West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1878-06-22
The Presidential Election Frauds.

on the lnlrd nhN. i he llttle ccmmlttee-
room was crowded all the while. Some new
material was put on record, but. i'm the
main, the cross-cxaminatiOn of Anderson
was upon technical matters relating 10
points IN his previous testimony. The i'm.
portaut feature of the days performance
was Andersons assertion that the original
paper known as the Anderson Weber
agreement, which had been obtained irons
Senator Matthews by Governor Cox for the
use of the committee, was an excellent
counterfeit" When it was handed 10
| Anderson he read and examined il
| carefully, held IL toward the light
and otherwise scrutinized il very closely Tor
several minutes. He then returned it to Mr..
Reed saying: 81 never saw that paper be-
FORE" adding, :" 1t is an excellent coun.
terieit but II is not the paper I mailed
to Senator Matthews" To show the com.
mittee how it was that he could be sure
that this was not the paper he had sent
! To Mr.. Matthews, he stated: "When
Weber and ] drew up the agreement in
the Custom. house, opened my desk and
took out the last sheet of paper had
| therein, There were two spots OF red ink
on that sheet of paper. I took an eraser
and scratched off the ink.spots, and we
then wrote the agreement. This paper does
not bear the marks of any eraser. The paper
| gave to Matthews was in my own hand
writing"
HERMAN Potter asked Anderson il he
/
II 1t bore traces of those ink spots, to which
n positive Yes" was answered.
To understand the full significance OF the
| letter il is necessary to consider the
sequence of facts. After the inauguration
! Anderson filed an application for office
called on Hayes, and received special in.
| dorsement from Hayes He went to Gin
! clnnati, called on Stanley Matthews, whom
he had never seen before, was told by Mat.
thews that Commission would be sent
to New Orleans, and this was before
| the Commission was announced. He was
| told to GO to New Orleans, where a
letter of Introduction to a member
OF the Commission would be sent him. He
went to New Orleans received the letter of
introduction to Judge Harlan, and had
secret conferences.
The letter recites Packard's determination
to force Hayes to sustain him; discloses
| Packard's plan, to-wit: the production of
atfidavits of three Of the Republ' can Elec-
| tors that they never voted for Hayes, and
! the collection of other evidence: recites
the destruction OF one agreement, and re-
cites that another, inclosed, is the last docu-
! mentary evidence in existence
| The investigation is gradually working
down to the point of the alleged conspiracy
| by Packard and others to sacrifice Hayes
! by showing that three OF the Iouisiana
! Electors did not vote for Hayes and that
| the blanks In the certificate were filed by
! forging the signatures of absentees who ac-
| cording to Anderson, were Birch, Levissee
| and Makes, the last named being the gem
tleman who was lately nominated by the
President To be Collector of Internal
Revenue at New Orleans.
MIR. French, SergeantatArms ef the
senate, was sworn, and examined in refer
ence to the Electoral return of the State of
| Louisiana, which the committee seems to
| ind some difficulty in tracing or getting
! hold OF. French testified that during the
last session he had received by Adams Ex-
| press box which he had understood to
| contain Electoral returns of louisiana; that
he kept it sealed and under guard, occa.
sionally taking it to the committee room,
! where UonOre, the Louisiana Secretary of
State, would open it, and when he was done
with the papers, the box would be sealed
| again and placed under guard. French,
| two or three weeks after adjournment, sent
them to the Office of the dams Express.
addressed to Honore by his directions, and
he had never heard from them since.
The investigation into the alleged Louisi-
ana and Florida frauds was continued, on
June o. Mr. Cox, of the committee, said he
had received from Stanley Matthews the
| originals of the correspondence between him
! and JAS. +. Anderson, which the clerk read.
! The letters appeared in Anderson's pre-
! yious testimony, with the exception of one
! dated Philadelphia, April %, wherein An
| derson resigned his claims upon the Admin
lstration requesting Matthews to secure for
a friend of his in the Office of the North
| american newspaper, position, worth from
VI 200 to 81 400 per annum, in the Phladel.
phia Custom-house.
Mr.. Butler offered the following resoIu-
ton and 1t was unanimously adopted.
"ReSOtUcd, that Hon. Stanley Matthews be
| invited to appear before this committee at
his convenience aud make any explanations
| regarding the letters from Mr.. Anderson,
| just read, as he may desire, and to answer
such questions as may be pertinent to the
! subject under investigation"
Judge A. b. Levissee, of Louisiana, prac.
ucing attorney of Washington City was
sworn.
Judge Levisee testified that he had been
| offered by one Asher, 100000 to cast
his vote as elector for Tilden. Asher
was the only person who had spoken
/ 70 the witness on the subject Another
\ person named johnson, formerly Sergeant
alarms in the Louisiana House Of Rep
/ fesentatlyes, called on witness at his lodg.
! lngs, and not finding him in, wrote a note
stating that Johnson desired 10 meet wit.
| ness at a certain hotel at nine o'clock. the
next morning on important business, but
| before that hour johnson called at witnesses
lodgings and made an engagement with him
/ 10 meet Asher az one o'clock.
! The ladies Of the house told witness they
\ were under the impression, Judging from
| the conversation and manner OF Johnson
/ that he was DESTROYS OF making a bargain
/ with witness 70 change bis vote, and stating
\ as their reason for so believing that re.
mark was made by Johnson, the effect Of
/ which was II ] was in Levissee's shoes
/ would make 300 900 out Of it," " Johnson -
/ witness said, was intimately acquainted
/ with the ladies n the house"
Mcmahon here produced a note and wit
/ ness recognized 10 as the one written by
I johnson when he first called.
Continuing Levissee said Asher was
/ previously cashier Of the bank in Shreve.
/ port. A. the time in question he was in
/ New orleans trensacting private business.
Mr.. Mcmahon requested witness to state
/ az near as he could remember the CONVEX.
sauOn between himself and Asher, regard.
I ing the transaction In reply, he stated
| mat after some preliminary remarks, sher
/ asked him II he would be willing TO accent n
round sum, say thirty or forty thousand
/ dollars, and refuse 10 accept bis certificate
/ ~ election az ElectOt
/ a secret session was held IN June T. and
an open session was afterward held. pub.
fishing what was done The fact was ellie.
I TED that as soon as President HAYES was
ADVISED that there was anything suspicious
. IN anderson character he sent letter 10
the secretary Of State ordering that Ander.
sons appointment 10 a ConsuIsbip be
\ withheld until be could inveHtigate his
. character. This investigation was stained
I ~ Anderson Withdrawing his application.
\ they also scOoped in their draV.net letters
. from Influential persons i'm SteubenviIle
] . % the President, indOrsiug Anderson ae
uFrHH .frr aa.N.e