Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18

oath OF office was administered to Stan
ley Mathews, of Ohio, elected in plac,
: of John Sherman, resigned; J. Dor
Cameron. in place of Simon Cameron
resigned, and d. III. Armstrong, appoint
ed from Missouri, vice L. V. Bogv. de
ceased. The usual committee was ap
pointed to join a committee from tht
house and inform the president that !
quorum of both houses was assembled
Adjourned till u o'clock tomorrow
Senators absent were Morton, Mcmillan
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 previously, were almos
impossible. At II o'clock, Adams call
ed the mouse to order and read the
!, presidents proclamation convening con
gress, and called the roll ofmembers by
states, beginning with Maine.
When Louisiana was reached, the
clerk made the following statement
There were received from the state OF
Louisiana, bearing date the Goth of De
cember, 1876, and declaring certain
persons elected from the 1st, 4th and
9th districts, certificates, but silent as to
other districts. Inasmuch, however, 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 regular
ity Or irregularity of credentials coming
from that source Another set of Gre
dentials was signed by VIM. Pitt Kel-
lOgg as governor, 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 the persons elected
/ from each of the districts except the
second, as to which district no certificate
seems to have been issued by Governor
i Kellogg to any one. The law of LOuisis
ana prescribing the character of Gre
dentials provides that as soon as posi-
bic after the expiration of the time of
making returns for the election for rep
resentatives in congress certificate of
returns shall be entered on record by
/ the secretary of state and signed
by the governor, and that copy
thereof, subscribed by those
officers, shall be delivered to the per-
sons SO elected, and that another copy
be transmitted to the Clerk of the House
of Representatives These credentials
of Gov. Kellogg are in no sense in COM
pliance with the requirements of the
law of Louisiana. They do not even
purport to be a copy of the certificate
On the contrary, they are simple ueclar-
ations by Gov. kellogg that certain per-
sons were elected without even stating
the sources of his information, and they
no more constitute credentials within the
meaning of the law of Louisiana than q
| similar statement from the Treasurer or
/ other state official would do. They
cannot, therefore, be recognized by the
clerk. The other credential is signed
! by Gov. Nichols and Secretary of State
Arrago, with the seal of the state at
tached. They declare persons elected
/ in each of the districts of Louisiana,
and conflict with the certificates signed
/ by Gov. kellogg in reference to the dis
tricts. Only these credentials comply
with the law of Louisiana in every res
pect, and the clerk has accordingly
placed on the roll the names of the per-
sons contained IN them.
WHEN MISSOURI WAS REACHED
the clerk stated no certificates had been
received from the 3rd district. Just
then paper was handed him addressed
peated the suggestion that as there was
no speaker the paper should be opened
by the clerk Murmers "no, no r)
Cox hoped there would be no OBJ
lection to the clerk opening the papers
Clerk: Inasmuch as it would raise a
question which the clerk is not now pre-
pared to determine he will leave the
matter to the house after it shall have
organized. The clerk also stated as tc
Florida he had received the certificate
of Gov. Stearns to the election of VIM
Z. Purman in the 1st and Horatio Bis
bee, Jr., in the 2nd district but he haG
subsequently received two certificates
from Gov Drew. One showed that the
election of Purman had been, by the SUI
preme court of Florida, decided illegal
and that another canvass had been made
in obedience to the order of the supreme
court which showed the election o.
Robert I'll. NJ. Davidson from the Is
district. Under such circumstances he
had felt bound to place the name o
Davidson on the roll The other certif
cate of Gov. Drew simply declar
, counting the votes in certain
board of state canvassers had objected
, and which the supreme court had said
could not be legally counted, S. ]. Fin
ley would be elected under such circum
stances. The clerk could not see any
thing to invalidate the previous certiti
cate in favor of Bisbee, and he hac
therefore placed his name on the rolls
WITH REFERENCE TO COLORADO
the clerk said the certificate presented
by JAS. B. Belford showed he was elected
on the Sd of October, 1876, at {
time not Authorized by the laws
of the United States or of the state O
| Colorado, while the papers presented by
his competitor Patterson were merely
certified copies of abstracts of votes IL
: the several counties, which votes haC
never been canvassed by any board o
canvassers. The clerk had therefor,
: declined to place either name on th,
: roll, but had left the matter for tn,
: house, after organization, to determine
Mr.. Hale, of Maine, rose to what h,
: called question .of highest priv
: lege, the right of member to his seat
while at the same moment Mr.. Wood
of New York, rose to what he asserted
to be a question of highest privilege
: the organization of the house, by tn
: election of speaker.
After some contest on the question Q
I precedencY the clerk ruled that the rer