Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-09-15

not hold his office although he got a
thousand more votes than Hayes, who
got the vote of Louisiana. Applause.
Gentlemen, what do you say to the
proposition which | made in my speech
a month ago, that Garfield went to New
Orleans as a partisan; that he occupied
one Of the rooms of the Custom House
for the purpose Of making up the evil
dence for the Returning Board; but We
will 20 a good deal further than that.
This question that l make tonight is
not to a subordinate writer on the
journal" repeat it is to John G.
New, owner OF the paper, and the Chair
man of the Republican Central Commit
tee, of Indiana. 1t is John G. New that
| shall brand il he does not place my
answer as prominently in his paper to-
morrow morning as the article in the
journal this morning.
GARFIELD IN A SECRET
Where was this room in the Custom
House? | said this was an inner room,
and propose to prove that by Garfield,
himself.
Q-Where did you converse with her,
that is a negro woman, Emily Mitch
ell?
An a private Office in the Custom
House.
Q-Oneo of Governor Kellogg's private
rooms?
A.-No, sir; in one OF Mr.. Packard's
rooms.
Q.-Who was there besides you and
the woman?
Al don't think there was anybody
else present when she was there.
Q-Who brought her to this private
room3
Al can't say; somebody brought
her there. ] think she had a little child
in her arms. She sat down and asked
her TO tell me the story OF her husbands
death. with all the particulars, and told
her that all | wanted TO know was the
exact truth about it.
Q-Was there a d~oorkeeper to this
room?
Al think there was nobody by at
all.
Q.-But was there a d~oorkeeper out
side the door? A.-That | don't know.
Q-Do you remember that there was
a ]doorkeeper for that room? A.-That
door communicated with another room
there was no door into the hall; | think
that door communicated with the next
room, which communicated with the
nall.
Was it an inner o or not, gentle
men? This is what Garfield swears to.
The Journal says it is not true. Thus is
between Garfield and the Journal and
between them | would not know which
to believe. Applause.
Q.-SO she did 60 from a hall into that
other room before she would get into
the room where you were? Ayes; |
take il that the question OF the inner
room Is a settled question.
Q.-Was that door leading from the
outer door into this open or shut? A.
i don't know.
Q-Who occupied the outer room
at the time? A.--There were several
Custom House clerks who had desks
behind 4 sort OF railing.
very little more, gentlemen, about
these rooms.
Q.-In that inner roo was there
anybody beside yourself? A.-NO-
body.
He was asked whether there was any.
body in that inner but himself,
and he saws no. No, that there was no
inner room, but there was nobody i'll the
inner room but himself.
"Some OF the other men who were
getting up statements about other Par
ishes came in there, but the oom was
assigned TO me-" [Applause.l There
YOU have it in an inner room reached
only by passing through another room
from the public hall, and that inner
room was assigned to James A. Garfield,
and he occupied it and received the wit
neSses there, as ! will o proceed TO
prove.
GARFIELD DRILLING NEGROES IN PER-
JURY.
So the question is. what did he do in
the inner room? and that question was
asked him under oath.
Q.-What did you do?
Al took all those papers, commenc-
ing with the protest, and read them all
carefully and made a careful brief oil
their contents. giving the summary oi
each witness in my W way, as | would
If | were a lawyer in the same case.
Applause.
There is Garfield at New Orleans-the
man that asks to preside IN the chief
Office Of this great Nation. There is
Garfield sitting in that inner Dor in
the Custom House, where the light OF
day was cut off, and receiving the evil
dence that turned tho Parish OF West
F~e!iciana and granddaughter as though
he were a lawyer in the case, and so he
swears:
When | had completed that | felt a
great deal of anxiety TO see the men who
had testified, il | could.
1t was not enough to read their evi
dence as il had been fixed up for the
negroes and the whites, but 1t was more
than that.
| confess | felt a good deal OF surprise
and establishment at the revelations
contained in these documents. That
went there with not a little apprehen.
sion that there must be a good deal oil
lying in the papers OF both sides con
nected with the election. / made in
quiry and found that a considerable
number of the witnesses were in the
city. | made out a list OF perhaps one
half or three .fOurths OF the names OF the
witnesses whose testimony | had exam
ined, and inquired for them and pro-
cured interviews with them. | sat
down with them and asked them to tell
! me in their own way the stories OF their
relation to the election. | cannot name
all the witnesses with whom convers-
ed, but some of them | remember dis.
tinctly. Mrs. Amy Mitchell Il shall
have something to say about her direct
lv), the young woman whose husband
had been killed during the progress OF
the registry or election. | also remem-
Der Judge Dual, a Parish Judge, whom
| examined in the same way, as to the
result of the examination. Mark this.
As to the result of the examination, OF
course il was entirely unofficial. 1t was
conversation OF my own with these wit
nesses. | draughted some interrogato-
ries to draw out more fully from some
Of the witnesses the testimony which
they had given rather in brief, and some
oithe Undergraduates which subsequent.
w were appended to the testimony oil
these witnesses.
Now, notice what he has sworn to:
That he occupied that room, n that