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1502 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Apl. 1,
hundred and seventy witnesses who have sworn to acts of
general or particular violence in Baltimore on the 2nd of
November last, and whose testimony is before this House;
and they show such a state cf disorder, tumult licensed wrong
and lawless riot to have prevailed there on that day, as must
entail a curse upon any community.
There are some tribunals that no amount of evidence will
ever set right, and many
"A man convinced against his will,
Is of the same opinion still."
But what is the use of pretending that individual se-
curity was there, when the evidence shows that at least
ninety-seven different individuals, all Reformers or colored
men, were seen to be specially assaulted, beaten, kicked or
maltreated in Baltimore city on that day; of what avail is it
to prate about the prevalence of peace and order, when one
hundred and forty-seven witnesses swear that in at least
thirty-four different election precincts in the City of Balti-
more on that day, there was rioting, intimidation and assault-
ing of Reform voters at the polls, and driving of them from
the polls by ruffians uttering Democratic party cries; that,
in the very presence of the police, Reform voters and ticket-
holders were shot at and knocked down, without let or "hin-
drance from these officers of the law, and that in many, very
many, cases the police gave either a laughing approval or an
active assistance to these outrages.
This being the evidence, and these the conclusions which
we base upon it, we are unable to report that the charges re-
ferred to, and which have been so publicly made, are unsus-
tained. On the contrary we think that the citizens of Balti-
timore and of the State generally, have only too much cause
to hold the Police Commissioners of that city responsible for
the reign of fraud which there prevailed at the late elections;
for the corruption and knavery inside the polling places, and
the riot and brutality outside; for the violated purity of the
ballot box; the persecution and blood; for the private rights
trampled under foot, and the great crying shame and wrong
inflicted upon the city, and the State which appeals to this
House for redress and punishment.
Year Committee, therefore, recommend the adoption of the
following preamble and resolution:
WHEREAS, The evidence taken before the Committee on
Elections of this House, in the investigation of the Police
Commissioners of the City of Baltimore, and the testimony
returned to this House in the Legislative contested election
cases from Baltimore city, sustain the charge of official mis-
conduct by said Police Commissioners; therefore,
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