The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-06-22
ERGINIA, JUNE. ~, 1882.


4 character hitherto UNKNOWN In South Carolina
The perpetrators 3Affd LGitAmHffss 500
~ And remember that this same G = Smith is
1 one OIL HEM = bs4 .ss nigMYio ta1is.n
are eaysSa i, saa d,s
iiyss with ths sword II Justice hasslAghy ssdresd
81 lfthi1R tie sword 81 ajasffcss sight To. be
Slssfdn down from that dtlifeado and applied to
u tbeirpnseks. ELsnghserb OH bax s@t,4 -.
uMr AthsriqnEApd AZ 1hat j. be ma 6, Or =,
s Ssps ssus ssstnTnsy s, 3 81 s qn nv
The speaker, pro stsaspev d1ff aesomley II
The gentleman from Ohio issls9ti In prder,
fknow il il sxcsedinRiy dkagf sea6ls V have
iitgo forth toshe country tfatiiyou shAse been
hatsnding here for ten daSs battling aesinst the
bwil 81 the majority Of this, HQlse when they
demanded full discussion. Of this question,
and have been soaking U thwsft the willof
Ethis House on the testinlds1yaof I'll bride taker
II Mr.. Atherton-Anda bride taker whom you
4 used ---A4 TCries Of aOrdefr' "Order!"1 $40
4 aTIie Speaker pre- tempors- The gentleman
from Ohio 10 not lnsonacT.N aEasbaGa 70 "a
n Mr.. Heuse--I call the other side OF the
House to order. If this case is to be argued
properly anu TIC IACtS drought Out, anu uOt dt-
ttempted TO be shouted end clapped through,
let us have fair and honest discussion of this
n question. ...,
Mr. Reed-The other side ought to have the
privilege of squirmng a little. Laughter
Mr. House-This is an American Congress,
and not town meeting where men undertake
to shout their side Of the case through. Now
let US have order. [Great laughter
The Speaker pro temp0re-The gentleman
10 in, nr6a
with his remarks. The gentleman from Vir-
ginia Mr.. Paul has the floor, and the Chair
feels bound to say to the gentleman from Ohio
Mr.. Athel ton that he is not entitled to inter-
rupt the one speaking without his permission.
Mr.. Sparks-It has been done all the time.
The Speaker pro tenapo,e-1t has been because
gentlemen, without appealing to the Chair,
have interrupted those who were speaking,
without asking permission of the House or of
them to do so. Gentlemen know that sucl,
proceedings are out of order, and the Chair
appeals to gentlemen to maintain order and
preserve the proprietysof the House.
!, Mr. Sparks-I am not rejecting upon the
Chair at all. But during the speech of the
gentem an from Missouri Mr.. Days the Chair
knows that without asking leave that gentle
man on divers occasions was interrupted by
others, as the gentleman from Ohio has now
interrupted the gentleman from Virginia.
J. The Speaker pre- teap07Y-The Chair en-
deavored to maintain order and preserve the
rights of the gentleman from Missouri. So far,
as the Chair has knowledge the gentleman
from Missouri in every case yielded for the
questions which were asked him. A
Mr. AthertOn-l hope that the same rule
now applied to me will be applied to other
gentlemen.
| The Speaker pro tempore-The Chair will
endeayor to preserve order as it best can.
Mr.. Alherton-I do not like rule to apply
to only one side of the House.
The Speaker pro tempore-The gentleman
fromsVirginia has the floor and will proceed
Mr.. PAUL. have shown you the character
of this witness, G. Smith, and the question
| propounded by my friend from Ohio Mr..
AthertOn as to whether or not he was wit
ness for Mackey is no answer at all. Irepeat
it that if this Smith WAS the witness ON which
this case rested, it ought to be and would be
kicked out of this House. What is the proof?
Not only does he stand here branded by the
| cOnteStee in this case as an infamous character |
a character covered with disgrace, who should
be pursued during his natural life with the
sword of justice hanging oyer his head by
| thread u9sw .1a
MIR. Davis, of Missouri-Dd not this man
rewrie the mass Of this testimony?
The Speaker pro pOre.-The gentleman
from Virginia mustnot be interrupted without
his consent ,.. x th
MIR. T-uuI Does tIlat make him any more |
honest than il he had never been put on pa
per? Laughter. Suppose he rewrote it
twenty times, and that the testimony
is carried back as in this case to the witnesses |
after it is printed, and ON being read to them
| they say it is right, aud you send it back to
the stenographer who took the testimony, and
he compares it with his notes and says that it |
isaccurate, does it make any difference if it |
was rewritten twenty times, or whether Smith |
or Satan himself wrote it laughter You
| have the testimony of fourteen witnesses
whose testimony the stenOgrapher who took |
1t down says that he has read over and com
pared with the original stenographic notes and
it is correct. But" says the gentleman from
Missouri, "the stcnographer skipped about"
If he had not skipped about you would have
said, "Why, Mr.. Macky gave him a list Of just
so many witnesses whose testimony he exanlin- |
ed and there he stopped" If you were going
to examine and compare the testimony Of
twenty or thirty witnesses with tile original
notes, would you not skip about Would
not that be the way to get the average correct
ness ? That is the course I should pursue
and think it is the course any man would
pursue who was trying to investigate the cor
rectness of testimony which had been copied
from original stenographic notes.
But they say "this testimony has been trans
cribed; you do not bring here the original
testimony as written out by Mr.. HOgarth from
his notes" Well, as / said before, it makes
no difference so that the testimony is correct
Mr. Speaker, if you are going, to pursue and
make absolute every provision of the statute |
with reference to the taking of testimony, then
IN any case you can unseat fairly elected
member of this House or prevent such one
from being seated by technicallties. These
statutes are directory. They direct what course
to- pursue with regard to testimony. But sup
pose the parties make a mistake, suppose they
vary from the directions of the statute, when
| you come to look at the testimony and ascer-
tain the one grand fact in the case, who was
elected, what is it to you whether the testimo-
ny came here by express or by mail whether
1t was put upon the express train'by Hogarth
or by Smith or by Mackey :? What you are
seeking is to know ao1t0 received the mdjoratg
of the votes Gown in the second district of
South Carolina. APPLAUSE ..s
This case stands in just this way here is
| charge of fraud, and no testimony to sustain
| i--a charge that the records have been forged
altered, mutilated have shown the charac-
ter of the evidence on Which this charge is
made. If Mr.. Dibble really believed that there
had been forgery in this case, what was en-
sler for him, if he wished to sustain his charge
than to summon from South Carolina this man
Hogarth with his original steneographic notes
| and then take one of those stenOgraphers there
at the desk and have the printed testimony
compared with the original so as to show to
the House where the fraud had been commit
ted, where the forgery had been perpetrated,
where the testimony had been mutilated?
Mr.Dibble. Twill ask the gentleman wheth-
er he does not know isas tstfe rsE 80.
The Speaker pro temao,e- Does the gentle
man from Virginia yield? 800
MI. Paul-Yes. sir. a0 .ss f. a tey
Mr.. Dibble-I will ask the gentleman from
Virginia whether he does not knew that was
exactly what asked to lave done; that ask
ed the committee to examine the testimony OF
these witnesses in the manner the gentleman
suggests? .t..,..sss.s
Mr.. Paul-It is the first time / haye ever
heard Of it. Applause. 20
Mr.. Dibble-Then the gentleman has not
read my original petition, because it says 80
in so many words. e.
Mr.. Paul-We haye had this case before us
from the very commencement of this Congress-
1t was the first case taken up by the Commit
tee on Elections. We have been considering
Ii now for six months Now, Mr.. Speaker, as
| said before, there is nothing in this case,
there is nothing in this defense, and it is my
humble judgment that our friends on this side
of the house would like very much to be out
Of the difficulty in which they have gotten
themselves. do not know under whose lead
ership they have been induced to take their
present position Ifit is under the leadership