Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1864-11-02

General Farrell, the commssary of >ubsis-
tence, except the package which You have;
the packages contained lot of blank en-
veiopes and powers Of attorney, with a
letter from General Farrell, marked conf
dental, which contained list of the names
OF residents of Columbia county; did not
/ let any one know that destroyed the forged
papers left with me, but told my associate
that | sent them to different parts of TIE
State 70 be marked; young man came
from Washington on Friday or Saturday
last, saying, if had any spare blanks to
send them on to Washington; | am not
certain that he did or did not say anything
about there being twenty men over there
who could attend to these matters:I do not
know how many forged paperss-were, sent
of, but / heard them say that they Sent
them from Washington by the dry. goods
boxtulI; do not recollect hearing them
talk despairingly, hut they talked quite
iubiiantly and confidently / sent package
of forged papers to Gen. Farrell, wish let
ters.
BALTIMORE, Oct 2S.-The military
commission to day resumed its investi cation
of the frauds in the vote of New York
soldiers.
Donohue was brought into court at about
ten o'clock. HI had no counsel, but pro
ceeded in his own behalf tc object to the
jurisdiction of the cour9 The prisoner
pleaded guilty of his having signed certain
blanks with the name of G. s. Arthur.
Capt. and \. \. g., and none others; and,
as 1t did not appear that he was an officer
of the State OF New York, or of the Uni
ted States, there Was, he contended no
crime committed.
ADDRESS OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE
1t appears in this case that the defend,
ant, Edward Donohue, Jr, a young man
connected with the New York Central
Railroad "a road to til. Sc who live in the
city OF New York almost Synonymous with
treason-has for the last two or three weeks
been engaged in one of the most gigantic
frauds ever attempted to be perpetrated on
this nation-a fraud which, if it shall be
successful, will, in my opinion, have pro
duced Il disruption Of our entire country,
and our war Tor the preservation of the
Union will be practically at an end, and
useless.
1t appears from the evidence of the two
witnesses produced before you, that on one
occasion, when a Republican, who happened
to hear something that was said by one OF
the State agents Of the State of New York,
that frauds were being perpetrated, went
IN foa ofE nf tho -. IL
he found him willing and ready to make
false votes, and prudently presented him
self as one of the party they were working
for, iDgratiated himself into their conf
dence, and was allowed to see the working
OF their party
1t appears that the regular blanks for sol
diers forged. the names of the officers who
are purporting to swear the soldiers are
written out by one party, the names of the
soldiers who cast the vote, by another, aud
still third one, who fills up the blanks
These are then left either sealed or unsealed.
with the electoral ticket of the party which
they represent, and as the first witness
testified to you, several dry goods boxes
full of such votes have already left the city
of Washington.
At that time it will be borne in mind that
Edward Donohue was in Washington He
came to this city. How is this statement
as compared with his accompIice, Edward
Newcomb, and with that cf the first wit
ness, Mr.. Ward? Was it they who in
duced him to commit this fraud, or did he
induce them? Does Newcomb say that
Ward asked him, or was it Donohpe who
asked him to write these letters?
He found Donohue in full blast, writing
as fast as be could; sometimes the name Of
a soldier and sometimes of an officer; some
times giving one rankand sometimes another;
the other one filing up their names, aud
still third one the full blank. Thus, the
persons around this table, in the course of
Sunday afternoon, filled up to the number
of nearl y hundred; and, if three persons
could IN one afternoon manutactur some
one to two hundred such fraudulent votes,
what could not twenty men similarly EN-
ployed for two weeks effect?
The enormity Of the fraud was appalling.
The Judge Advocate continued by dwell
ling upon the Eeinousness OF the offence.
"Here," he said, ''was fraud that might
we'll call for the indiction of the severest
penalty known to the court The most sa.
cred right of the brave men who are absent
from their homes, perilling their lives in
the face OF the enemy to uphold our liber-
ties, Is invaded, and the votes are fraudu.
lently sought to be given against the cause
for which they have been perilling tn cir
lives. Whilst absent in the field, these
plotters at home seek to cast the ballots of
these brave men without their consent, and
whilst they canrot be present to speak for
themselves, or defend their rights This
prisoner, who, though one of numerous
family of children, cannot show that be
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