Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-04-01
lgo~ state None, ~a. ls-d.
Continued from last lreek
BROW NFiELD.

The forgery in the return for county Off
GERS Of the town Of Brownticld, in Oxford
county. seems to be matter of greater
skill and premcdtation. On the eighth day
of December this return was examined in
the presence of John Is. Foster of the Coun-
Gil, by Hon. f.. c. harrington Of Fryeburg.
and the discovery was made that neither the
name Of the town of Brownteld. nor the
county of Oxford, appears anywhere upon
the face of the return. all the blanks left for
this purpose remaining untitled The at
tention Of the Councillor was expressly
called TO this defect. and the fact that it eN-
isted appeared in the Oxford Democrat of
December 10th, 1879 i, now appears that
the names of the town and county have
been written in since that time. IN hand
designed TO initiate the body of the return.
The assistance of an expert IN hand writing
was called in who pronounced il a forgery.
executed with some skill. but Yet too
clum,ily done to deceive any one. Your
committee wished to place the matter he
lond question, and summoned T.. b. Bean.
esq. chairman of the selectmen of Brown
field. who wrote the bod, of the return. and
who testified without hesitation that the
words written in wers not IN his hand
writing. but were fprgerics. Your commit
tee cannot state whose hand inserted these
words; but II j. clear tina, the forgery was
done while the return va, IN the hands Of
the Governor and council. b, ause the votes
shown by the return were tabulaied As if
no defec, existed. The fusion majority in
Brownii was siNty -four.
BUCkFIELD.
The return OF the town Of Buokfield in
Oxford county. for county officers, was
another instance of the fraudulent addition
Of the name of the town in a case where
the blanks for town and county were until
led. so that nothing on the face Of the re-
turn showed from whence il came. Without
stating all the testimony YOUR committee
believe II 10 be conclusive that this addition
was fraudulently made after the return
came to Augusta. and the result was that
the fusion majority Of more than one hun
dred and thirty votes was counted. The
two returns of Brownfeld and Buckfeld
were necessary TO the election Of the fusion
county officers of that county. In these
cases also the magnifying glass discloses
the trembling writing which indicated the
guilty knowledge Of the writer which usu-
ally accompanies such cases of forgery.
PERKINS
In the case of the return from Perkins
Plantation in Franklin county, the attention
of YOUR committee was first called TO the
words and figures and the hand writing OF
the body Of the return. They summoned
the clerk of the plantation, who appeared to
be fair minded and intelligent man. and he
testified positively, that the words and fig
ures were not written by him. nor BY any OF
the assessors. As inspection Of the return
corroborated his testimony. He further
testified that the alteration was made after
the return left Perkins Plantation. The
attention of your committee was further at
tracted to the similarity Of the added words
in this return, and the handwriting contained
in certain letters signed BY Prince a. Saw
yer, the Deputy Secretary of State during
the administration of Gov. Garcelon. They
also examined the council blo;ter, much OF
which was in the hand writing of said Saw
yer. and as consequence YOUR committee
summoned before them WIN. C. Holt a
very competent expert in handwriting, and
submitted to him the added words in the
! returns. and the letters and blotter for com.
parison. He testified that he had CAREFUL,
examined the several writings, and had nc
doubt that the words and figures twenty.
seven. %" were written by SAWYER. II.
gave his reason for this conclusion before
the committee at length. and an inspection
by your committee corroborates his opinion
WHERE AND WHEN THESE THINGS wERI
DONE.
Your committee cannot avoid the conclus
ion that these suppressions and substitu
tons, evasions and forgeries, were made il
the chamber of the governor and council al
Augusta. Ii abundantly appears, that the
blanks upon which the new and substituted
returns were written, and the envelopes il
which they were enclosed, were official ant
such as are kept in the Office Of the Secre
| tary of State. The testimony shows con
clusively that the returns were sent by mai
| or delivered in person to the Secretary o
State, from the several towns and planta
| tions, and were opened by him or his assist
| ants, and their contents must have beer
| known to the officials whose duty it wa,
to count the returns. The erasures are SC
numerous and so connected with the tabu
lations. and were so uniform in the result
produced by them, that they disclose a vel
defined plan, consistent in its details and il
the manner of its exesktion.
1t is incredible that fraud and wrong.
doing could be carried on SO extensively il
connection with these returns, which da,
after day came before various parties con
nected with the executive department, fol
their inspection, without the facts being
known to every official connected with thu
count, and if any one of them shut his eye'
to what was going on in the midst of thu
public clamor and excitement which ATTENDED
the counting of these returns, he must hav.
been so negligent of his duty that his apath,
would make him responsible for the wrong
But it will be very difficult to bring men o
| common sense TO believe that these fransac