Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 9

3. Ellis, Johns, & McKnight, Robert Smalls, Contestant, vs. William Elliott, Contestee: Contested Election from the Seventh South Carolina District. Before the House Committee on Elections, 50th Congress. Brief for Contestant (Washington, DC: Rufus H. Darby, 1887). (120 p.)

Synopsis and testimony in a case alleging wide-spread voting irregularities during the congressional election of 1886. The Republican incumbent (presumably an African American), Robert Small, had won the seat in 1884 by 4584 votes in a district with a registered black majority of 25,000. In 1886, the Democratic challenger, William Elliott, won by 532 votes. Small alleged that election managers had failed to count votes for the incumbent and had engaged in other activities designed to throw the election to the white challenger.