The November election was marked by charges of fraud on both sides. In each county the dominant party faction reported lopsided results. Saline County, for example, reported 900 to 9 for Brooks. At Helena and elsewhere there were accusations that Conservative militias attempted to intimidate black voters. In many localities Brooks's supporters set up their own polling places. This allowed them to report large totals, but assured that those votes could not be counted officially. Perhaps because they were certain they would be ultimately counted out by the Minstrels, Brooks and his backers often seemed more intent on making the election process look bad than on actually winning.
As for the Minstrels, their approach to the election was perhaps best captured in this article by a visiting Northern reporter that appeared in the August 15, 1871 edition of the Indianapolis Sentinel:
In the evening, Judge McClure called on me at the Metropolitan Hotel, and the election of 1872 coming up again, I said to him that he would find that the Republicans would not carry the state…. "That, sir," he said with emphasis, "is a moral and physical impossibility."… Then eyeing me for a moment he said: "You men do not understand how things are done down here. There is no difference between carrying an election in Arkansas and in New York. Suppose the Republicans," continued the judge, "had a fifty thousand majority in New York City, with the Democrats in power, do you not suppose the Democrats would carry the election?"… After a pause he then added: "You have heard, no doubt, the story of the man digging for the gopher. A neighbor came along, and finding him hard at work, asked him what he was doing. 'Digging for a gopher,' was the reply. 'Do you think you will catch him?' inquired the neighbor. 'Yes, by God, I'm bound to, for we are out of meat.'"
Ultimately Baxter was declared the winner 41,684 to 38,726, with returns from four counties unaccounted for.
Next: Reconstruction Unravels
Back to the Elisha Baxter Menu Page
|
