Q. Did it make any difference whether the man had voted in the precinct a year before?--A. Yes, sir; if he could show that he had been on the voting list in the preceding year, we did not require it.

Q. Did you make any difficulty in cases in which men of foreign birth who came here under age were naturalized by their fathers having been naturalized?-A. I do not know what you mean by any difficulty."

66

Q. Did you not require the production of the naturalization papers of the father in cases such as those?-A. As far as they could get them. No person who could not produce satisfactory evidence, as far as I know, was allowed to register. There was one exception, where— Q. Was there any case in which you required a man who had been born in this country to produce his father's naturalization papers ?-A. Born here? No, sir.

Q. You are certain of that?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. You did not hold the rule, then, which they held in Plymouth and require a man born in this country of alien parents to produce his father's naturalization papers?-A. No, sir; I do not understand that the statute requires it. The principal trouble they made was on the reading and writing clause, and that clause we applied to everybody. We applied it to a young man who was in the office with me at the time, and applied it to some ministers there whom some of us had heard preach. In one case, a man whom I did not know, who was a stranger, undertook to vote on the theory, as I will call it, that his father having been naturalized that gave him the right to vote, but did not produce any evidence. I asked him to give some statement, and said I did not know how we were going to apply the rule without the evidence, when he got mad about it and went off. An affidavit in the case came in afterwards, and that was the end of that. All parties who came there with an apparent right to vote were entitled to vote.

Q. Do you think that everybody entitled to vote who offered to vote was registered and did vote?-A. I do not know how many were enti tled to vote-whether they were in fact entitled or not was a matter for them; everybody who furnished us with suitable evidence of his right was allowed to vote. I may say, further, as the question has been raised about all the members of the board being Republicans, that two of them held their places by virtue of having been elected to other offices.

By Mr. PLATT:

Q. Did you know of any serious complaint, at the time, that your board had not discharged its duty with impartiality -A. No, sir; we had no complaint at the time. We had a little difficulty with the Butler men, who got a little stirred up when we asked them to give us any cases of illegalities and said we would satisfy them in regard to such cases. They did so in one case, and we satisfied them.

ENOCH H. TOWNE sworn and examined.

By Mr. PLATT:

Question. Where do you reside ?-Answer. In Worcester.

Q. Did you hold any position in connection with the board of registration last fall at Worcester?-A. I did.

Q. What was it?-A. I was one of the registrars, and, by vote of the board, was chosen chairman.

Q. You were one of the registrars by virtue of what office?-A. By holding the office of city clerk.

Q. Of whom did the board of registration consist?-A. Last year it consisted of Mr. Utley, Mr. Houghton, who was secretary of the board of assessors, and myself.

Q. Were you a member of the board of registration in 1876?-A. No, sir; there was no board. This board was created by a special statute in 1877.

Q. Mr. Plympton gave the members of the board as Mr. Utley, Mr. Clark, and, he thought, Mr. Ely?-A. Mr. Clark was chosen secretary of the board of assessors in the month of March, 1877. This law was passed some time after that, and Mr. Clark, being secretary of the board, would have been a member, but he resigned, and Mr. Houghton was chosen in his place. Mr. Clark did not resign his place until some time in the month of September, by which time we had perhaps done a little something in registering.

Q. There had been a registration?-A. There was a registration in 1877 and 1878.

Q. Were you on the board both years?-A. I was.

Q. It is charged that the board of registration left off the names of 500 Democrats. I wish to inquire of you whether any discrimination was made by leaving off the names of Democrats?-A. None whatever.

Q. Can you say that there was no discrimination made in leaving off names?-A. I can't say. There were six hundred names left off for non-payment of taxes or for not being taxed in 1877.

Q. What I want to get at is this: whether any partiality was shown in favor of the Republicans as against the Democrats.--A. None what

ever.

Q. Did you have rules by which your registration was governed ?A. Yes, sir.

Q. Was there any relaxation of those rules in favor of Republicans and firm adherence to them in the cases of Democrats?-A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. It is said that the Democratic committee tried to get names upon the registration list and were refused; that afterwards the persons whose names had thus been refused, having been sent over to the Republican headquarters, were brought to the board by Republicans, and then registered without much examination of their cases. Do you know anything of that?-A. I don't know anything about it. I don't know that there was any such case.

Q. When a man was brought in by the Republican committee was there any less caution or examination than there was when a man was brought in by the Democratic committee?-A. No, sir.

Q. Was there, so far as you know, any charge of unfairness at the time?-A. Except in one instance; that was a case in which, upon my asking a man who came in to register, in relation to his qualifications to vote, he showed me papers which he had from California purporting to show that he had been a resident of California and had voted there. This was in October. I asked him where he got those papers, and he stated that he had brought them with him. Upon my questioning him further he said that he had come to the State ten months before. I told him that he could not vote in the State, as it was required that he should be a resident for a year before voting. He went away and presently came back with another gentleman, when I declined to put his name on. After a while he again returned, bringing an affidavit that he had been in the State a year. I again declined to put his name on, and told him that I would see about it. tive of the city to hunt the matter up.

After that, I sent the detec
He went to the house where

the man boarded and reported that the people there stated that the man had come there on the previous 15th day of December. That was the only case of which I recollect where any complaint was made.

Q. Mr. Plympton said that the Democrats had tried in vain to get a representation upon the board of registration. Of whom does the board of registration consist?-A. It consists of the city clerk, the secretary of the board of assessors ex-officio, and one member elected by the city council.

Q. Then the only chance for the Democrats was in the election by the city council, unless they carried the election for assessor ?-A. So far as the election of Mr. Utley is concerned the board of aldermen, at the time of his election, was composed of seven Republicans and one Democrat, and the common council of nine Democrats (one of whom I think I may call an Independent) and fourteen Republicans. The elec tion took place first in the board of aldermen, who chose a Democrat, he having seven votes and Mr. Utley one vote. They sent his name to the common council for concurrence, when he did not receive a vote.

Q. The common council voted unanimously against the Democrat who had been selected by the board of aldermen ?-A. They did not vote for him.

Q. How long have you resided in Worcester ?-A. Nineteen years. Q. How long have you held the office of city clerk ?—A. Since Janu ary, 1877.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. You are a Republican, of course?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. The board of registry was entirely Republican ?—A. Yes, sir. Q. There was no Democratic representation on the board of registry? -A. No, sir.

Q. What was the political complexion of the city council which chose the name of the Democrat for the board of registration?-A. The board of aldermen was composed of seven Republicans and one Democrat and the common council of nine Democrats, one Independent, and fourteen Republicans. Mr. Utley was not elected at the first election. The common council then elected a man by the name of Laselle and sent the name to the board of aldermen, who non-concurred in their selection; and at the subsequent meeting Mr. Utley was elected, he receiving, in the board of aldermen, four votes to thrée, and in the common council, twelve out of twenty-three.

Q. Was the man who was voted for by the eleven of the twenty-three a Democrat or a Republican ?-A. They split; they did not all throw their votes together.

Q. Was it a local dispute?-A. I think not. Mr. Utley got twelve votes, the Democrat got seven, and there were scattering votes. Adjourned.

BOSTON, Aug. 20, 1879.

LEMUEL BRADFORD Sworn and examined.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. Where do you reside?-Answer. In Plymouth.

Q. What was your official position in connection with the elections last year in Plymouth ?—A. I was one of the selectmen.

Q. As such had you anything to do with the receiving of votes in

November?-A. I did not act at the election, on election day, because my business called me another way on that day.

Q. What do you know about the case of Albert Hedge ?—A. I met him one day on the street in the early part of October, when he said he was going to move to Boston, and asked me if that would hinder him from voting at Plymouth. I told him it certainly would. He said he would be ready to move about the middle of October. I said to him, "Why don't you wait till the first of November before you move, if you don't want to lose your vote?" He replied, "I've got ready to move and I shall move." I met him after he had moved, I do not remember the day, but it was from about the middle to the 20th of October. Q. Proceed.-A. When we had a meeting of the selectmen, I informed them that he had moved to Boston, and his name was stricken from the registration list, and also from the list of voters.

Q. Was it restored, and did he vote?-A. I did not see him vote, but I was told by good authority that, on that Tuesday morning of the elec tion, he came from Boston with his family, that the other four selectmen, after his vote being challenged, and after there being some conversation, put his name upon the voting list, and that he voted.

Q. Does his family live in Plymouth now?-A. No, sir; in Boston. Q. Was there any change of residence back to Plymouth?-A. No, sir. Q. What was Mr. Hedge's business here?-A. He was in the Boston custom house.

Q. Was he in the Boston custom-house before he left Plymouth ?— A. Yes, sir.

Q. What was the decision of your board with regard to the registration of young men of foreign parentage born within the State?-A. The chairman of the board got an opinion from Judge Davis aud Mr. Lord; they gave it as their opinion that such persons could not vote unless they were naturalized. Having that opinion from the two-law

yers, the board voted not to put the names upon the registry.

Q. When was that decision reversed?—A. I think on the Saturday or Monday before the election.

By Mr. PLATT :

State your politics.-A. I am a Democrat from the start.

Q. Are you the chairman of the Democratic county committee of Plymouth-A. I am not now.

Q. You have been ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. In the case of Mr. Hedge, you thought he ought not to vote, because he had, as you understood, removed his family to Boston ?-A. Because he had gone to housekeeping there.

Q. The other four members of the board thought that, for some reason, he ought to vote, and let him vote?-A. No; they thought of course if he had moved his family and gone to Boston, he was not entitled to vote, and his name was stricken from the voting-list.

Q. But, as you understand, they considered his case on election day, and allowed him to vote?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. What evidence came before them, you do not know ?-A. No, sir; only by hearsay.

CHARLES H. CHASE Sworn and examined.

By Mr. PLATT :

Question Where do you reside ?-Answer. In Manchaug.
Q. What is your business?-A. Bookkeeper.

Q. For what establishment?-A. The Manchaug Manufacturing Company.

Q. The Manchaug Manufacturing Company is a corporation ?—A. Yes.

Q. By whom is it owned?-A. By B. E. and R. Knight, and Lewis Dexter.

Q. Where do they reside?—A. In Providence.

Q. Who is the manager of the corporation, resident in Manchaug ?A. Mr. Robert McArthur.

Q. Who is president of the corporation, if there is one?-A. I think that . B. Knight is president.

Q. Do the Knights and Mr. Dexter visit the corporation works often ?— A. Mr. Dexter visits them once a week; the others come once in two or three months, perhaps.

Q. They are all residents of Rhode Island ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q How long have you been bookkeeper there?-A. I have been there six years

Q. What are your politics?—A. At the present time, Republican. Q. What have been your politics in times past?-A. Previous to the war I was a Democrat.

Q. Have you been an active Republican since you have been a Republican ?—A. I presume they would call it so.

Q. Do you hold any office in the town of Sutton?-A. I am one of the assessors.

Q. That is an elective office, is it not?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. How long have you held that office?-A. Four or five years; I think five years.

Q. State the number of adult males employed by the corporation of which you are bookkeeper, as nearly as you can give it.-A. One hundred and fifty.

Q. How many of them are voters?—A. I think about one hundred of those employed in the mill.

Q. What are their politics?—A. A majority of them are Democrats, I think. I might correct that; I think that perhaps two-thirds of them are Democrats.

Q. Were you at the polls at the election of November, 1878, when General Butler ran ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. What did you do there at the polls?-A. I held ballots and distributed ballots, some.

Q. To whom did you distribute ballots?-A. I do not think I distributed more than perhaps 25 or 30. I furnished the ballots to the ballot distributers in packages of 25 or 30 at a time.

Q. You had charge of all the Republican ballots there -A. Yes, sir. Q. How did the men vote; with sealed ballots or with open ballots?— A. I think they were about equally divided, as near as I can recollect. A great many voted open ballots, and a great many sealed ballots.

Q. How near the ballot box did you stand?-A. From eight to ten feet, perhaps, away from the ballot-box.

Q. It is said that some benches were put up between the ballot box and where the people had to pass?—A. Two settees were put in front