The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-12-25
Gen. AndersOu,s Statement.

The following is the statement Of Genera
T. q. Anderson of the Louisiana Returning
Board, which the Democratic committee de-
clined to received:
In order that there may be not possible mis-
understanding of the position taken by my
self, as we'll as by the other returning officers
Of the State, respectfully ask the committee
to permit me to file this written answer to
their interrogatories On the 11th inst. sub
pena daces tecum was served on tho returning
officers of Louisiana, directing them to pro-
duce before your honorable committee call
returns of election, all statements OF votes
and tslly-sheets for each polling place at the
late election for electors for President and
Vice President of the United States, together
with all afhdavits ain your (our) possession or
under;your (our) control touching said election
in some thirty five named parishes. On
the following day formal answer was made,
setting forth that the document called for
were part of the records of the Board of Re-
turning Officers, necessary for their use until
they should have completed their labors of
canvassing and compiling the votes tcast at
the election for State and parish officers held in
the State on the 9TH of November last, which
work was not yet completed; that under the
law they were required to submit to the Federal
Assembly of the State, upon its assembling on
the first Monday of January next, q full and
accurate report of their canvass and compila-
ton of the votes, with the reasons for their
findings and the evidence upon which such was
predicated, in order to enable the General As.
sembly to count the vote for governor and
lieutenant governor in accordance with the re-
quirements of article 48 of the constitution of
the State; that for this purpose the original
archives of the returning officers of electors
must be preserved and could not be allowed to
be removed from the custody OF the board
without authority of the Legislature. For
these and other reasons assigned, among them
the fact that valuable records intrusted by them
to former congressional committee have never
| been returned, the returning officers declined to
| surrender the original returns; but, in order
| that there should be no ground for suspicion of
| desire for concealment on their part, either
as to the nature of the returns or to the evil
| dence upon which they based their findings,
| they proffered to have certified copies prepared
| of every official paper in their possession and
delivered to the committee as soon as possible
Since that time the eight clerks provided by
| your committee and the eight clerks of the
| Board of Returning Officers have been labori-
| ously engaged in preparing the desired copies
have myself handed TO one of the members Of
| your committee copies of all documents per-
| tanning to the election in the Fourth Congress
/ sonal District, putting him in full posse ssion
| not only of the ground upon which the return
dividual memorandums of my personal action.
| l understand that complete transcript of the
| record of testimony in the Fifth Congressional
| District which is very voluminous, is far ad-
| vanced towards completion, and that nearly
| one-.kiEd Of the labor imposed by your request
has only been accomplished,