Staunton Vindicator

The article reports that a political organization named "Our Boys in Blue" has been organized in Ohio. The group is composed of former soldiers who declare themselves against "equalizing" and "fraternizing" with blacks. They declare their motive for fighting in the late war was not to free the slaves, but to "restore the Union." The piece contends that there are 30,000 other veterans in New York and Brooklyn who share these sentiments.

The editors endorse the Conservative ticket for the Convention -- J. Addison Waddell and Powell Harrison for Augusta, and James C. Southall, of Albemarle, for the District, which includes the counties of Augusta, Albemarle, and Louisa.

The letter relates that a group of conservative voters met in Staunton on October 12 and unanimously nominated Joseph A. Waddell and Powell Harrison to represent the county, and James C. Southall, of Albemarle, to represent the district.

The editors acknowledge that the "preferences of all can not be satisfied in the nomination" of Waddell, Harrison, and Southall, yet, in light of the circumstances, they call on conservatives to support the three nominees, nevertheless.

Seeking to dispel the notion that a return to power by the Democrats would result in the re-enslavement of blacks, the editors contend the "villainous parties" responsible for this rumor are simply trying "to force the colored people, as a body, to vote the radical ticket."

The article reports that Democrats have made impressive gains in the recent elections in Pennsylvania and Ohio. These victories, it relates, are indicative of the vast changes taking place in the North since the end of the war. In light of this "triumph of Conservatism and Reason over Fanaticism and Folly," the piece urges readers to deliver another resounding blow against Radicalism by voting against the convention.

In Ohio, relates the article, voters elected a Republican governor but defeated an amendment to confer suffrage on blacks. This result, it argues, "should be a warning to our colored people not to cut loose from their only friends, the Southern whites."

The article includes extracts from various northern newspapers attributing the Republican party's decline in popularity to its advocacy of extreme policies, particularly the promulgation of black suffrage.

Notes that the prohibition against the consolidation of the Virginia & Tennessee, Southside & Norfolk, and Petersburg Railroads under the Presidency of General Mahone has been lifted.

Reports that "a large meeting in Albemarle" has endorsed the nomination of James C. Southall by the Augusta meeting.

The article chronicles the proceedings of the October 12 meeting in which the county and district nominees for the convention were selected. In addition to the political matters, a resolution was passed in support of advancing 100 bushels of seed wheat, five dollars, and two plows to the Polish emigrants in Spotsylvania.

The piece contains the letter from a committee of Augusta citizens notifying James C. Southall that he has been nominated to represent the district at the upcoming convention, and Southall's letter of acceptance.

At the Boards of Registration meeting held last week, the final revision of the voting lists was compiled; fifty whites and six blacks were added to the lists.

Last Saturday, reports the article, a black man from Richmond addressed a meeting of blacks in Greenville and endeavored to lure the crowd to the "Radical cause by stating that the Radical Congress had passed a confiscation bill and that the lands in Eastern Virginia were now being parcelled out among the colored people." Apparently, the speech provoked a dispute between Radical and Conservative blacks, after members of the latter group disputed the speaker's assertions.

At the Staunton Lyceum's last meeting, officers were selected for the ensuing quarter and the question "Should the law secure to a married woman her undivided property, free from the debts and control of her husband" was decided in the affirmative. At the next meeting, members of the group will discuss whether Roman Catholicism, based solely on its secular influence, has ameliorated man's social and political condition.

It is reported that the first group of Polish emigrants, numbering between 300 and 400, should arrive in Virginia at the end of February.

On Oct. 10 E. G. Fishburne and E. L. Van Lear were married by Rev. C. S. See.

On Oct. 10 John T. Mahaney and Sarah M. Riley were married by Rev. J. L. Clark.

On Sept. 3 Jacob C. Roler and Henrietta A. White were married by Rev. J. J. Engle.

On July 23, Hetty Amanda, daughter of Dr. G. N. and Elizabeth Kinney, died in Sherman, Texas. She was 6 years old.

On Oct. 9 Susan J. Cochran, "consort" of Calvin Cochran and daughter of William Black, died near Newport. She was 28 years old.

On Sept. 28 Margaret C. Scott died at her home in Augusta. She was 64 years old.