Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-06-12

VIZ RAoSSo hSuS Ous Wv uoN SaAASAAA
Der the number of times, but should
say at least ten or dozen, on the sew
eral certificates made out.
Q-Chairmsn-Have you anything
additional to add to your statement in
regard to your voting blank was
charged.
A-Nothing in particular. l took
a ticket and endorsed my name on it,
There was no blank votes. can
swear positively to having heard them
read as they were taken out of the
box after they voted. Recess.
WHAT SHERMAN SAYS.
WASHINGTON, June S.-Secretary
Sherman declines to make public his
letter to the Potter Committee yester.
day until the committee acts upon it.
The Secretary in his letter replies to
the charge that he had entered into
a conspiracy to make false returns Of
an election that was free and fair, by
an offer Of certain testimony to show
that there was fraud, violence and in.
timidation in FeliciaDa parishes by
the democrats. He furnishes nam ef
of about 100 witnesses to prove his as.
sertion and refers to testimony of wit.
nesses on former investigation, and
gives resume of a number of per.
sons whipped burned and hanged
He asks the committee to accord him
the right to prove what he asserts.
. WASHINGTON, June, 8.
The point sought to be developed
by the examination of Mckinney il
that certificate No. l, which Levissee
identified as containing his genuine
signature, contains only the single
statement that electors voted for Pres
ident and Vice-president, while GER
tificate No. 3, to which Levissee says
his signature is q forgery, contains q
double statement OF the vote fol
President and of the. vote for Vice
President. 1t appears that in both
printed volumes the one in quartc
form corresponding with the Con
gressional Record and the one in Oc.
tavo form, it is only No. that il
printed. OF this curious fact the on.
ly explanation that could be offered
by Mckinney, Secretary of the Elec.
toral Commission, was that printed
copies of l and were SO near iden.
teal in the first page that in gather.
ing together the copies that were not
used they got mixed up together.
After recess Thos. w. Ferry was
examined at great length regarding
the manner in which various returns
reached him, mainly, however, Lou
isiana returns. He refused the first
Louisiana return because it seemed
informal; he never learned that il
was defective because it contained
but one list of voters for President
and Vice-President, until quite re-
Gently the record would show thai
he opened first the envelope received
by mail with no corresponding one
by messenger; he didn't know
in advance any of the contents OF
the returns, and he believed he cut
or tore open every return; never
had the idea suggested to him that
some of the signatures were not gen.
uine, but somebody had said regard
ing the second Louisiana return thai
he feared in the correction of the re.
turns the time when they met was put
instead of when the college should
have met there being no printed
number to distinguish them, and
when he handed Murphy the official
stenographic copies to be printed in
the appendix he had given him two
Of the same kind instead of two OF
different kinds.
That the substance of McKinney's
testimony, except that another some.
what interesting incident was also
related in it was that some five
or ten weeks ago General Garfield
called upon him, asked him if he re-
collected the difference between GER
tiflcates numbers one and three. Mr..
Mckinney did not at first recollect it,
but when he and Garfield went to COM
pairing certificates in the printed vol
ume the recollection of the difference
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 he discovered how the
two sets of Kellogg certificates had
got mixed up together, and that dis
closed to him how he had made q
mistake in furnishing copies to MUIR
ply.
Witness had remarked that if any
return was correct it would probably
be the one that came by mail, as that
was made at the time the college met.
He first heard of the doubt of the au-
thenticity of the corecled returns four
or five weeks ago from General Gar
field. His rule in receiving returns
from any State whatever was when
he saw on the envelope any evidence
of irregularity to direct the attention
thereto of the messenger, and if the
messenger refused to take the envel-
ope back, then the witness would re-
ceive and keep the package, and de-
cline to give it up. He believed the
man who brought the second return
was not the one who brought the
first but as he exhibited his creden-
tails as messenger that fact did not
excite his attention.
Mr.. Mcmahon Intercepted him
closely a. to whether he had in con-
versation before the returns were
counted mentioned the facts about
irregularities in the returns to his
party friends.
Witness said he did call the atten-
ton of members of both parties to
irregularities in the returns but he
had no record Of any such converse
ton.
A letter was read from Senator
Matthews regarding the invitation of
the committee for him to appear, de-
clining to accept though without dis
respect to the committee. He says
the only information he had concern
ing the proceedings before the COM
mittee was the newspaper articles he
read. On account of newspaper re.
ports he made personal explanation
in the Senate and moved committee
of inquiry, which was adopted and
the Senate alone therefore had juris-
diction Of the matter, and SO far as
he was invited to submit an explana-
ton of his correspondence with An
derson to the committee he considers
it would be improper to comply. He
has acknowledge whatever of the al
legged frauds which the committee are
to investigate, except what
is revealed by the correspondence al
ready submitted.
Mr.. Morrison remarked when the
letter was finished: "We shall have
to issue subpoena for him."
The Chairman said he had intima-
ted at the beginning of the proceed
ings that Matthews might wish to be
present, but the minority had said they
didn't desire to call him.
Mr.. Cox exonorated the Chairman
from discourtesy.
The clerk of the committee being
asked, said he had furnished Mat
thews . copy of all testimony concern
ing him.
Mr.. Butler said he supposed he had