373]           The Maryland Constitution of 1864.              27

and were allowed to vote without any difficulty, but
when the votes were counted it was found that this prac-
tical politician was sadly tricked, as nearly all the Demo-
cratic ballots showed no trace of his name. At Princess
Anne, Somerset County, the judges of election were ar-
rested, and the polls closed when only one citizen had
voted. General Lockwood soon after released the pris-
oners, but the citizens of the whole district were deprived of
voting. Several Union candidates in Kent County were
arrested by order of Captain John Frazier, Jr., himself a
candidate for a county office. They were carried to Balti-
more, but were immediately released by Colonel Donn
Piatt, General Schenck's chief-of-staff, who not only
showed surprise, but disavowed responsibility for the ac-
tion. Captain Frazier, as in the case of Colonel Tevis,
was later arrested for this by General Schenck, but we
could find no record of the final outcome of the matter,
as in all probability it also was soon passed over.

Numerous other instances might be mentioned, as they
were well brought out in contested election cases,³⁵ but
perhaps enough has been given to show the general char-
acter of the outrages. There were several isolated cases
in other parts of the state, as in Frederick and Prince
George's³⁶ counties, but nothing on so large a scale and
with such bold effrontery as in the First Congressional
District.

As a result of the conflict of authority between Gover-
nor Bradford and General Schenck, there was no regu-
larity in the requirement of the prescribed oath. In some
parts of the state every voter was required to take it, and
in others it was observed very little, if at all. In a num-
ber of places on the Eastern Shore those voting the "yel-
low" ticket were not even challenged, while the remainder
were subjected to the oath. It should be noted that there

³⁵ See Senate and House Documents, 1864.
³⁶ Debates, iii, 1735-6.