Year: 1868

R'ih6 VIZ tuct tuub oh1 iTuuu Wui
committed by my friends) was thrown
out by the committee.


} In regard TO the Irish votes in
Phillipsburg and Rush township ]
} have only this to say: 1t was proven


by Philip Collins, the contractor, that


he sent the men there on the 25th OF


Sept, not to vote, nor for any pur-
pose of controlling the election, but


to finish that part Of the road in Cen


tire county, which had TO be finished


before the fall rains began, in conse-


quence of thccharacter of the ground


and the nature Of the work, that they


remained there after the work was


finished after the middle of Novem-


Der. These men were assessed and
duly paid their taxes, and having
been in the districts more than ten
days before the election in pursuance
/ of their lawful calling were legal vo-
ters, although we contend most, il not
all, of their votes were polled for the
republican ticket as was demonstra-
ted by comparing the last vote with
that Of previous years and by the cir
cumstancess surrounding O'Meara, who
to great extent manipulated this
vote


But even after throwing out thirty
three vOtes in Phillipsburg, and the
entire majority OF JVty-one in Rush
township it still left me elected by a
majority Of onc,, and il became neces-
sary for the committee TO perpetrate
an outrage on some other portion of
the district in order TO give my seat
TO one whom the people had repudia-
ted. This was done by throwing out
Carbon township, Huntingdon coun-
ty, which gave me sirty: :fue majority.
Although it was not alleged that any
legal votes had been rejected there,
nor that any illegal votes had been
polled excepting one WIN PLUMB, who
was alleged to be an unnaturalizcd
foreigner, though IL was not proven
tor whom he voted. The excuse for
doing this was, that persons other
than the election board wero at times
in the room, and that no copy Of the
assess list had been filed in the Office
Of the Prothonotary Much graver ir-
Irregularities were shown to have ex-
isted in the seven republican town
ships in the same county heretofore
enumerated which gave an aggregate
majority against me OF about four
hundred, and in several of them the
number of votes returned exceed ed
the names on the poll lists, and yet
no mention is made of any of these
townships by the majority Of the COM
mittce.


Great effort had been made to man
ufacture political capital out Of two
items connected with this investiga-
tion The ono that O'Meara was paid
$500 to leave the State. Siren
uous efforts have been made by the
radical press TO hold the democratic
organization responsible for this, and
TO implicate Hon. VIM. A. Wallace in
the transaction. 0'Meara admit
ted himself when on the stand
that he had threatened to 60 to Har-
risburg and testify TO the fabricated
story which no afterwards did testify
to unless he was paid money. The
man who furnished as well as the man
who paid the money was not shown
to be in any manner identified with
the democratic organization, nor to
have had anything TO do with voting
the men in Philipsburg or Rush town
ship, whether those votes were legal
or not. And il was positively proven
that when the man who afterwards
paid the money went to sec Mr.. Wal.
lace, be absolutely refused either to
pay any money himself or TO author
ize the payment Of any, and that he
had no knowledge that any was paid.
The other item is that one John Casey
a witness examined by the contestant
was killed near the town Of Cloar6eld,
on his way from Harrisburg, and this
is charged TO have been done by dem
ocrats in consequence of what John
Casey had testified to- No more false
or malicious charge could possibly be
made, nor one with less foundation.
1t is of course impossible at this time
TO tell who killed John Casey nor for
what motive, for the men arrested
and confined in the jail of Clearfeld
county, for his murder, have not yet
been tried. He was killed at a time
when it was a physical impossibility
for any human being in Clearfeld TO
know that no had testified at all in
the case, much less what that testimo-
ny was. His testimony in reality
amounted to nothing in the case Gas
he could not oven tell for whom he
voted) and had II heen fully known
could not have furnished motive for
any democrat doing him the slightest
injury. On tho other hand his death
was made to serve Tho contestant
throughout the entire case, and is even
still sought TO be used as so much po.
litical capital by radical politicians
throughout the State.


/ have now, fellow-citiEens, dis
charged the duty which / feel l owed
to you by giving plain unvarnished
statement Of these proceedings in or
der that.you might see to what extent
your rights have been disregarded
and trampled upon by the reckless
and corrupt partisan majority which
for years have controlled the legisla-