Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-11-05
Sc RTLENG ECTlON N
FIR A u IDS

VI all The frauds ever attempted In tne
United States, that just detected at the of.
flee Of the New York State agent at Balti-
more is certainly, by all odds, the most start
ling. Ali previous efforts in this line sink into
insigni6cance before the gigantic swindle,
for the number of votes forged is estimated
even as high as sirty 1ousand. For some
time past we have been puzzled to account
for the extraordinary confidence with which
the rebel sympathizers spoke of the prospect
Of carrying the State of New York. But at
length the murder ia out They Dragged
high because they trusted to these stupen
dous frauds. 1t seems that the wretches
who were engaged in this nefarious attempt
to cheat the soldiers of their votes, had gone
to the original muster rolls and copied off
the names off al. the Few York soldiers,
dead or alive, and forged papers for them
as we'll as votes. Thousand of the gal !
liant men who now sleep in far away battle
fields; thousands of Others who languish in
southern prisons, and thousands more who
have been discharged in i'll health or Grip
pied, have had votes for Mcclellan polled
gratuitously for them by these New York
agents, who have diligently forged oil the
papers to match
The following official statement of these
astounding frauds should be read by every
honest man and voter in the land:
WAsnINGToS, Wednesday, Oct. 90, 1864
The Military Commission, Major General
| Doubleday, President, was ordered to sus-
pend the trialof the blockade traders to-day,
and proceed to Baltimore forthwith, to in
vestigate and try recently discovered case
of most astounding fraud and forgery con
nectcd with the New York State soldiers
| votes.
The charges are in brief, substituting 'Mc-
Clellan" for Lincoln" votes in the original
envelopes submitted by the soldiers, and in
/ forging names of dead soldiers, prisoners in
rebel hands, &c.
One box, over three feet long, containing
many thousands of these fraudulent votes has
been seized. Others are known to have been
sent to New York
The developments in this case promise 20
be of the most startling character.
! BALTIMORE. Oct 27-Gen. Doubeday's
! Court convened at the Eutaw House this
morning.
4 preliminary examination was had of
papers, envelopes, ballots, blanks, &c, which
! had been seized Also, complete list of
all soldiers which had been sent to New
York since the commencement o: the war,
copied from official rolls in the state Adju-
tant Generals Office.
The extent to which these frauds have
been carried is not yet ascertained. 1t is
estimated that sixty thousand have been
prepared and many already sent sH to New
York.
Two prisoners only were examined 20 day
Edward Dopohne, Jr. pleaded not guilty to
the charges and specifications. lie denied
their right, to try him separate from his con
feClerates he denied the right to Try him by
military tribunal, and demanded conDsel.--
In short he was the finest specinRn of injur-
ed innocence this side of tie New York CON
idtnce operations.
The next mau called was N. j. Ferry, a
venerable. looking man, who for two years
past has been the New York State Agent to
look after the sick and wOuNdcc soldiers in
and around Baltimore. lie seemed labOriug
under great depression, and so heartily
ashamed of the crime of which he stood
charged, and in which he was so ilextrica-
bly, implicated, that after being questioned
for short time, he made full, frank and
unreserved confession of the whole thing.
The Court adjourned until tomorrow to
give Donohuc an opportunity to procure
counsel.
FERRY's CONFESSION.
After the adjournment of the Court, Mr..
Ferry made the following full confession:
do not reCoilect the time when the FIRST
papers Were forged but it was in the pres
ence OF o. X. Wood, OF Clinton county; it
was done i'll my Office, No. II Fayettc street
Baltimore. | am, and have been for the
past two years, the ageat for the State of
New York, appointed by Governor Seymour,
to look after the sick and wounded soldiers
of New York: first saw Wood on We'd
nesday Of last week, at my office he came
and represented himself as an agent of the
Central Committee, of his county, to look
after his local ticket; he talked abont the
way in which votes could be taken; it was
agreed that we should sign the names of SOL
diers and officers, and then send them home
to have the local tickets filled in; | made
out small papers; | signed the names of
soldiers on quite number of them | can
not tell what names we signed the papers
are nov in the bundle on the table; | did
not sign names officers, but Donohue signed
any quantity Of them there was large
package of these papers left with me which
destroyed; that package contained over
200. Donohue signed them all ; the idea of
forging these papers was first suggested by
man named MaXon he is from the West
err part of the State of New York do not
know from what county; he is not in the
service he is State agent; cannot say at
what time it was proposed to forge these
papers; it was almost two weeks ago; do
not think there was anybody present but
Donohue and myself when Maxon first pro-
posed to forge these papers; there was a
man named Bundy in my office; he is now
in New York; also man named Newcomb !;
l never saw him until he came there: he is
lawer in Albany; part of the forged papers
were in my office, and part brought there (;
they were usually brought in a bundle tied
up; do not know who brought them
had no letters from Peter Cagger except
what were found in my dask; never knew
of any correspondence on this subject with
General Farrell, the Commssary of Subsis-
tance, except the package which you have
the package contained a lot of blank eve.
lopes and powers of attorney, with letter
from General Farrell, marked "contldential,"
which contained list of the names of the
residents of Columbia county; l did not let
| I I lao latf