Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1889 — NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE. [ARTICLE]

NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE.

More LawlessnetH In the South—Armed Regulators Prevent the Negroes from Toting. At 6 o’clock Monday morning a party of twenty-five or thirty men, armed with Winchester rifles, surrounded the court-house at Lafayette, La., while several other bands, also armed, remained just outside of the town limits. These men, in menacing tones, pror claimed that no negro would be allowed to vote at this municipal election. A large number of men, with arms, were in the immediate neighborhood of the court-house equal e, and at the several entrances to the square armed men were posted, and negroes were not permitted to enter. At 6:30 Sheriff Broussard offered to escort a number of men at the north entrance to the square to vote. He attempted to enter with the men, when there was a rush of armed men to the entrance, and shouts were heard, “Shoot them!” “Kill him!” “Don’t allow them to go in!” and the voters turned back. The sheriff entered the court house, and the commissioners and clerk of the court and sheriff, who were holding the election, then closed the Soils and retired. A sworn statement y these officers was forwarded by mail to the governor. Late dispatches from Lafayette fully confirm this report. Gov. Nichols received a dispatch from Sheriff Broussard concerning the affair, and stated that he had succeeded in arresting and landing in jail ten of the regulators. The sheriff thinks the parish authorities will be able to suppress the disorder and punish those .engaged in the outrage. As a precautionary measure, the military have been ordered to morve at a moment’s notice. The postponed election for mayor and town council will be held at a future day. It is stated that the larger portion of the regulators were non-residents of the town and that but few of them lived in the parish where the trouble occurred.