March 15, 1861; Tri-Weekly Alamo Express , San Antonio, TX
There has only been 41,000 votes cast in the State so far as heard from which is about a half vote, and by which we have good reason to infer that a majority of the people are against secession.–A majority of those cast for secession have been obtained under false pretenses, bribery, trickery and intimidation. Some have been deceived by the cry of re-construction, others by the assurance that all the Border States would secede, that there was an irrepressable conflict, that great prosperity would spring out of disunion, &c. The timid were assured of peace; the wild, reckless and daring were promised war. Such have been the deceptions used to gull a frank, generous people. A day of retribution is near at hand when a free and indignant people will trample under foot all humbugs and oppressions emanating from self constituted bodies.