Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-09

WASHINGTON, D. c., June 8-The house
committee investigating the alleged frauds il
| Louisiana and Florida resumed the inquiry
to-day. Mckinney, deputy clerk OF the su
preme court, and clerk of the electoral com
| mission, submitted printed copies of the orig
! iual certificates opened before the electoral
commission, and testified that the originals
now before the Potter committee compared
with the printed copies. The witness con-
| tinued on the commission, and dealt only
with the printed papers, except in one or two
| instances; he could not explain how the Ger.
| tihcates became mixed and duplicated In
| printing. During his examination by Mr..
NJ MahOn, Mr.. Cox accused him of assuming
that he was counsel for the prosecution.
| whereupon Mr.. NJ 'Mahon sand he was entire
ly mistaken, and that he Cox was assuming
| a role entirely foreign to him, namely, de-
| fender of fraud. At the request of the chair
man, the examination was proceeded with,
and the witness stated, in reply to questions
by Mr.. 81 'Mahon, that when General Gar
| field came TO him inquiring into the matter
of the mixture of certificates In the printed
volumes, he id: you will probably see the
| Importance OF these in few days; there has
been a charge made that some of the certif-
Gates were forged.
In reply to questions by Chairman Potter,
Mckinney testified that Garfield cume to him
in the clerks office of the supreme court and,
to the best of his recollection, asked him il
he remembered any difference in Kellogg
louisiana certificates 4 to which he replied
t nat lie did, but did not recollect what the
difference consisted 10; whereupon, at General
Garfeld's request. l got an octave volume
called The Count of the Electoral Vote in
which the duplicate appeared, and while
General Garfield read certificate No. /, |
looked at No. 2, and the difference was that
bne of the certificates was separate as to
Hayes and Wheeler, the other was a Joint
certificate. Witness stated that they were
never compared after they were received from
the printer, and in one or two instances, at
the request of members. papers were sent
direct from the printing Office to their houses,
that they might receive them early in the
day.
The point sought to b. developed by the
examination of M Kinney is that certificate
No. l, which Levisse identified as containing
his genuine signature, contains only the SIN
gle statement that the electors voted for Pres
ident and Vice President, while certificate
No. 3, to which Levisse says his signature is
forgery, contains double statement of the
vote for President and of the vote for Vice
President. 1t appears that In both the print
ed volumes-the one In quarto form, CORE
spending with the Congressional Record,
and the one in octave form-it is only No. 3
that is printed. OF this curious fact the only
explanation that could be offered by NJ KIN
ney, secretary of the electoral commission,
was that the printed copies of Nos. and 3
were so nearly identical in the first page that
in gathering together the copies that were not
used they got mixed together, there being
no printed number. to distinguish them,
and that when he handed to Mr..
Murphy, the official stenographer, copies to
be printed in the appendix, he had given
him two OF the same kind instead two of diff
ferent kinds.
This was the substance of NJ 'Knney's tes-
timony, except that another somewhat later
esting incident was also related In it. That
was that some five or six weeks ago General
Garfield called upon him, and asked him if
he recollecte1 the difference between certii-
Gates No. and No. 3. Mr.. MKinney did
not at first recollect, bat when he and Gar
field went to comparing the certificates in the
printed volume, the recollection of the differ
ence came fresh upon him, and he stated it
TO Garfield and furnished him with separate
copies. 1t was in procuring these copies
from the storeroom, where they had been
thrown as waste paper, that it was discovered
that the two sets of the Kellogg certificates
had got mixed up together. and that dis
closed TO him how he had made the mistake
in furnishing the copies to Murphy. All this
was got out as the result of a great deal Of
questioning and cross questioning.
~ ~. ID.
made some correction in his previous testi
mony, among which was one denying having
told Asher he would take two hundred thou
sand dollars and refuse to accept his electoral
certificate.
In reply to a question by Mr.. Cox, relative
to any further facts concerning the attem oted
brlbe, the witness said he had a very strong
suspicion of an advance of the proposition,
and that it was to be IN Ide after rejecting
over the matter during the night and b sfo:e
he went to see Asher. The first time he
thought he would 90 and see Marshal Pitkiu
about it. remembering the teachings oil
the Lords prayer-''Lead us not into temp
tation." He thought that by revealing the
facts to PItkin he would then have no power
to accept the offer and that, in a CONVERSE
ton with PItkln. he (wltness) proposed tt
draw the parties out until the last moment
with the view of finding out who they were
and to keep them from attempting to bride
anyone else.
BY the Chairman-Have you any idea WIG
signed your name or the certificates IIch
you have testified were not signed by YOU
Ans.--Not the remotest.
By Mr.. Cox-Have you any recollection as
to the number Of times you signed your name
or the places? Ans.-My recollection IS dis
tinct as TO the places l signed, but | do moi
remember the number OF times; but should
say at least ten or dozen times on the sew
eral certificates made out
By the Chairman-Have you anything ad
ditional to add to your statement in regard t
your voting blank, as it was charged? Ans
Nothing In particular; | took ticket and
Endorsed my name on 1t, there were no blank
votes. ] can swear positively TO having heard
them read as they were taken out of the boob
after they we're stated; there were eight
pieces read, and | am confident that the
name of Hayes Cpd Wheeler was written or
each of them.
Mr.. RI.evisse was at this point excused
and the chairman announced that the vice
PRECEDENT pro tenn. of the senate Ferry could
not appear before the committee until later II
the day, and tie committee took a recess.
AFTER RECESS.
Hon. Thomas w. Ferry, who, as president
of the eaate, received the electoral returns
of the last Presidential election, appeared
before the committee. He was sworn and
examined ct great length in regard to the
manner Ia which the returns from the differ
eat States had reached him, the examination
being directed mainly. however, to the Lou
Isiana returns. He testified that when he re-
ceved the first return from Louisiana, By
Messenger ihomas C. Anderson. he did moi
accept 1t, because 1t appeared to be informal
Q1estion-DId you decline to receive the re-
retGgu2 Answer did not decline;
| asked kim whether he was familiar with
the statute, and wiz. ~ this was In compll'
aAce with it; | pn Ii / AKA &c the statute,
and upon that he Withdrew with tbs TeLcrn
oues.-Without any further remark
Ans cosid not say without further re.
mark, but there was nothing that impressed
itself GA my mind i adopted the word
'corrected" 10 sll cases where ! discovered