The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-04-26

lar government and the gigantic frauds fos
which that party was responsible
WHAT DAVENPORT ACCOMPLISHED.
In December, 1868, Congress passed seso-
luton to investigate the alleged frauos IN New
York; BY vote of 1874 yeas 70 90 nays' o sdo
Hon. William Lawrence of ONO, was ma n
chairman of very Efficient comnittee ios
that purpose The investigation was tnotough
and exhaustive; the evidence taken u a accesss'
BILE to you all in the Congressm5Uuuai .',;t.aoo
recommended legislation, IN consr9uenoa y.
wh,cG, and of suggestions OF Mi: DsVSnpor'
made from time to time-the iesuis' y. no
perience in the enforcement OF tne eatner acS "
passed-Congress eD acted the laws Oh May 81
and Julv ID. 1870. February %, 1871, and June
10, 1872 Nearly all of this leNisiat,on IS now
found under title 26 of the RevistN otatntes OF
the United States entitled "the sieclve fran.
chise," sections 2O02 aud z, l5l lncilese s,ia'
portion of which it is now proposed ny gentle-
men on the other side to repeal.
- Ia NAV, 1871, John /. Davenport was APP
pointed Chief Supervisor in that iudiciaI dis
trict, including the City of New York, and at
once entered upon the great work assigned
bin. Bright, active, intelligent, vigllant, FROM
Investigations made, thoroughly acquainted
with the ways of Tammauy he went into the
fight con dnl0re and came off conqueror; and
now the vanauished foe to decent wellordered
and pure elections demands his decapitation
ard the repeal Of the laws he succeeded in CO.
forcing. Is this suggestive of the thought that
history repeats itself? The task set before the
Supervisor was
1. To obtain possession of from twentysnSe
to thirty thousand false and fraudulent certn-
Gates of naturalization issued from the supreme
and Superior Courts in the month OF OCTOBER,
A. d 1868. then in use in the CITY, tne uaianoe
having been sold in packages IN New seLSoy,
Connecticut and 10 sectlons OF Tue 0'a'ooA Ne"
York.
o To discover and prevent false reg:stra-
ton whereby thousands claimed to reside il
dwellings which were in fact brick.yards, va
can't lots. parks, stables, gam ..
houses of prostitution and ass'gnStlon
g. To break up gangs Of repeaters, number
ed by the hundreds, each OF whom was
registering and voting from ten to thirty times.
T. To discover the immense number OF NV
ing men voting upon the names OF the dead.
g. To make correct roll of the uDpardoned
criminals and coDvicts
g. To prevent false counting and canvas
sing.
was, too. Davenport encountered OPPOSE
tion but ALWAYS triumphed over it. He was
prosecuted before the courts in 1874. The pre-
siding judge not only acquitted hum but COM
mended bis ability, integrity, and decision 10
the administration of the duties OF MS once
In 1876 Congressional committee, known al
"the Caulfield committee" investigated MIN
and in the end were delighted to have him
called off. Subsequent to the election OF 1870
another com mittee, the Hon Samuel s. Cox,
Chairman, made an investigation, which re-
suited in his entire vindcation. During the
last Congress another was ordered, the Hon
William P. Lynde, chairman, on which l had
the honor to represent the minority. Witnes
ses were examined for two or three weeks 10 sc
little effect that no report was ever made. Al
these obstacles had no more effect than the
debris floating on its surface has upon tint
ocean.
fraudulent Naturalization certificates to be fol
lowed up and destroyed. IL was very difficult
to determine how many of these were in use II
the city, thousands of them having been sent
into Connecticut, thousands into New Jersey
aud the river counties of New York, ten thous
and having been delivered to jim Fisk for dis
tribution along the line of the Erie Road; bu
the registration was carefully scrutinized, com
pared year by year; certificates of 1868 to be In
deXed; records of courts examined; holders o.
papers personally interrogated; threats, argu
ments and entreaties used with the voters, I'M
til in 1876 there were registered under certh
Gates issued from the Supreme and Superior
Courts for October, 1868, less than ten Thousand
} persons. In the accomplishment of this nocom
plant has ever been made against Mr. Daven
ports processes, and, comparatively speaking
, no obstacles had been thrown in his way. Phi
or to the election of 1873, the Supervisor having
knowing every holder Of these papers, all thu
facts touching their falsty, determined to clost
them out. There was no secrecy about it, NJ
disguise; his purpose was Published in thu
Udlly press u6 uOGueu d OOmmlbL66 Oh lam
many of it, and sought their cooperation
which at first they seemed inclined 60 give bat
subse quentIy refused, and on the contrary bit
terly opposed. He caused notices to be served
upon these holders personally. Before regis
tration was over from 5000 to 1000 of these
papers had been surrendered with Affidavit
that the surrender had been freely made; tina
the cert fcates were fraudulent, and each aft
davit signed by the party aft ant. Undoubted
ly thousands more would have been freely Civ
en- up had it not been for the violent and per
sistent opposition of Tsmmany. just before
the election some 8, 200 warrants were issued
against parties who had registered under These
papers On election day COG were arrested and
only ,240 succeeded in voting
call your attention to this: from %, 900 to
30, 900 fraudulent certficatt s on which men
had registered in 1868 and voted, in 1873 5000
only registered, ,240 voted aud all this &C.
complished with no more complaint or cause
for complaint than is found 10 the evidence
taken by our committee. I submit to any can
duo, fair-minded man, 10 not a success like tn g
marvellous, and its accomplishment with &c
| little friction, so slight individual, persona
injustice, without parallel in the history of Law
and its enforcement?
Mr.. Frye then spoke at some length of tn
repeating and false registration in New Yorl
city, citing from reports of investigations, an
closed with an earnest eulogy of the Supervis
|. ors law and with q description of the part,
which is now clamoring for its repeal,