Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/717

 crowd up to the window and demanded that they should be allowed to vote without swearing as to their residence. After some noisy and threatening talk, Claibourne F. Jackson addressed the crowd, Baying they bad come there to vote, that they had a right to vote if they had been there but five minutes, and he was not willing to go home without voting; which was received ith cl] Jackson then called upon them to form into little bands of fifteen or twenty, which they did, and went to an ox wagon filled with guns, which were distributed among them, and proceeded to load some of them on the ground. In pursuance of Jackson's request, they tied white tape or ribbon in their buttonholes to distinguish them from the "abolitionists." They again demanded that the judges should resign, and on their refusing to do so, smashed in tie-window, sash and all, and presented their pistols and guns to them, threatening to shoot them. Some one on the outside cried out to them not to shoot, as there were pro-slavery men in the room with the judges. They then put a pry under the corner of the house, which was a log house, and lifted it up a few inches and let it fall again, but desisted upon being told there were pros-lavery men in the house. During this time the crowd repeatedly demanded to be allowed to vote without being sworn, and Mr. Ellison, one of the judges, expressed himself willing, but the other two judges refused; thereupon a body of men, headed by "Sheriff Jones," rushed into the judges' room with cocked pistols and drawn bowie-knives in their hands, and approached Burson and Ramsay. Jones pulled out his watch, and said he would give them five minutes to resign in, or die. When the five minutes had expired and the judges did not resign, Jones said he would give them another minute, and no more. Ellison told his associates that if they did not resign, there would be one hundred shots fired in the room in less than fifteen minutes; and then snatching up the ballot-box, ran out into the crowd, holding up the ballot-box and hurrahing for Missouri. About that time Burson and Ramsay were called out by their friends, and not suffered to return. As Mr. Burson went out, he put the ballot poll-books in his pocket, and took them with him; and as he was going out, Jones snatched some papers away from him, and shortly afterward came out himself holding them up, crying "hurrah for Missouri." After he discovered they were not the poll-books, he took a party of men with him and started off to take the poll-books from Burson. Mr. Burson saw them coming, and he gave the books to Mr. Umberger, and told him to start off in another direction, so as to mislead Jones and his party. Jones and his party caught Mr. Umberger, took the poll-books away from him, and Jones took him up behind him on a horse, and carried him back a prisoner. After Jones and his party had taken Umberger back, they went to the house of Mr. Ramsay and took judge John A. Wakefield prisoner, and carried him to the place of election, and made him get up on a wagon and make them a speech; after which they put a white ribbon in his button-hole and let him go. They then chose two new judges, and proceeded with the election.

They also threatened to kill the judges if they did not receive their votes without swearing them, or else resign. They said no man should vote who