In the parish of Bossier, there was just such another massacre between the 20th and 30th of September, 1868, and which lasted from three to four days, and during that time two hundred colored people were killed. The official register for Bossier parish for the year 1868 shows that the Republican voters numbered 1,938. But when the Presidential election came on, only one vote was cast! Such was the result of the shot-gun policy in Bossier parish.
During the month of October, 1868, the month before the election, over forty colored people were killed in the parish of Caddo. The Republican register shows that there were 2,894 votes, and yet when the election came on there was only one such vote cast out of all that number. And the same things happened all over the State.
During the months of September, October and November, the number of murders, maimings and whippings that took place for political reasons were a thousand. The names of Republican voters in twenty-eight parishes amounted to 47,923; but when the Presidential election came on a few weeks later, only 5,360 votes were cast for Grant and Colfax, whilst the Democratic gain, from the shot-gun policy, amounted to 42,563.
In nine of the parishes, where most of the murder and violence was carried on, only nineteen votes were cast for Gen. Grant, though there were 11,604 names on the Republican register. In other seven parishes where there were 7,253 names on the register, not one vote was cast for the Republican nominees at the subsequent election in November.
In the years that followed 1868, when political lawlessness was held in check, these same Republican parishes cast from 33,000 to 37,000 votes, which proved that terrorism was the rebel policy of 1868.
Thus things went on from 1868 to 1876, when the Democracy of Louisiana desired to carry the State for Tilden and Hendricks. The candidates for Republican President and Vice-President were Hayes and Wheeler; and everybody knew that colored men would not vote the Democratic ticket. The same murderous policy was again adopted as in 1868, and the results were much the same. On election day, in November, 1876, there were in Louisiana 92,996 registered white voters, and 115,310 colored voters, giving a majority of 22,314 votes that should have been cast for Hayes. It would be quite unnecessary to quote the "returns" from the different parishes of Louisiana. It would only be a repetition of 1868 over again. And after all was done it did not profit the Southern Democrats any, for it was proven that they had carried the parishes by violence; and therefore the parishes were not counted in the returns.