Q. How much of the time did you spend at the polls on election day? -A. I was there some two or three hours around about the hall. Q. You did not take any part as a ticket distributer or anything of that sort, did you ?—A. I did not. By the CHAIRMAN: Q. Do you live in a house of your own?-A. I have a little home of my own. HENRY F. DUDLEY sworn and examined. By the CHAIRMAN: Question. Where do you live?-Answer. In East Douglass. Q. Where did you work in November, 1878 ?—A. I am keeping a billiard saloon. Q. Did you have any talk with employés in the Douglass Axe Works in regard to their voting for General Butler ?-A. On the Saturday evening before the election a man was in my place, and I said to him, "Well, I suppose you are going to town meeting?" He replied, "Hen, I don't know; I have not made up my mind." I asked him what was the matter. He replied, "I have just got a job and have been out of work about six months; to tell you the truth, I really dare not go to town meeting; you know what my principles are." Q. He did not dare to go where ?-A. To the town meeting-to the election. Q. Did he go?-A. No; he did not. Q. Do you know what were his politics then?-A. He had always voted the Democratic ticket. Q. Had he a family -A. No, sir. Q. About how long had he been at work before this conversation with you took place?-A. I don't know; I should say perhaps two or three weeks; I cannot tell about that. By Mr. BLAIR: Q. Did he say why he dared not go?-A. That was the only reply he gave me. Q. He did not say who nor what he was afraid of?-A. No. Q. Did you give the name of the man ?-A. I did not. Q. What was it?-A. He said he would rather I would not give his name. Q. He can have no objection to your giving it now?-A. I do not know that he would have, but he is not here. He thought perhaps it might affect him hereafter in his work. Q. For whom does he work?-A. He works for the Douglass Axe Company. Q. For whom did he work at the time of this conversation?-A. He worked in the same place. Q. What is his name?-A. Rufus Beldin. Mr. BLAIR. Now we will see whether he is turned out. JOHN A. FYNES sworn and examined. By the CHAIRMAN : Question. Where do you live?-Answer. In Boston. Q. What position, if any, did you hold at the election in November, 1878-A. I was one of the Federal supervisors. Q. By whom were you appointed?-A. By Chief Supervisor Hallett. Q. Did you serve at the polls?-A. I did. Q. State whether anybody was arrested there?-A. There was. Q. State the circumstances.-A. A colored man named Charles Washington was arrested for illegal voting. Q. What became of him?-A. He had been illegally registered and had no right to vote. My colleague in the precinct and I accordingly reported him to Supervisor Hallett. Several warrants bad been issued to be served on election day, and one of these was against him. He was the only one who was arrested there. When he came there and voted, I caused the warrant to be served upon him by the deputy marshal. Q. What became of the case ?--A. It was sent up to this court [meauing the United States circuit court] by the commissioner, and the man was defaulted. Q. It was not tried?-A. It was not tried; he is under default. By Mr. PLATT: Q. He did not appear, and forfeited his bail; is that it ?—A. He appeared up to the last day when he became alarmed at something in the ruling of one of the judges, and absconded forthwith. By the CHAIRMAN: Q. Do you know how he voted?—A. I could not say how he voted. Q. Have you any information on the subject?-A. I understood that it was a Butler ballot that he cast. Q. State whether there were any circumstances surrounding his case that indicated what the purport of the arrest was?-A. There were none in particular surrounding his case. It was simply a matter of an execution of a warrant. Several other cases occurred. Q. Did similar cases occur that day?-A. There were several cases of what I termed bulldozing or intimidation. Q. What were they?-A. One of them was that of a colored man named George W. Greene, who came to the polls and voted a Butler ticket. As he passed through the rails and emerged from the other end, Councilman R. M. Thompson said to him, You need not work any more for me, Greene." Thompson was acting there that day as one of the bureau of inspection. I remarked to him, "Thompson, ain't that intimidation?" He replied, "No; I said nothing until the man voted." I said, "It is immaterial whether you did or did not; it is intimidation." I had occasion to speak to Mr. Thompson several times in regard to his conduct that day. Q. Do you know how this man Greene voted ?-A. I do. Q. How did Greene vote?-A. He voted a Butler ticket. Q. What are Thompson's politics?-A. Republican, I presume. Q. What was he doing there?-A. He was acting, as I said before, in the capacity of one of the bureau of inspection, under the lead of Chief Chandler. Q. Did any other cases of that kind of intimidation occur there that you know of?-A. There was the case of a man who, upon coming up to vote, was challenged by them, and not permitted to vote under the reading and writing qualification. I informed the man that he could vote at his peril. They insisted that he should write his name on the ballot. I informed them that he could have it written. The name was subsequently written on the ballott and he voted. They withdrew the challenge also. Another case was that of a colored man who came to the polls with a Butler ticket in his hand. As he was about to deposit it one of the local inspectors behind the rails remarked to him, "Stop, you must not vote that ticket." The attention of my colleague was called to it at the time, and he touched me. The man inquired, "Why not?" The inspector replied, "You don't want to vote for Butler; you want a Republican ticket." "No," the man said, "I am going to vote this ticket." "Well," the inspector said, "if you are going to vote that ticket, scratch off Morse's name and put on Brimmer's." We spoke to the inspector at the time and called his attention to the fact that that was entirely out of the line of his duty. Some words ensued, and I informed him and Thompson that we, the supervisors, were there not only to prevent fraudulent voting, but also, to the extent of our power, to protect any man who had a right to vote. Q. Go on and describe what you did under the instructions of the chief commissioner in regard to the voting lists as supervisor.-A. Our instructions verbally and also as given to us on printed circulars were, that a man in order to vote should be a resident of the place at which he was assessed six months next preceding said election; also that according to the constitution of the State he must possess the necessary reading and writing qualification, and be a duly naturalized citizen, of course, where naturalization is required. Q. When the precinct lists were sent to you by the chief supervisor, did you examine them, check them, ascertain who upon those lists were not qualified to vote, and make return to the chief commissioner?-A. I think I can safely say that, of the names on the precinct lists which I had, there were not a dozen or a dozen and a half who were not visited personally, either at their houses or their places of business. In cases of absence, their relatives were seen and every one of the names checked. As to some of them I did not deem it necessary to make a visit. These were city officials, for instance, who, I was perfectly well aware, were competent and qualified of course. Their names were checked without my seeing them personally. Q. Did you make a return to the chief supervisor?—A. I did. Q. What was the result?—A. The result was the issue of five war rants. Mr. McDONALD. Only one of which was served? By the CHAIRMAN: Q. When your work had been completed and you came to get your pay, what occurred?-A. Our returns were duly made in accordance with instructions received, and after the election we assembled at the lower room of the building in which the committee now sits. The understanding had been that we were to receive at least ten days' pay; that is, it was generally supposed that the supervisors were to receive pay for every day that they served, but that at any rate they were to receive ten days' pay. When the amounts were made up, it was found that the names of some one or two appeared with four days, some with five days, and some with seven days, while those who had attended the places of registration from five to ten o'clock in the evening were put down as having ten days. There was in consequence a general feeling of discontent among the supervisors, and a number of us waited upon Chief Hallett several times. He informed us that his decision was final, remarking at one time that that was all we were worth; that we were not worth any more money. I respectfully dissented from that, and re ferred him to the lists that I had returned, telling him that I thought the laborer was worthy of his hire. He was indisposed to have any conversation with us, and treated us in a somewhat autocratic manner, I must say. Q. What did he say about your lists?-A. He specified no lists in particular; that is, when I heard him speak. I have given you the substance of what he said in my presence. By Mr. McDONALD: Q. You said you had had occasion to speak to Mr. Thompson before on that day ?—A. I did; several times. Q. What was his conduct on that day?-A. He was very perti nacious in his inquiries of every man who approached the rails; questioned every mau; was very anxious to get the name of every man, and made himself very busy. I informed him that he had no right to interfere with voters. On one occasion I called the police and ordered him to clear the rails. Q. Had this colored man whom he so summarily discharged that day from his employment been at work for him before that time?-A. 1 understood that he had. Such was the inference that I drew from the remark which he made to him. Q. Was it one of the election officers who told the voter that he must strike Morse's name off and put on Brimmer's?—A. He was one of the inspectors appointed by the city government. Q. He was holding the election ?-A. Yes, sir; he was behind the rail. Q. He read a lecture to this man who insisted upon voting for Butler?— A. Yes, sir; and when the man replied to him, he said, "Well, scratch off Morse and put on Brimmer." I do not know that that was the exact language, but that was the substance of it. By Mr. BLAIR: Q. Who was this inspector?-A. August Cheresty, of ward nine, precinct three. Q. Do you know the name of the voter ?-A. I do not. Q. Did the voter substitute Brimmer's name?-A. I could not say. Q. You do not know whether it made any difference or not?-A. I then interfered and told the inspector that that was entirely out of the line of his duty. Q. Do you know whether this was a man with whom the inspector was acquainted ?—A. He was. Q. He seemed to be a man whom the inspector knew ?—A. Yes, sir. Q. You were one of the supervisors appointed under the United States law-A. Yes, sir. Q. This inspector had been appointed under the city law?—A. Yes, sir. Q. Did any one but you interfere to prevent this abuse of the right of suffrage by the inspector?-A. The other supervisor who was present also spoke to him. Q. You had occasion several times during the day to act in your offi cial capacity in order to preserve the freedom of the ballot there, had you not?-A. I bad. Q. No doubt, so far as that ward was concerned and your own obser vation of the way the election was conducted, you found the supervis ors very serviceable, did you not?-A. Without being at all egotistical, I say yes. Q. Nobody else tried to prevent abuses in these instances but the supervisors ?—A. I saw no effort made. Q. Have you not reason to think that if the supervisors had not been present in their official capacity there would have been considerable bulldozing or intimidation practiced there?-A. I cannot say. Q. It was attempted, as it was?-A. It was attempted. Q. And but for your interference would have been successful?—A. Yes, sir. Q. It was attempted and you reproved it?-A. It was attempted and I reproved it. Q. And you called on the police to come forward and put a stop to it?—A. I called on the police to come and stop the hinderance to voters in voting. Q. In perfecting the registration of voters before the election, you found occasion for your services and, notwithstanding the efforts of the city authorities, you found large occasion for the services of the supervisors?-A. I did not find large occasion but I found some occasion. Q. How long before the election were you appointed ?—A. Some two weeks. Q. Did you spend a large part of the time of those two weeks in the effort to terret out errors and correct the list ?-A. I did. Q. Pretty much all the time?-A. No; not all the time. Q. The larger portion of it ?—A. The major portion. Q. Who was the other supervisor there?-A. James J. Sullivan. Q. Was he appointed for the same time that you were?-A. He was. Q. The supervisors were of different parties?-A. Yes, sir. Q. You were the Democrat and Sullivan was the Republican ?—A. Yes, sir. Q. You were paid for your services?-A. Yes. Q. Did not Sullivan charge for as many days as you did?—A. That I could not say. Q. How many days did you charge for?-A. Thirteen days. Q. And you were appointed two weeks before the election?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Then you charged for nearly every day. Of course, then, you were engaged substantially every day?-A. I was. In saying that I was appointed two weeks before the election; I would say that it may have been more than that; the exact time has now slipped my memory. Q. Did you serve on every one of those days?-A. I actually served a portion of every one of those days. Q. That makes twenty-six days that two intelligent men gave to the rectification of that list in that precinct, in addition to all that was done by the city or State officers under State law ?-A. Yes, sir. We took the list as it was received after being arranged by the city authorities. Q. You took the list as it was received after being arranged by the city authorities and still you found all these outstanding errors. Were there marshals in that ward?-A. There was one marshal to each precinct. Q. Was there occasion for their services also ?-A. In the precinct to which I refer there was only one occasion. Q. That was during election day?-A. That was during the election day, when the arrest was made. Q. You had occasion to call upon them. There was, of course, the liability that they would be needed?-A. Of course there is a liability of anything. Q. Do you not think, so far as that precinct was concerned, these elec |