that he could not put my name on, as I was not naturalized. Mr. Robbins said that he should put it on. We didn't at that time make any further talk, but went out. On Tuesday night I went up with Mr. Shumway, who told Mr. Bradford (Mr. Nelson being present) that he was going to Boston on the morning train and would get a letter from, I think he said, the district attorney. We went back there again on Tuesday night, when Mr. Bradford said he wouldn't put it on. We went again on Thursday night and told him he must put it on, when he said they were going to hold a meeting on Saturday and they would see about it. I told him I wasn't coming there again. Mr. Robbins then said, "We demand that the name be put on, and if it is not, we will make a case of it." On the night before the election I went there and found that my name was upon the registry. They had told me, on the Saturday before, that they wouldn't put it on, but on Monday it was on. Q. At what time on Monday was it upon the list ?-A. I couldn't say. Q. Did you vote?-A. I did. Q. Had you ever voted before?-A. No, sir. Q. Where were you born ?—A. At Plymouth. Q. Have you lived there all your life?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Is your father living?-A. He is dead. Q. How long did he live after you were born?-A. He died about eight years ago. Q. He had never been a voter ?-A. He had never been a voter. Q. How long had he lived in this country when he died?—A. Somewhere about twenty years, I think. Q. Were you ever present when the full board of selectmen were present?-A. No, sir; I never saw there, I think, more than three of them. Q. When were you there first?-A. On the second Saturday before the election. Q. How many times were you there to get your name put on the list? -A. Three or four. Q. You were denied registration each time?-A. Yes, sir. By Mr. McDONALD : Q. Your father lived for about twenty years after settling in this country, and died here ?-A. Yes, sir. By the CHAIRMAN: Q. How far is it from where you were born to Plymouth Rock?-A. I don't know; I live a little way this side of it. Q. You are not the man who lives within two rods of Plymouth Rock? -A. You might say that the distance was about that. I live about two miles from it. ALEXANDER MORRISON Sworn and examined. By the CHAIRMAN: Question. Where do you live?-Answer. At Plymouth. Q. Where were you born?-A. Close by Sandwich. Q. Are Plymouth and Sandwich in the same county?-A. No, sir; Plymouth is in Plymouth County and Sandwich is in Barnstable County. Q. State the circumstances under which you made application for registration, why you got naturalized, and whether that which is now shown you is your naturalization paper.-A. I went to the selectmen on the same night that Mr. Carr went to them. That was Saturday night. Mr. Bradford, one of the selectmen, asked me why my name was not on the list and if I had paid my taxes. I told him that I had paid them. He asked me if I was naturalized. I told him I was not; that I was born in this country. He then asked me if my father was naturalized, and I replied that my father was not. He said he didn't see how I could vote, for the reason that my father was not naturalized, but that he would carry the matter before the selectmen at the meeting on Saturday of the next week. I went there shortly afterwards, when he told me that I should not vote because my father was not naturalized. Q. It was after the meeting of the board when Bradford told you this, that you could not vote?-A. Yes, sir. Q. What then?—A. Then I let it go. Q. Did you not get naturalized subsequently?-A. Yes, sir. Q. How did that happen?-A. Shortly after that Mr. Hedge, the constable, came to me-it was before the election, though I don't know how long before-and told me I had better go in that morning and get my naturalization papers; that it would probably be my last chance before the election. I then went in and got my papers out. Q. Before whom did you go?-A. Before Mr. Lord. Q. Was there a judge on the bench ?-A. There was a judge on the bench. I don't know who he was. Q. Was it Mr. Lord who was clerk of the court?-A. I don't know. Q. Was it in Plymouth?-A. It was in Plymouth. Q. Did you have to produce witnesses there?-A. Yes, sir; Mr. Hedge and a young gentleman. Q. You were sworn, were you?—A. They swore that they had known me ten years. Q. Did you take an oath that you would bear true allegiance to the country? A. Yes, sir. Q. And that you had renounced your allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain?-A. Yes, sir. Q. That was regularly administered to you before you got your paper? -A. Yes, sir. Q. Then the clerk made out the paper which is here?-A. Yes, sir. Q. What did you do afterwards with the paper?-A. I took it home. Q. Did you go afterwards to the registrars with it?-A. I went with it to the registrars on the next morning. Mr. Hedge went with me. Q. Mr. Hedge was the constable, and went before the registrars?-A. Yes, sir. Q. What did they do then?-A. They put my name on the registry. Q. Did Mr. Hedge tell them you had been naturalized?-A. I believe he did. Q. Was that the reason you went back there that morning to get upon the list, after having been naturalized ?—A. Yes, sir. Q. Was it the same morning on which you had been naturalized?—A. The same morning. Q. This paper reads "The fourth Monday of October"; therefore the day was the Monday a week before the election?-A. Yes, sir. F. W. ROBBINS sworn and examined. By the CHAIRMAN: Question. Where do you live?-Answer. At Plymouth. Q. What do you know about this subject of registration -A. I know that I went in with Andrew Carr to get his name upon the list, and that the selectmen refused to register his name, on the ground that he was not naturalized and that his father had not been naturalized. They told me they were going to get legal advice upon it, and wished to send to Boston and get an answer from there. I went in with Carr several times. Each time I went in I was put off with the excuse that they hadn't got an answer from Boston, and could not make a decision until they did get an answer. I told them finally that I wanted to make a test case of it; that if they did not register the name a prosecution would be brought against the selectmen because of their refusal to do On the first Monday before the election I went in, when they said they had decided to register the name, or that Carr might write his name, and when they had decided to register his name they would put it on. John King, who had been refused registration, also wrote his name. On the Monday evening before the election I went in and found that they had registered Carr's name. There were others similarly situatedquite a number of them-who wanted to register and were refused on the same ground, and who went repeatedly to endeavor to have their names put on, but finally tired and gave up the effort. so. Q. How many of that number do you say were not registered?—A. I should say there were eleven or a dozen. Q. Those were men who were deprived of their votes for that reason? -A. Yes. I know there were at least half a dozen, and I should think there were more. I know that quite a number came to me. Q. Do you know of instances in which the names of persons were struck off the list ?-A. Yes, sir; Albert Hedge had been a resident of Plymouth, and had moved out of the place about a fortnight or a week before the election. He was told that if he moved away he would lose his vote. He said he could not help it and was going to leave. I went in the town-house and saw that his name was not upon the list at the last moment. In the course of the forenoon of election day I saw Mr. Hedge coming up to vote; Ichallenged his vote. He was asked where his family were, and replied that they were in Plymouth. I asked him how long they had been there. He said, "It is none of your business." The selectmen did not compel him to answer properly. I learned afterward that he had taken up his residence in Boston, and that his family were in that city. The selectmen took his name and allowed him to vote. He wrote his name on his ballot. Q. For whom did he vote?-A. For Talbot, I presume. He is a Republican and is known as such. He is in the custom-house in Boston. Q. He is in the custom-house now?-A. The last that I knew of him he was. By Mr. PLATT: Q. Do you know that his family were not actually in Plymouth that day?—A. I was told at the time after they let him vote that his family came with him that morning on the train from Boston. Q. It was he who made the reply," It is none of your business"?—A Yes, sir. Q. Did you pursue the inquiry further after he made the reply -A. I dropped it then. I saw there was a determination to have his name go on the list. By Mr. McDONALD : Q. Do you know who was the judge who naturalized this native-born citizen, Mr. Morrison?—A. I knew the judge at the time. It was Judge Pitman, I think. He has been a judge for many years. I know that]I had some naturalization papers before him at that term of court. Q. Is he a Republican?-A. He is. When this Morrison asked him for naturalization papers, the question was raised about Morrison's residence. The judge said it made no difference; that the man had made application for naturalization and it would do no harm to give it to him. I heard of this. I was not in court. By Mr. PLATT : Q. As you were informed, Mr. Hedge's family were actually in}Plymouth on the day he voted ?-A. They came that morning on the train with him. Q. What evidence have you that he had permanently removed from Plymouth?-A. I understood then that within a week he had moved his furniture away and was then keeping house in Boston, and because he told Mr. Bradford that he couldn't help it if he did lose his vote. Q. Do you say that he moved within a week before the election ?-A. Yes, sir. Mr. Bradford also told me that Hedge's name had been stricken from the list by a vote of the selectmen. By Mr. BLAIR: Q. Was his residence, prior to that time, in Plymouth ?-A. It had been for some years. He was born there. Q. Did you say that he had removed to Boston for the purposes of his business?—A. He had changed it to Boston, and he so notified the selectmen prior to the election. Q. Are you sure that that was the notice that he gave to the selectmen?—A. Mr. Bradford told me the conversation that he had had with him at the time. Q. Yet he was allowed to vote. He must have retained his residence in order to vote.-A. Mr. Nelson allowed him to vote. Q. It must have been on the ground that the selectmen considered Plymouth to be his home.-A. I am not aware on what ground they put it. Q. You are aware that government employés do not lose their residences by having removed siinply to where the government needs them for the time being?-A. I am. Q. It must have been upon that principle that he retained his residence?-A. I don't know of any other. Q. Did you challenge this man at the polls?---A. I did. Q. Was Mr. Nelson the selectman who presided?-A. He was presiding. Q. Did Mr. Nelson put any questions to the man as to where he was residing?-A. He merely asked him the question where he was residing. Q. Where did the man say that his family were?-A. In Plymouth. Q. Then the selectman had good reason to suppose that his family had remained in Plymouth ?-A. I shouldn't think so. Q. But he asked him at the time where they were, and the man said they were in Plymouth.-A. I supposed that Mr. Nelson was as well aware of the location of the man's family as I was. Q. Do you understand that Mr. Nelson was aware that the man was giving a false answer?-A. I have not the least doubt of it. Q. You mean, then, to charge Mr. Nelson with conspiring with this man to deposit a vote upon a false answer?-A. If that is conspiracy. Q. That he knew the man had no right to vote, having no residence there; that he unlawfully conspired to receive the vote by a wrongful decision, and so helped the man to vote?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Did not the man auswer, when asked where his family were, "in Plymouth"?-A. He did. Q. Mr. Nelson did ask him where his household goods were?—A. No, sir. Q. You are quite sure about that?-A. I do not remember of it. Q. You will not be quite sure that he did not ask him that?-A. I don't think I heard a word said about his furniture. Q. He put the ordinary and proper questions to the man to test whether he still had a home in that town or not?-A. I don't know what are proper questions. Q. He asked him where his home was?-A. He simply asked him one question. Q. And then allowed him to vote?-A. And then allowed him to vote. Q. A majority of the board of selectmen was present?-A. Yes, sir; three selectmen. There was a majority at least present. Q. Did the others make any objection to the man voting ?-A. I heard none. Q. Did the others think he was telling a falsehood?-A. I suppose so. Q. You mean to charge the other selectmen as much as you do Mr. Nelson, do you?-A. I think they acquiesced in it. Q. Where were the other two members of this board?-A. One was at the check-list. Q. Where was the other?-A. Mr. Bradford was in the town office. Q. What was he doing?-A. Collecting taxes. That was his busi ness. Q. There were four of them, then, who participated in this crime besides the voter himself?-A. Yes, sir. By Mr. PLATT: Q. You thought that the man voted illegally, did you not?-A. I did. Q. Why did you not prosecute him for it?-A. I didn't feel called on to do it myself. I did what I could to have him prosecuted. Q. Did you make complaint to the prosecuting officers-A. No, sir. Q. What did you do toward having him prosecuted?—A. I sent word to General McDavitt that I thought the man ought to be prosecuted. Q. That was to this gentleman who sits here?—A. Yes, sir. The WITNESS. (After a pause.) Captain Kelly was attempting to reg ister. By the CHAIRMAN: Q. State the facts in regard to that.-A. He had been a sea captain in Plymouth for ten or twelve years. It was supposed that he was a voter. He demanded registration, and they refused to give it to him, because he didn't exactly know the location of the house in which he was born. It was very near the line, and he didn't know whether it was in Nova Scotia or in Maine. He had always supposed it to be in Maine, but he did not know until he wrote to Maine and got a letter from the town clerk, saying that his father had always voted in Maine and was a naturalized citizen. That was at the very last moment before the registration closed. The registrars registered his name. By Mr. PLATT: Q. He finally voted ?-A. He finally voted. Q. They were pretty careful about registration down there last year?A. They seem to have been this last year. They never were before. |