The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-09-16

asked him under oath.
@ What did you do2 A. l took all
those papers, commencing with the pro.
test, and read of all them carefully and
made a careful brief of their contents,
giving the summary of each witness in
my own way, as l would if | were law
yer in the case, LApplause.]
There is Garfield at New 0rleans-the
man that asks to preside in the chief Of
fee of this great Nation. There is Gar
field sitting in that inner room in the
Custom House, where the light OF day
was cut of, and receiving the evidence
thatturned the Parish of West Feliciana
and examining them as though he were
lawyer in the case, and so he swears
When l had completed that felt a
great deal of anxiety to see the men who
had testified, if | could.
It Was not enough to read the evil
dence as it had been fixed up for the ne
groes and the whites, but it was more
than that.
confess felt good deal of surprise
and astonishment at the revelations
contained in these documents. That l
went there with not little apprehen.
sion that there must be good deal OF
lying in the papers Of both sides connect
ed with the election. | made inquiry
and found that considerable number OF
witnesses were in the city. made out a
list of perhaps one.half or three tourths
of the names of the witnesses whose
testimony had examined, and inquired
for them and procured 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 conversed, but some of them |
remember distinctly. Mrs Amy Mitchell
Il shall have something to say about her
directly the young woman whose hus
band had been killed during the pro
gress of the registry or election. | also
remember Judge Quail, a Parish Judge,
whom examined in the same way as to
the result of the examination. Mark
this AS to the result of the examina'
ton, of course it was not official. 1t
was conversation of my own with these
witnes, es. l drafted some interrogatories
to draw out more fully from some OF the
witnesses the testimony which they had
iven rather in brief, and some Of the in
terrogatories which subsequently were
appended to the testimony OF these wit
nessee.
Now, notice what he has sworn to-
That he occupied that room, and that
when the testimony was all handed to
him relating to the Parish of West Fell
ciana, he examined it and the testimony
and he made out a list of one-half OF
two-thirds of the witnesses, and he sent
for them one by one. He examined
them, and when their testimony was moi
as full as he desired, he prepared addi'
tional interrogatories, which went, in
some cases at least, before the Returning
Board. This comes really very close
around the Journal and Garfield. "The
summary in the testimony in the case oi
West Feliciana was prepared by me-" A
little further about what he did:
@ Some of these affidavits l notice in
the West Feliciana case were made after
you arrived in New Orleans. Did you
ave anything to do with them yourself
in taking them? A. Nothing, except
that in some instances, as l have related,
| prepared interrogatories.
@ Th- next witness was George
Swayzee. Do you remember talking with
him2 A. Yes, sir; I do remember talk
log with Swayzee. [ think interrogato.
ries were prepared for him after my con
versation with him. don't think ] pre-
pared them, but there was brief afida-
Wit in the Cas- that read. talked with
him, and then after that these interrog.
atories were fled. In the printing, they
were printed instead of the original. l
talked with Swayzee. | saw his testimo-
ny was not very full, and after my con.
Yersation with him interrogatories we're
propounded to him necessarily to bring
out his evidence in full, and that evi.
dence, in answering the interrogatories,
was the evidence of SWAyzee that was
pri ted. The next man, Napa,us, re.
member we'll for he had very striking
story of having been partly hung, and
having bee dragged with rope around
his neck. He was one of those to whom
interrogatories were propGunded after
the filing of the first affidavit,
Now, gentlmen, he mentions as the
most remarkable case in which he pre-.
psred the questions for the witnesses,
tie case of Amy Mitchell, so I will read
what Garfield swore to in regard to that
case.
@ As regards the case Of Amy Mitch.
ell which made an impression on you,
can you tell whether it was before or af.
ter you we're furnished with copy oil
her affidavit that you had this converse
ton with her2 A. 1t was afterward. II
was the reading Of the affidavit that i'm
pressed me, and I asked to have hel
sent to me.
@ see that the affidavit appears ia
have been sworn to the Both Of Novem
ber2 A. l advised them to take fuller
statement by interrogatories from Amy
Mitchell, and l think l propounded q
portion of the interrogatories. The pre-
liminary statement, the simple affidavit
was earlier.
THE PERJURY CONFESSED.
Now, gentlemen, 1 will turn over q
page and see what the case Of Amy
Mitchell was. Turning the leaves of q
book She first made an affidavit in the
Custom House where she was examined
privately by James A. Garfield. That
affidavit was not full enough. He pre-
pared additional interrogatories to be
propounded to her; and she answered
those interrogatories, and in her testi
mony before the same Committee she
afterward herself sWore that there tOa8 NJ
truth IN the statement given in respoa8e Il