National Republican., 1878-06-07
MR.. MArrHEws INVITED To APPEAR.

MR.. MATTHEWS INVITED TO APPEAR.
General Butler then offered tho following
resolution, which was adopted
Resoircd, That Hon Stanley Matthews be invited
70 appear before the committee at his convenience,
70 make such explanation In regard TO the letters
lust read from Anderson tG himself as well as TO
others produced before the committee, as he may
deem proper, and to answer such questions as may
be pertinent to the subject under Investigation.
JUDGE A. b. LEvIssEE
was then sworn and substantially testified as
follows: / have resided In Shreveport, La,
ever since 1855, and claim II as my actual
domicile, though l have lived here in WASH
ington for year My occupation Is that of q
gentleman Of leisure. Prior to the election Of
1876 was district judge for the Shreveport
district; subsequently | was United States
Commissioner, which position resigned on or
about November 10, 1876. | was one Of the
electors on the Hayes and Wheeler ticket.
TILDES BID.
A proposition was made to me in New Orleans
day or two before tho time of casting Of the
electoral vote to vote for Tilden. | was told
that / could get 100000. The man who made
the proposition to me directly was Samuel NJ
Asher, of Shreveport. No other person directly
spoke to me on that subject, but man named
c. W. johnson had called at my lodgings one
night when was not in. In note he left for
me he said that he wished TO see me on busi-
ness of importance, and asked me to meet him
the next morning at Cassidy's Hotel. He
called, however. the next morning long before
nine o'clock, and then said that Mr.. Asher
wanted to see me.
He never said what the important business
was. and never asked him. had q suspic-
ion Of what he wanted by what he told the
ladies in the house, who said that he seemed
very much excited. One expression of his
was II should like to be In his shoes could
mako 100000" lie also said 1T will DO too
late after tomorrow"
This was on the night of November 4, the
sl-ctoral vote was to be cast on the 9Th. On
tie night when johnson made his first call
was out driving with Postmaster Parker,
aud did not return home until nine o'clock.
Besides myself, there were present Mr.. George
). Smith, who was recently appointed collector,
a Mr.. McWayne, aud a Mr.. Dexter Smith.
When the ladies handed me the note which
johnson had left for me, they seemed little
excited and paused while read it. They con-
veyed to me the impression that the impress
sion left upon their mind by johnson was that
HE CAME TO DRIBE NE.
had no idea Of It before the ladies spoke to
me. Before had time to reflect as to what
he wanted with ME the ladies, impulsive as
most ladies are, revealed their impression.
When johnson called the next morning. allud-
ing to the fact that he had called the night be-
fore and left the note, ho asked me whether /
could make an appointment to sec Asher. /
answered promptly, yes that would be down
town after breakfast, and made an appoint
ment for one o'clock that day. That was all
that passed. At the appointed time met
Asher at Cassidys Hotel. We walked off by
ourselves to retired portion Of the city. We
stopped nowhere, kept walking all the time,
and walked perhaps dozen squares. After some
apolOgctic remarks that would not take amiss
of what nc was going to say-he was very
slow approaching the subject aud did not
hurry him, but chose to let him develop things
in his own way, as had strong suspicion of
what was coming Asher said: Now, Judge,
what want to know Is this, would you be
willing to accept a round sum (say $4,000 or
SlOOOO) and refuse to accept your certificate Of
election rs clector?' There was at that time
some discussion about my eligibility Us an
elector had been advised that It would be
safer for me to resign. ! notified Governor
Kellogg officially that would not be present
at the meeting Of electors, although did not
do this until the morning of the meeting of
the Electoral Jollagc.
BY Mr.. Mcmahon: Was 1t not understood
that you should be about handy, inasmuch as
the electors were going to elect you to fill the
vacancy Occasioned by your resignation "A.
oh, no; ! cannot say that it was.
The witness here explained that In this mat
ter OF his resignation as an elcctOr he acted
upon the advice Of others rs we'll as upon his
own Judgment He then continued
made no immediate reply to Ashor's propo.
sition, but after rejecting little suggested
that that was
A SMALL CONSIDERATION FOR so BIG THING
that man had not often chance to make
President of the United States by his single
vote; that $4,000 or 10000 was a mere bag.
gatelle that 1t was big thing, and was worth
u good deal more. Asher admitted that it was
not great deal My object from the first WAS
to ascertain from whom the proposition really
came, where the money was coming FROM and
wanted to know all about the scheme At
last tine conclusion was, said Tell your
man that LiviSsce is willing to listen to q prop
osition of this sort, but you have not got up to
his price yet" | wanted to leave the i'm pres
sion upon his mind that ! would take 100000.
One Of the reasons why did not assent TO the
proposition of $4,000 was because feared that
Asher would produce the money and would
have felt bound, as an honorable man, to stand
by my agreement. / put it at S2O00)O becau SO
knew that Asher could not come up to that
figure.
q. Well, now. why could you not have
found out who were Asher's hackers lust MS
we'll by seeming to agree to the $4,000 propo.
'ition as to put 1t up to 100000? A.-As
iaid before, was afraid of temptation. l had
been warned twenty-iour hours in advance,
and had been TO Pitkin and told him that
was going to find out what there was in this
thing | was on guard to save my virtue-my
political virtue. You may think it strange to
hear of political virtue, particularly in Louis
ana politicians, but they have II some times |
Hence put myself in such a position as to
guard myself against temptation. Louisiana
virtue needs careful watching Laughter
When we parted left Asher to infer that i |
might be open to his proposition.
SECOND INTERVIEW
was appointed when we separated at the close |
IF the first one We met at the st. Charles
Hotel at seven o'clock in the evening We
went out of side door and took a moonlight |
walk. The first thing that Asher then said |
was that he had to change his proposition |
Instead Of proposing to him to refuse to accent |
ny certificate of election | was to cast NV |
vote direct for Mr.. Tilden. / said that this |
was an entire different thing, aud ! would |
nave to think about It, then said that 1t was |
'carcely worth while to go any further with |
his matter until / knew where the money
was to come from.
My understanding was that Asher was 10 |
get some per centage of the money t hat was
% be paid, but ! did not know whether
le was to receive $4,000 out Of the money to
20 paid to me, or whether he was to get il |
rom somebody else. After my last remark |
Asher said that he woald go to the hotel and |
see a gentleman there and find out about the |
money, aud would meet me again la half an
lOur.
We met at the appointed time at q coffee.
rouse and Asher in rgDly to NV question said |