The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-10-16
XIV CONGRESS-.
Opening of the Special Session.
No Business Transacted by the Senate =
Lively Times In the House.


|
were early in their places and the usua
hustle attending the opening of ses
sion prevailed.
The oath of Office was administered
to Stanley Matthews, of Ohio, elected
in place of Jno. Sherman, resigned; J.
Don Cameron in place of Simon Came.
ron, resigned, and D. FL. Armstrong,
appointed from Missouri vice J.. V.
Bogy, deceased.
The usual committee was appointed
to join committee of the House and
inform the President that quorum of
the two Houses had assembled.
Adjourned till 1s tomorrow. The
Senators absent We're Morton. Nc
MILAN and Sharon.
HOUSE.
Washington, Oct. 15.-At the OPEN
ing of the session of the House the gal
leries were crowded and the corridors
for two hours previous were almost i'm
passable. At II O'Clock Clerk Adams
called the House to order, read the
Presidents proclamation convening
Congress, and called the roll of mem-
oers by states, beginning with Maine.
When Louisiana was reached the Clerk
made the following statement: "There
were received from the state of Louis
lana, credentials dated Dec. Goth, 1876,
declaring certain persons elected from
the 1st, 4th and 9th districts, but silent
as.to the other districts. Inasmuch as
John McEnery was never de facto gov
ernor Of Louisiana, and never in point
of fact exercised or performed the
functions of that Office, it is not deemed
necessary to make here any statement
concerning the regularity or irregular
ity of credentials coming from that
source. Another set of credentials,
signed by VIM. Pitt Kellogg as COVER
nor of Louisiana, with the seal of the
state attached, all bearing different
dates, and all of which reached the
hands of the clerk through different
channels, declaring persons elected
from each of the districts except the
2nd, as to which district no certificate
seems to have been issued by Gov.
Kellogg to any one. The law of Louis
lana provides that as soon as possible
after the expiration of the time of
making returns of an election for Rep
resentatives in Congress certificate Of
returns shall be entered OH the record
by the Secretary of State and signed
by the Governor, and that a copy
thereof, subscribed by those officers,
shall be delivered to the persons so
elected and no other transmitted to the
clerk of the House. These certificates
by Gov. Kellogg are in no sense in
compliance with the requirements of
the law of Louisiana. They are simply
declarations by Gov. Kellogg that GER
tain persons were elected without even
stating the sources of his information.
They cannot, therefore, be recognized
by the Clerk.
The other set of credentials, are
signed by Gov. Nichols and the Secre-
tary of State with the seal of the state
attached. They declare the persons
elected in each of the districts of
Louisiana, and conflict with the certif-
cate signed by Gov. Kellogg in refer
ence to two districts only. These Gre
dentials comply with the law Of Louis
lana in every respect and the clerk has
accordingly placed on the roll the names
of the persons contained in them.
When Missouri was reached the clerk
stated that no certificates had been re-
.ceived from the third district. Just
then paper was handed him addressed
to the Speaker of the House, and he
repeated the suggestion that as there
was no speaker the paper should be
opened by the clerk. (Murmurs of
"No, No.")
The clerk also stated as to Florida
that he had received the certificate of
Gov. Stcarns to the election of w. J.
Purman in the first and Horatio Bis
bee, Jr., in second district, but he had
subsequently received two certificates
from Gov. Drew. One of these recited
that the canvass which showed the
election Of Purman- had been by the
Supreme court of Florida declared ille-
gal, and that another canvass had been
made in obedience to the order of the
Supreme court, which showed the elec-
tion of Robert H. NJ. Davidson from
the first district. Under such circum-
stances he had felt bound to place the
name of Davidson ON the roll. The
other certificate of Gov. Drew simply
declared as to the second district, that
by counting the votes in a certain pre-
cinct in Clay county, which the board
of state canvassers had rejected, and
which the Supreme court had said
could not be legally counted, ]. ]. Fin.
ley would be elected. Under such cir.
cumstances the clerk could not see any
thing to invalidate the precious certifi
cate in favor of Bisbee, and he hat
therefore placed his name on the roll
With reference to Colorado the clerl