The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-06-08

Ftftut' requires SUNll lr tltfN. u was altrr
the 22l ofDcrcmhcr. 1876. when Thos. c. Ander-
son. with ,ho duplicate of certificate No. l.,
reached Washington it was after that that
ccrtiii'nte No. WIS manufactured and mailed
from New Orleans Dec. ~. 1876;
Twrllih--Tp hc proved: Who discovered
hnt certificate No. VA not In ai1ordance VIZ VIZ
discovery mude WHO advised INC second SET ot
returns to be- uunufacturrd: who forged tho
signature Of Aaron B. Ievisce; what members
Of the Electoral Commission knew OF the Tor
gcry whn advised 1t. -, - 3,
the Louisiana caso is based first on certificate
that docs not conform to the Constitution and
the law. and also upon certificate thnt was u
lase forgery. There is 10 court OF lusu's III
the land that would not decide that n title to
piere Of property based upon title, pan,rs
supreme Court OF the Unitod Statrs in n late
famous case. has decided that a patent To lnnd
which simply lacked the signature OF the II
corlnr VI the Patent Office wns null and void.
Cnfef-Justire Waite. in McOarrHhan ugt. New
idra Mining Company. says:
The question not wsi IN hg aSenc' & o s1T1Mrs hgf M
statute requires not wnot other statutes may nesc rlDH
ms nor the counlcrsismns cnn be omitted any more
'n s ,i,i',- m & Ir ,r ,i, .tn n, rss Wien iy
statute '9ch form. are resnsd for IN, n@, 'o,inmin 81 nn
1t has never been doubted that in such cases
the omission Of any Of the stntutory require
Inents invalidates the deed. The legal title to
lands cannot be conveyed except in tho form
provided by law. Can il be said that
when the title to the Presidency rests upon.
Ifht. n paper tuNt IL IN inc TACO OF tlit NnSI-
tuition and the teeth Of the law. and second.
upon another paper which IL Il base forgery. Is
sacred; and that when patent lacks simply
though it has the signature Of the President
himself the patentee has no title whateverY
Mr.. Mcmahon has submitted the following
syllabus OF his opinion In regnrd to the effect Of
the recent discoveries upon the validity Of the
electoral certiilcates before the Commission
First-The Constitution Of the United States.
tart. nj amendmentl requires that tho elect;
ors shall make distinct lists of all persons voted
ior ms President and oi al nrrsons voted Tor as
Vice President. Second-The law (sec. l39.
Revised Statutcsl requires, that The electors
them and certify upon each that the sts OF all
the votes Of such State given for President. and
Of all the votes given inr Nce-l'resident, are
contained therein" The genuine Kellogg
certificate (No. II did not comply with
the, above constitutional Ire,apremcnt. nor
not made out but only one list. nor did this GER
tiilcaie contain upon tho envelope the certih-
cnte above required 10y section l39. To remedy
these defects in the genuine documents new
ones were .n,anutactured.. Icing certillcates,
known as No. 3. and No, dqplicate.
forged. The forged documents were two in
number. only one genun one being presented.
They were all laid before the two Houses. by
them referred 10 the Electoral Commissio and
embraced in their opinion as genuine. The
forseries Of Levisee's name occur in eight
The Potter Committee in executive session to-
papers described as follows: First. the original
electors certificates Of the election Of President
1 2r large Ss sIsrs steT ~ c NS s I Bue p pencil
marks. NJ. IT, q pencil memorandum. No
dnpeate \ 6 X and ,qnotesr penTeil memo, no
set OF papers on which the two signatures pro-
Tossing TO have been made BY \. y. Ieyisee as
an elector are declared by him to be in his own
handwriting. The following papers are Rt-
tached together. and all are dated Dec, 6. 1876:
a. : Iaf,4l nas 1870 leariut, the
seal of the State. countersiEned by T. G.. Des-
l,onde. Secretary OF state. declaring that Msssrs.
electors OF President and Vice. President
SecondIThe certified LIST Zone sheet OF votes
both being contained in the same paper. there
being only one document signed.
Third-A paper eight Shr"tsl containing Ger
tincate ot proceedings OF the Electoral College
OF Louisiana. and the appointment of "A mes
senger to carry the vote OF the state to the seat
Fourth-The certificate Of the Secretary of
State two sheetsl to an extract from the laws OF
Finh-The certificate of the Secretary Of State
three shnetsl. under the seal of the state. that
Messrs. Kellogg. Burch. and others were chosen
electors OF President and Nice-president.
The papers having been described and identi.
fed as above. Mr.. Mcmahon proceeded TO read
the original certificate numbered one in the
foregoing Il 81, r,while other members Of the COM
mittee checked the reading by the printed
entitled Count Of Fe t"rl p%l Vo,es ProseedTnes dT
OF Congress and Electoral Commission. 1877
by the comparison 50 made tue original certi-
hcate WAS found 70 differ from the printed one
in this respect only that in the original the ilr-t
elector on the list was designated as WIN. T.
kellogg: while ~ n ne printed certi cate he Is
Mr.. Mcmahon next read the certified list OF
votes for President aud Vice President mum,
bered in the above listl, which was compared
printed on pages POS and 206 Of the volume en-
tltied Electoral Count &c. and no dis
MIR. MiMehon next read the cert rtlncate Of pro-
ceedinrs Of the Electoral College no in the
preceding lisU. which was compared with the
corresponding paper printed IN the volume cn-
titled ' Electoral Count" and no discrepancy
was found except that in the opinion OF some
members Of the committee the name Of Peter
Joseph, so printed, was written in the original
Pet" Joseph. This point was reserved for
Mr. MsMahon then read the original ccrin-
cate OF thr secretary OF state. numbered
9 , G"rrrsp ,,, Ralr lniil On paEe @lt q
no Discrepancy was found
Then was road the original certificate Of the
secretary Of State of Louisiana. certifying to an
extract from the laws of the State which was
compared with the certileate printed on page
2O7 Of the volume entitled Electoral Count"
" ma ihey yWrf found to agree eX,cept that
wrrtcn Wm. Pit Kellogg, instead Of William
Upon Inspection, it was found that tho cnvo-
ope continuing this st of papers lNo. i up-
Inared 10 haye been addressed To the prcs-
dent of the United States Senate. Washington.
~ I. Two lMriIuNIkA tIiNilf on lle tuNelNie
-One. New Orleans. Dec. q. La.,' and the other
lblurredl also New Orleans. Dec. Q. La"
Upon the envelope there are postage stamps In
the amount OF tu1riY-onc cents. On tie face Of
the envelope. in the upper lett hand corner. are
the following words: "The within contains a
list Of all the votes cast by tho electors OF the
State OF Louisiana for President and Vice. Pres
ident OF the United States" No signatures.
Across the. envelope is written in pencil, No
duplicate" also, IN capital letters, " \. c., No.
] - also. across the lace in ink tho figures.
" 7s7; - also. the figures "4.Ol3;' also. in pen
ell "A capital G., On the reverse side. ~ thu top,
in blue pencil. appears the mark " ~. NJ, ~
also. written across the envelope. " William +.
Kellogg" The envelope hears the seal of the
80 Crescent City Bank, y. or
Tine committee then took up the set ofpapers.
" NJ. g." the originals heing marked on the
back, ~ g.. No, 3, and the dup licates, y. C..
No. 3. duplicate" Upon inspection this get Of
papar7 was found 10 consist ol three sheets.
fastened together by "a blue ribbon ~ follows
Fir,t-Thc certi ate oi The Governor TO The elec-
tion of the electors William +. Kellogg and
others. dated Dec 6. 1876. hcaring tho seal Of
tho state Of Louisiana ana tie Httestntion Of
the Secretary OF state. Secgud-A certified list
OF the persons voted for as President, purport-
ing 10 be- signed with tho names Of the electors.
Thirl-A list Of all persons vOted for rs Vice.
President. also purport.ng 10 bee signed by all
the electors. These are the papers la regard To-
which the witness LeYisee testins ii Yesterday
thnt the name Aaron i. leyisee' appended