Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-12
UNEXPECTED DISCLOSURES.

The Potter investigating committee have
Unexpectedly struck a new vein to a rich
mine. The Democrats are as fortunate as
Saul, the son of Kish, who went out to seek his
fathers asses and found kingdom. The COM
mittee started out to expose and punish the
conspirators, but they have struck oil in an
unexpected quarter. Levisse, Hayes elect
or, appears before the committee and swears
that the electoral certificate of his State, upon
which the electoral commission passed judg-
ment, and which it decided was the true GER
ti6cate of Louisiana, was in reality docu-
ment not legally executed, insomuch that he
did not sign the certificate, some other per-
son, to HIM unknown, forging his signature
So it seems Hayes was declared elected on the
forgery of electoral returns from louisiana
1t was discovered that the fraudulent returns
sent to Washington were informal, illegal.
The exigency required prompt action and the
villains were equal to the emergency
Levisse was in the country, and there was no
time for finding him, and his name was
forged, and thus was Hayes made President,
and the political future of forty mil
lions of people controlled. These facts were
a surprise to the Democrats and produced
much CONSERVATION among the Republicans
OF course there is nothing in all this to af-
feet the Presidential title though it is a little
startling 10 remember that these forged GER
ti6cates were formally opened and laid before
both houses, were referred in the most SOL
emn manner to the electoral commission, and
were by them viewed and accepted as au-
thentic evidence that the Republican candi-
dates were entitled to the vote of louisiana.
If the forgery of Levisse's name had been at
that time discovered, of course the certificates
would have been rejected. These new dis
closures will shock the moral sense of the
entire country. Well may patriots tremble
for the safety of our institutions when we
have in our midst party base enough to
forge the electoral vote of the State. Mr..
MMahon, the leader. of the investigation,
has gwen an abstract of his opinion upon the
question of these fraudulent certificates. He
says: IAN examination of the provisions of
the constitution and law relating to the GER
ti6cates of Presidential electors, shows more
clearly the fraudulent character of the Lou
isiana returns as certified to by the Kellogg
electors. The constitution (article u,
amendments) requires that electors shall
make distinct lists of all persons voted for as
President and all persons voted for as Vice
President. Section 139 of the revised
statutes requires that the electors
shall seal up the certificates so
made by them, and certify upon each that
the lists of all the votes of such State given
for President and of all the votes given for
Vice-vresident are contained therein. The
genuine Kellogg certificate did not comply
with the above constitutional requirements.
Distinct lists were not madeout. Neither did
this Kellogg certificate comply with the law
above named. There was no certificate upon
the envelop. To cure them of the two de-
fects, one unconstitutional and the other
against the law. the new Kellogg certificates
No. and No. 3, duplicate, were manufac-
tured. These were in due form of law, but
were forged. They were laid before the
houses, referred to the electoral commission,
and embraced in the opinion as though they
were genuine. The forging of Levsse's name
appears in eight different places" 1t is also
charged that there are other names forged
besides that of Levisse. These thickening
proofs of the perjury, forgery and villainy by
which Hayes was made President have dis
gusted the American people. The gigantic