The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-08-06
DAVENPORT'S DISCLOSURES.
The Democratic Crusade for Free
Fraud!


animation has been postponed again and again,
while all sorts OF witnesses, warranted not to
give the Democrats any trouble, have boon al
lowed to express themselves with the greatest
freedom 1t is more than a year and half
since the present inquiry was undertaken. 1t
is eight months since Mr.. Davenport addressed
his INDIGNANT letter to Senator Wallace claiming
the right to be examined. The delay in calling
the one man who knows most about the subject
of inquiry is not surprising, for is well under
stood tuaC MIR. Davenport has made thorough
study of the case under consideration, and that
he Is very sharp.
He has now opened 80 much Of his budget
as the Democratic members of the committee
could not prevent his exhibiting, and the dis
closures are certainly sensational. IT appears
that at the election of 1868 the Democratic ma
I0rity in the city of New York was about SO, 000
and this was sufficient to overcome large Re-
publican majority in the rest of the State, with
10000 votes to spare. 1t has always been be-
lieved that the Democratic vote in that year
was to a large extent fraudulent, and Mr.. Da-
venport was employed by the Union League
Club to conduct certain Investigations. He
discovered that between 200 and 10000 boz
gus naturalization papers were issued in the
single year 1868, chiefly by Judges Barnard and
McCunn. The fraud began in the Court of
Common Pleas, under Judge Cardozo In 1866,
but it was stopped there by the honest Demo-
cratic Clerk of the Court Mr.. Jarvis, who
peremptorily refused to issue the fraudulent
papers. The business was then taken over to
hIcCunn in the Superior Court N867), and
the next year Barnard, in the Supreme Court,
lent hand, The first thing that arrested sus-
picion in searching the records was the extraor-
binary numberof the citizens manufactured by
these two Judges. Previous committees of
Congress had inquired of all the Judges who
issued naturalization papers how long the
process took. Judge Brady said five minutes :;
the others agreed that eight or ten men an
hour was as many as they could naturalize, But
1t appeared from the court records that Judge
Barnard turned out vo ers at the rate of 500 an
hour and McCunn was not far behind him. In
October, 1868 (the month before election), over
$4,000 naturalization papers pnrported to issue
from the Supreme and Superior Courts-every
one, with few inconsiderable exceptions, bear
ing the name of Barnard or Medium. On the
18th of October the number reached the ex-
traordmary figure of 1920, whereas, according
to the testimony of Judge Brady and his col
leagues, the utmost that the two Judges could
have accomplished during the time these courts
sat on the 18th of October (about five hours
each) was the naturalization of 100 or 100 men.
Further search shows that there was no rea-
sonable proportion between the number of
naturalzatons and the preliminary decara-
tions of intention. The experience of the
courts since 1868 proves that about half of
those naturalzed are on the record as declar-
ing their intention to become citizens, the rest
being men who came to this country under
age, or who served in the army, and are there
fore not Obliged to file a declaration. But in
1868 the usual method was to issue all these
fraudulent papers as if to persons exempt from
declaration on account of their age on arrival.
Mr.. Davenport obtained the affldayits of 1000
men who acknowledged that they had been natu-
rallied as minors, although they were over
age, many of them from 40 to go years old
when they landed. Even with all these frauds
the work dld not go on fast enough, and at least
10000 naturalization papers were accordingly
lssuedin blank, withoutany application for them,
OF transaction of any kind in court, or any
record appearing on the books. Three thou
sand OF these bogus papers were seized by the
police at liquor store in Prince street thew
were intended for use in Connecticut, where a
contract had been made to furnish them at 80
cents apiece. Mr.. Davenport speaks from per-
sonal knowledge about the blank certificates,
for he has had many of them-some thousands
in his possession. An examination of the
court records for the past twenty-five years
shows that the number of naturalizations has
run from $500 to 16, 600 year, being highest,
of course, in years of political excitement.
Even in 1867, when the frauds began to be
heavy, it was only 1880. But in 1868 it went
up to 10000 or more. Probably nobody will
ever know the exact figures, because no record
was made on the books, but it is ascertained
that Barnards court had $4,000 blanks, and
used all except 1900 of them.
Ir the H"eparation of these false papers the
oonspirators committed the most reckless blum.
npsg IprtifipOtng n
Supreme Court were, dated back to 1866. al
though the court never naturalized any one,
and no blanks were ever printed for it until
1868. Sometimes the imaginary applicant for
naturalization was represented as a native of
this country or even of this city Sometimes
the application was signed in q good hand by
witnesses who are found to be now unable to
write, Often the names of prominent citizens
as witnesses--August Belmont, John T. Hoff-
man. William Nj. Tweed, Peter b. Sweeney,
John j. Bradley, William H. Vanderbilt, and
United States District Attorney Courtney
signed with mark But great deal of the
work was done by professional witnesses, who
made nothing OF swearing to five-years ac-
quointance with some two thousand APP
plcants, These professional witnesses,
of whom there were about 100 were kept in a
room adjoining the court, and in one month
they signed for $1,000 applicants. Ten of them
appeared for no fewer than SPAS persons.
Patrick Golf, John Moran, John Ward, and
Patrick McCaffery seem to have done the heav-
lest business Con gave his address in thir-
teen different streets, but always at the same
number, Al. The residences of supposed ap-
pllcants were placed in vacant lots, stone-yards,
OF wherever chance or fancy dictated, Occa-
caslonally the conspirators went through a
whole street, and located colony of applicants
IN N each house, not stopping when they got to
the end of the street. but carrying out the
numbers Gd 6bitNm. In City Hall place, for
example, which contains only forty houses
they ran the numbers up to $40. The apph-
Sants for naturalization, it appears, during the
height of the fraud, acre neuer dd-
m8ed 10 the courtroom, and neUeT SdeU
ne Judge. The professional witnesses
obtained the certificates, either filled out or in
blank, and disposed of them at rates varying
irom 90 cents to -. Quantities were delivered
In Winchester, Putnam, Orange and Rockland
counties Goff took 400 to Kings county, and
Mr.. Davenport knows of 500 that were offered
for sale in Saratoga county. The completely Of
the Democratic Committee in these transactions
was notorious. Tho principal part of the BUSH
ness was carried on at the party headquarters,
the system was organized there, the witnesses
were supplied, the Judges were managed, and
the aliens who were to vote on these bogus pa
pers received their instructions. So vast a
SCIleule COulQ never nave been carried out eX-
cept by an organized central authority. But
that there might be no doubt about the real re-
sponsibility for the crime, United States Marshal
Murray in 1868 sent number of fictitious
names to the Democratic National Committee,
and in few hours obtained certificates of
naturalization for 50 apiece.
These things were done while Tweed was in
his glory. But we must not forget that the
corruption of the suffrage thus introduced was
continuing danger and injustice the &C, 600
aliens supplied with bogus certificates repeated
the crime every year they voted. When Mr..
Davenport was appointed Chief Supervisor of
Elections his first undertaking was to put a
stop to this outrage upon the legal voters, and
ms method OF doing so seems to have been
highly judicious He gave fair warming through
the press, through the postoffice, and whenever
possible by personal notification, that the
fraudulent certificates would be challenged at
the polls. He invited a committee from Tam
many Hall to sit with him at his Office. and re-
quested all holders of the papers of 1868 to APP
pear there and exchange their false certificates
for valid ones, if they were entitled to them, or,
at any rate, to be put in the way of becoming
citizens. Several thousand persons did give III
their bogus papers and made affidavit as tc
how they obtained them and the number OF
voluntary surrenderS would no doubt have
been much greater if Tammany Hall-not the
bad Iammany of Tweed but the present re.
formed Tammany of Mr.. Kelly-had not sent
out circulars in English and German, warning
Democratic voters not to appear before Daven-
mort and To keen AWAY from all Governn,an,