The Monmouth inquirer., 1906-10-11
Was no Bribery.

Claiming that James Steen of Eaton
town deceived him into signing pa
per which it was not his intention to
sign, and alleging other trickery,
Charles p. Smock, in a sworn state
ment recorded sin Freehold Wednes-
day. exonorates John s. Apologize,
jr., and others of the charges of bril-
berry, recently preferred.
HIS AFFIDAVIT.
State of New Jersey,
County of Monmouth, SIS
Charles T. Smock being duly sworn
on his oath saith [ was employed by
James Steen in conside of Three
the Western district of the township
of Shrewsbury upon primary day, the
twenty-fifth day of September, nine
teen hundred and six; / attended the
said polls upon that day, arriving
there about o'clock and remaining
there until o'clock, at which time
the polls closed; during that time. in
company with Geo. Van Wickle, l
was on the lookout for any violation
of the laws against bribery, and dur
ing that time saw no act that consti-
tuted bribery in any way. either on
the part of John s. Apologize, jr., or
Frank J. Manson, or any other person,
nor did | see any violation of the anti
bribery law, particularly chapter 206
of the laws of 1906, nor did | see any
money handled upon that day; before
l arrived at the polls upon the day
aforesaid l did, not know John
S. Applegate, jr., or Frank j. Manson
by sight. John s. Apologize, jr., was
pointed out to me as being such per-
son by Frederick w. Hope; Thomas
Irving Brown identified to me Frank
j. Manson; / saw neither the said
John 8. Apologize, jr., or Frank J..
Manson violating the said law in any
way; after the polls had closed upon
the twenty-fifth day of September,
1905, went to my home at Eaton
town; the next day, namely, the TWEEN
ty-sixth day of September, James
Steen, a lawyer of Eatontown, met
me in that village upon the street,
stopped me and asked me if | had
seen votes bought and sold or money
used upon primary day, and l told
him had not; Mr.. Steen then said he
would procure afidavits from Fred
erick w. Hope, George Van Wickle,
Thomas Irving Brown, Lester Pach
and Robert Hance on any violation of
Tile Sdlu uuti-UTIUeTy Ia W, dAu Ac iui :
Their said that the committee of fit
teen, of which he was a member. will
attend to the securing of the aff1dav-
its and we will then proceed and get
out our warrants. and | asked him for
whom he was going to get out war
rants, and he said for three persons,
namely, John 8. Applegate, jr., Frank
j. Manson and James Mallory. | asked
him what the warrants were to be is
sued for, and Mr.. Steen replied for
the buying and selling of votes, and
asked what he was going to do that
for; what good that was going to do;
that had seen no buying and selling
of votes, but Mr.. Steen said. we want
to break it up. After the above CONVEX
sation we separated and | did not see
Mr.. Steen again until Saturday when
he called me over to his office. L was
walking across the street at the time
we had the following conversation
upon the street in front of Mr.. Stems
Office. Mr.. Steen said he was about to
prepare the afffdavits and that when
he got all the affidavits ready he was
going to get all hands to sign He said
that Frederick. w. Hope, Robert G.
Hance, Thomas Irving Brown and
Lester Pach were going to make affi-
davits that they had seen violations
of the anti-bribery law on primary
day in the Western district of the
township of Shrewsbury.
| told him that | did not want any
thing to do with the matter because
| had not seen anything wrong and
that | did not want to sign any COM
plants for that reason. He said it
won't hurt you at all, the committee
will attend to all that. After that L
left Mr.. Steen and | did not see him
again until Saturday night when |
went to his Office at his request bout
seven o'clock at night. He showed
me paper and told me to sign my
name to it. | signed the paper after
looking it over and left his Office and
did not have any further converse
ton with him. | have seen the COM
1olaint that was filed against ohm s.
Applegate, jr., Frank J. Manson and
James Mallory and it bore my sigma
ture and is the paper signed in Mr..
Stems Office above referred to, but
the complaint reads different from
what it did when | signed it. When
| signed it, it was blank in parts,
when | saw it again, namely, upon
the third day of October, 1906. those
blanks had been filled in. 1t was the
understanding as told me by Mr..
Steen that Frederick w. Hope and
other persons were to make affldavits
as to the violations of the anti-bribery
law committed by John s. Apologize,
jr., Frank J. Manson and James Mall
DRY, if / would sign an affidavit of
that kind. So far as | know such Aft
davits have never been made by any
of the above named persons except
ing myself. | don't propose to be
made scapegoat by James Steen,
Frederick w. Hope or any other
member of that committee, and |
want the public to distinctly under
: stand it. If had known that | was
making complaint for bribery
against John s. Applegate. jr., Frank
J. Manson or James Mallory or any
other person l would never have sign
ed the paper. did not sign because
/ knew nothing that would warrant
making any such complaint, but was
induced 20 sign it by the misrepre-
sentation of James Steen One Incl