The daily gazette., 1877-02-01
Returning Board - Infamys
ChIuEh SCAND1LOU DE-
FELOPMENTS CONCERV.
iNGJ. MADISON WELLS
. COND UCT.
'FeeC Ee'de''ce OF an Oferto Sell He
Vote ot'Louisidaa TO the Hiohest
Bidder.


Especial despatch TO the N. y, World
WASHINGTON, January 81. The grand
explosion ofthe hidden rascality of the
Louisiana Returning Board came out to-
day in the evidence taken by the House
Committee. 1.-THE self-confessedf foreeries
and frauds Of the Republican witnesses
were yesterday deemed grave and impor-
tant, there is nothing which can give full
efiectto the startling testimony of to-day.
1t was no more nor less than the detailed
account of the offer of this infamous Re-
turning Board to certify to the honest re-
turns of that State for Tilden and Hen
bricks, and not to fraudulently report
them for Hayes and Wheeler, for COIL
sideration of ST 100000. J. Il. Maddox,
Republican internalrevenue agent. rep
resented Wells and the board to Colonel
J. L. Pickett who was to raise the money
provided it could be raised, from the
Democrats. lie communicated with Mr..
Hewitt, Chairman of the National Demo-
cratic Committee, who informed Colonel
Pickett that it was the third overture Of
the kind, though this seemed authenti-
Gated, but like the others, he spurned it,
and requested Colonel Pickett to reply to
chose who started negotiations through
him, that the Democratic party believed
they had honestly carried Louisiana, an
did not propose to buy themselves through
or be cheated out of that result. The
witness Maddox persistently refused to
tell all he knew, but he told enough, which
was corroborated by Colonel Pickett, to
make the evidence Of the conspiracy quite
complete. 1t was curious to note the eff
feet Of these revelations to-day on the
average Republican mind. One Repub-
lican member of the House, with the
white of his eye in fine frenzy rolling, de-
clared that, after all, those Louisiana Of
ficials must be scaly set.
TIE EVIDENCE.
WASHINGTON, January 81 The Select
Committee on the Privileges of the House
had before it to-day two Witness ss who
gave testimony of highly important
character affecting the integrity of the
Louisiana Returning Board. The follow
ing is n full report Of the most important
af the testimony:
John T. Pickett, sworn and examined
by Mr.. Field:
@. State your age, residence and oc-
cupation. a. / am tifty-three years OF
age; am an attorney at law; am a resi-
dent of Washington, d. G.
Q. Have you in your possession letter
from Mr.. Wells, of the Louisiana Re
turning Board A. have.
@. Will you produce it? A. Handing
it to Mr.. Field.) 1t is what purports to
be his handwriting; am not familiar
with it.
Mr. Field read the letter az follows:
NEW ORLEANS, November 20, 1876.
To- Name cut oat l-Nelo Orleans, La.
Ny DEAR SIR. You fully understand
the situation. Can you not advise with
nee relative thereto?
Yours very truly,
Signed) j. MADISON WELLS.
q. State the circumstances of your re-
ceiving this letter and what was done in
relation TO it. A. 1t will be rather a
ming.
Mr.. Field-Do SO.
Witness-On the Thursday preceding
the last Sunday of November, the I'D, a |
gentleman with whom l have been &C |
quainted for more than n quarter of a |
century came to my Office in the city, he |
having just arrived from Louisiana, where |
l had known him quite intimat. ly a |
quarter of a century ago, and gave me |
full Of 1ao OF NT ffn; Alo,
arising out of the late Presidential cleo |
ton. He said
Mr.. Lawrence-I object to your stating |
what this stranger said,
The witness-Then my story will be |
nearly at an end.
Mr.. Field to wltness-I ask you to say /
how the letter came into your hands land |
what you did under it. You may GO on
and state anything of that sort.
The witness-The person referred to is
and is now in this build |
ing.
Q. Whom did you see id New York?
A. l endeavored first to SEQ Mr.. Hewitt;
he was ont of town that day Sunday, but
a note was sent in the evening that he
had returned, and did not see him; pre-
viously l saw Mr.. John Morrissey, he
said that he would buy these fellows as
readily as he would buy pigs. or words to
that effect, in which l coincided with
him in the interest of 40, 100000 of people |
but he said that we all knew Tilden was |
elecetd, and that he had just received, or
the public had Just received, information |
from Oregon which made il unnecessary
to resort to any such measure; that was |
about the purport of my conversation |
with Mr.. Morrissey.
@. Did you receive uymoney from |
him? A. Not any.
Q. Did you see Mfr. Hewitt?.A In the |
evening saw Mr.. Hewitt and went over |
the whole story to him, to which he |
listened very patiently and kindly; he |
said that this was the third proposition |
of this kind that had been made to hi m |
on the part of the Returning Board in
but that mine appeared the |
most plausible and authentic, and that,
under no circumstances, would he en-
tertain any such propositions; that if we
bought them now, We would have to buy
them over hereafter: that il the country
wasgoing into civil war we might as well
let it come, and be done with 1t; but that
he had no apprehension of any such re-
suit, and the country knew that Govern
or Tilden was elected; that was about the