The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-06-15


Louisiana Electoral College,
Examined as to the
signing OF the Ger.
IIfcates.
WAsHINGToS, June 14-The Florida
subcommittee OF the Potter Investigation
! Committee having returned, the whole
committee went into secret session, snt
when the doors were reOpened a recess
was taken. Upon the committee reas-
sembling, the members SAID that they
desired to be present at the the proceed
ings in the House, and left the room.
On returning, Orlando Il. Brewster,
one of the mem bers of the Electoral Col
lege in Loulsians during the election Of
1876, was examined briefly in regard TO
his connection with signing the certif-
Gates of election. ae testified that he at
tended the meeting of the Electoral Col
lege in New Orleans on December 9Th;
was chosen in the afternoon TO I'LL the va
csncy caused by his own non-a!tendance
IN the morning; counted the votes tor
President and Vice President, and the
College adjourned. In answer
TO the question whether he
had signed any certificate of votes cssL,
the witness said: have no recollection
of the time when | signed them; think
either that afternoon or the next morn
ing. Two or three weeks after ward l
heard that defect existed IN the ce!tlh'
cate for Louisians; heard it from II. Con-
quest Clarke, who WAS the secretary OF
Governor Kellogg, and was acting AS
clerk OF the Electoral College. AS nearly
as can remem Der, he stated that the
defect was a clerical defect. Some of
our friends thought that perhaps
1t was of no importance, but
to be sure, thought that q new
set should be- made out We had but
very little conversation on the subject.
Ny impression is he sald it should read
"lists, in the plural, whore it then read
"list." 1t is very indistinct in my MEM
ory. Immediately after that converse
ton he presented papers and asked me
to sign them, and l signed them in the
Governors office. don't remember who
were present, but l think there were
some men in the office 1t the time. That
ls all the connection had with it.
Witness here identified the returns
which were shown him, and his sigma
ture on them, including his signsLu
on the envelope He testified that he did
not know how many times he signed his
name on the first occasion, or the second
either. 1t seemed to him that it was
more than half dozen times. lie had
nothing to do with drawing them up.
He merely signed rs he was obliged to,
supposlng it was all correct. Somebody
pointed the place out TO MIN and told
him where to sign. He added that he
did not know whether anybody else
signed or not.
In answer 10 General Butler, he
stated that be held the office of Surveyor
General up to the time OF the election
He sent in his resignation three or four
days after the election, but asked that 1t
should be held back &c the Atm Of Nc
vember.
By Cox-Did you undertake TO make
any comparison yourself between the
first and second set of papers TO sec what
the difference wss2 A-No, | left it
entirely to Clark.
Q-You acted upon his telling you
that you were correcting formal error
in the papers you had drawn up at the
meeting2 A-Ies.
Q-You say it was conducted in pr-
water Al es, sir; was sent Tor several
times durlpg the day; they said l was
wanted al the Governors office.
Odd the message come direct from
tbe Governor7 A-No, not direct.
Q-When you went into the Gov
srnor's office did you see the Governor?
A-No, sir; saw Clarke and he called
my attention to this matter right away,
and l knew then that was the object IN
sending tor me.
Q-Ddnt it excite your suspicion q
little that as the letter "s" only was left
out? He had not the original papers
there and had 10 execute
anew. A-No, l supposed 1t wss
the anxiety of Our friends to have every
thing exactly right
The witness was examined at cor
siderable length, but nothing was elected
in addition 10 what was already stated.
The chairman submitted to the COM
mittee letter from Secretary of State
Evsrts in answer TO the resolution re-
Questing him to furnish the originals OF ali
communications on file il the State De-
psrtment purporting to come from mem
bers of the McYeigh-Hsrlau Commission
to Losiaians. He says: ~ ron laying
this report before the President | am
Instructed by him TO say that
while he considers 1t not at all lncom
pstibe with the public interests
that all the documents sought FOR
by this resolution should be made
public yet he is unable to perceive that
the subject embraced IN said resolIsion is
within the authority for inquiry impart-
ed TO your committee by the House Of
Representatives. The President hss,
upon this view OF the matter, desired TO
communicate TO the House OF Represent
stIves the information sought IN the rcso-
luton of your committee, tor such dispo-
ntion by that honorable body as shsI!
seem to it meet"