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been so nicely apportioned and directed to the several districts and polls that they elected all the members, with a single exception, in either
House — the two Free-Soilers being chosen from a remote inland district which the Missourians had overlooked or did not care to reach.
Although but 831 legal electors voted, there were no less than 6,320 votes polled.
Even at
Lawrence, where there were but 369 voters in all, and not half a dozen of them pro-Slavery, the vote returned was — pro-Slavery, 781; Free State, 253.
At
Marysville, where there were 24 legal voters, 328 votes were returned, all pro-Slavery.
There was no disguise, no pretense of legality, no regard for decency.
On the evening before and the morning of the day of election, nearly a thousand Missourians arrived at
Lawrence, in wagons and on horseback, well armed with rifles, pistols, and
bowie-knives, and two pieces of cannon loaded with musket balls.
They had tents, music, and flags, and encamped in a ravine near the town.
They held a meeting the night before the election at the tent of
Claiborne F. Jackson.
1 Finding that they had more men than were needed to carry the
Lawrence district, they dispatched companies of one to two hundred each to two other districts.
Meeting one of the judges of election before the poll opened, they questioned him as to his intended course, and, learning that he should insist on the oath of residence, they first attempted to bribe and then threatened to hang him. In consequence of this threat, he failed to appear at the poll, and a Missourian was appointed in his stead.
One of the remaining judges, refusing to receive
Missouri votes, resigned under duress, and was replaced by another who made no objection.
One Missourian voted for himself and then for his son, ten or eleven years old. Three of those they thus elected to the Legislature were residents of
Missouri at the time.
These details might be continued indefinitely, but it is needless.
The
Missourians voted at other polls with less circumspection, easily driving off all who objected to their proceedings, and then doing as they chose.
The Weston Reporter (
Missouri), of the day before, had said:
Our minds are already made up as to the result of the election in Kansas to-morrow.
The pro-Slavery party will be triumphant, we presume, in nearly every precinct.
Should the pro-Slavery party fail in this contest, it will not be because Missouri has failed to do her duty to assist her friends.
It is a safe calculation that two thousand squatters have passed over into the promised land from this part of the State within four days.
The Platte Argus (
Missouri), in its next issue, said:
It is to be admitted that they — the Missourians — have conquered Kansas.
Our advice is, let them hold it, or die in the attempt.
A week or two thereafter rumors were in circulation that th<*> Governor did not indorse, in all respects, the legality of this election; whereupon
The Brunswicker (
Missouri) said:
We learn, just as we go to press, that Reeder has refused to give certificates to four of the Councilmen and thirteen members of the House!
He has ordered an election to fill their places on the 22d of May.
This infernal scoundrel will have to be hemped yet.
The Parkville Luminary, issued in
Platte County, Missouri, was the only journal on that side of the border
