be taken by the sheriff and county commissioners before selecting and drawing jurors.

SEC. 4. That so much of any act or acts of Assembly of this Commonwealth, as makes it the duty of the sheriff and county commissioners of any of said counties to select and draw jurors, shall be repealed, and cease to have any force or effect from and after the first day of December next, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven: Provided , That all acts, and parts of acts of Assembly, now in force, in relation to the custody, sealing and unsealing, locking and opening of the jury wheel of the respective county, and all acts, and parts of acts of Assembly now in force, imposing any penalty and punishment on the sheriff and county commissioners, or either of them, for anything done or omitted by them in relation to the keeping, locking, or sealing or breaking the seal of any jury wheel, or in relation to the selection or drawing of jurors, shall be taken, deemed and held to apply to the said jury commissioners and sheriff.

SEC. 5. Each of the said jury commissioners shall be allowed and paid out of the respective county treasury two dollars and fifty cents per day, and four cents per mile, circular, from the residence of the commissioners to the court house.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of each of said jury commissioners to take upon himself and discharge the duties of his said office, under a penalty of one hundred dollars for each and every neglect or refusal to attend the same, and to be sued for and recovered before any justice of the peace of the proper county, as debts of like amount are now by law recoverable, ten dollars of which shall go to the person suing and the residue to be paid by the said justice to the treasurer of the respective county for the use of the same.

SEC. 7. In case of inability of either or both of the said jury commissioners, by sickness or death, or other unavoidable causes, to discharge the duties of said office, or in case of neglect or refusal to serve thereon, it shall be the duty of the president judge in such county, wherein said vacancy may have occurred, to appoint a suitable person or persons, as the case may be, possessing the qualifications aforesaid, to perform the duties of said office during such vacancy, and such person or persons, after having complied with the requirements in the third section of this act, shall proceed to discharge the duties of said office the same as if elected by the people, until the next general election, when the people shall elect a commissioner in lieu thereof.

Local and Personal--Deceased
(Column 1)

Summary: W. S. Hollenberger, "a well-known citizen of Waynesboro" and Civil War veteran, died on May 1st after developing gangrene of the lungs.
(Names in announcement: W. S. Hollenberger)

Local and Personal--Corner Loungers
(Column 1)

Summary: After noting that Philadelphia police have begun arresting "persons who lounge about corners on the Sabbath," the article encourages Burgess Everett to empower local authorities to do the same.
(Names in announcement: Officer Houser, Burgess Everett)

Local and Personal--Prof. McClure's Concert
(Column 1)

Summary: Reports that the Chambersburg Musical Union concert, held on May 2nd, was "slimly attended" and laments that the efforts made by Prof. McClure, the group's leader, "to cultivate and develop musical talent in the community, have not been properly appreciated by the public."
(Names in announcement: Prof. R. A. McClure)

Local and Personal--Iron-Clad
(Column 1)

Summary: Provides an account of a performance given by a Irish man who appeared in the Public Square with a pocket full of marbles and four or five pieces of metal in the shape of swords, all of which he swallowed for the "edification and amusement" of the crowd that gathered to see him.

Local and Personal--Theatrical
(Column 2)

Summary: Announces that McKean Buchanan, his daughter Virginia, and "a full and efficient company of ladies and gentlemen selected from the principal theatres of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia" will give a performance on May 13th at Repository Hall.

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On May 4th, T. F. Colby and M. R. Hunsler were married by Rev. J. A. Kunkelman.
(Names in announcement: T. F. Colby, M. R. Hunsler, Rev. J. A. Kunkelman)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On May 2nd, Jeremiah Gelwicks and Elizabeth Snyder were married by Rev. J. Keller Miller.
(Names in announcement: Jeremiah Gelwicks, Elizabeth Snyder, Rev. J. Keller Miller)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On April 30th, John E. Stover, of St. Louis, Cal., and Anna M. Winger were married by Rev. I. G. Brown.
(Names in announcement: John E. Stover, Anna M. Winger, Rev. I. G. Brown)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On April 22nd, John Shookey, 36, died in Washington township.
(Names in announcement: John Shookey)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On April 20th, James Horner, 68, died after a brief illness in Gettsburg.
(Names in announcement: James Horner)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On April 25th, Aquila Hedding, eldest son of Rev. A. Buhrman, died at age 14.
(Names in announcement: Aquila Hedding Buhrman, Rev. A. Buhrman)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On April 22nd, Calvin W. Winger, 17, died at Claylick.
(Names in announcement: Calvin W. Winger)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On April 20th, Mary Wertz, 92, died at the residence of her son-in-law, John W. Coble.
(Names in announcement: Mary Wertz, John W. Coble)