Q. When was it that you met him and told him that he ought to read and write?-A. It was a few days after the election. I had some little sympathy with the man.

Q. He had been voting there before?—A. I have no positive knowledge that he had, because I have not examined the record to see.

By Mr. PLATT:

Q. Upon which was the vote taken, whether the vote should be admitted or whether it should be rejected?-A. My own recollection is this, that in regard to the first challenge that was made we voted whether the vote should be taken or rejected, and my impression is that it was unanimous that it should be rejected. The expression of opinion was at once very open and above-board in regard to Mr. Gagin, that that writing was not satisfactory at all; and my impression is that there was no formal ballot, that we simply stood around and all agreed that that was not within the qualification required.

WILLIAM H. WHITIN SWorn and examined.

By Mr. PLATT :

Question. Where do you reside ?-Answer. At Whitinsville.
Q. What is your business?-A. Cotton manufacturer.

Q. Were you at the election on November, 1878?—A. I was.

Q. Did you perform any duty there that day in connection with the election ?--A. Iacted as one of the selectmen of the town of Northbridge. Q. As such, what did you do?—A. With one other member of the seleetmen, I used the check-list, checking the names.

Q. Do you remember the case of William Gagin, and of his vote being challenged?-A. I do.

Q. By whom was he challenged -A. By Mr. Henry Whitin.

Q. Had Gagin at that time deposited his ballot ?—A. He had not. Mr. Whitin challenged him immediately, as soon as Gagin started for the inside of the rail.

Q. Had his name been checked?-A. It had not.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. What are the politics of the board ?-A. I only know from hearsay. There are three of them who, I know, have been Republicans; there are two who have always had the reputation of being Democrats.

Q. For whom did those two vote last fall?-A. I don't know.

Q. You have heard whom they voted for?-A. I can't swear to what I hear.

Q. Did you hear them say?-A. I did not. One of them voted a Democratic ticket, one the Prohibitory ticket, and three voted the Republican ticket, if they voted any.

Q. What is Gagin's business?-A. I can only speak from representa tion. From representation, he is a liquor-seller.

Q. Had he voted there before?-A. I presume so, but I do not know; I never heard any one say; it is a mere impression.

By Mr. McDONALD:

Q. Did you see the specimen of his handwriting on that day?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. He was not asked to write but once?-A. No, sir; that was suffi cient. It took him so long to write that that we thought it was sufficient time certainly.

Q. You were not satisfied with that handwriting and then did not ask him to write any more?-A. Of course not. He took his pen and labored very violently to write something which might be made" William Gagin." And when we asked him to write his residence, he made several attempts to commence it, tried to make the first letters two or three times, then gave it up and laid his pen down.

Q. The constitution did not require him to write his residence, I believe?-A. No, sir; but it requires him to write.

Q. To write his name?-A. The impression I had was that it required him to write. It may be but the name. We have always required them to write their names.

Q. That first specimen was not satisfactory, but you did not ask him to write again?-A. All the time that he was writing, Mr. Laselle said to him, "Oh, William, you can write it," and spoke to him in an encouraging way, to try to get him to write it.

Q. His name was on the registry?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Is not that prima facie evidence that he can write?-A. Not to one acquainted with the facts of the case.

Q. I ask you is not that prima facie evidence that the man whose name appears there can write?-A. Yes; I should say it was.

Q. Did you know anything about the facts of the case before that?— A. I knew by representation, or that it was said that William Gagin was one of the citizens who could not write. That is what I supposed. Q. How long was it before the election that that was said?-A. I had not heard it said within six months of the election.

Q. You had heard it said six months before the election ?-A. Yes, I had heard that remark made.

Q. How was it that the remark came to be made ?—A. I don't know. Q. It was known that his name was on the registry of voters?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. That was known six months before?-A. I presume so.

Q. No investigation or action was begun to have it stricken off ?—A. No, nor as to any other name that was on the registry.

Q. I am not inquiring as to any other name now but as to this one. You say that six months before the election you heard it spoken of that he could not write and you knew that his name was on the registry. No action before the day of the election was taken to have him cited to appear for the purpose of investigating the fact whether he had the quali fications or not, was there?-A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. And the registry came to the election board without any evidence upon it that he was disqualified as a voter ?-A. His name was recorded exactly the same as the others.

Q. Then the challenge was made there, and the evidence that was taken by the board was just such as you have given here and no other? -A. It was, so far as I remember.

Q. He is a property-owner there, is he not ?-A. I understand him to be.

Q. He had been voting for some time?-A. I don't know; I presume so.

ROBERT M. THOMPSON sworn and examined.

By Mr. BLAIR:

Question. Where do you reside ?-Answer. In Boston, ward 9.
Q. Were you present at the election in November, 1878?—A. I was

Q. In what capacity?-A. I was present in one of the voting precincts as a representative of the ward and city committee.

Q. Of which party?-A. Of the Republican party.

Q. State what, if anything, you observed in the nature of intimidation, threat, or coercion that day on the part of Republicans.-A. I saw nothing.

Q. Did you see anything on the part of Democrats?-A. Nothing but some rude, boisterous fellows pushing about and making a disturbance, which was a momentary matter and was easily quelled.

Q. Nothing uncommon ?-A. Nothing more than the excitement of the day.

Q. Do you recollect of a negro voting on that day?-A. They were nearly all negroes who voted there.

Q. Do you know John A. Fynes?—A. I do.

Q. What was he on that occasion?-A. He was United States supervisor, representing the Democratic party.

Q. Have you seen an affidavit made by him?--A. I have. I know the affidavit.

Q. (Affidavit of Fynes shown.) Do you recognize that as the affidavit to which your attention was previously called?-A. I do.

Q. Mr. Fynes says that while so engaged, that is, in the discharge of his duties as supervisor [reading from affidavit]

Behind the rails in said precinct one Greene, a colored citizen resident in said precinct of said ward, came up to deposit his ballot; that his name was called out, and said deponent checked off his name upon the voting-list, and said Greene deposited a ballot known as a Butler ballot inside the box. That one R. M. Thompson, of Boston, a resident of said ward, who had been standing at and outside of the rail, with a book known as a precinct-book, which contained the names of the legal voters of the precinct, checking off said voters as they came up and voted, saw said Greene deposit a Butler ballot, and as he passed out between the rails approached him, and pointing his finger at him said, "You need not work for me any more." Said deponent stepped to said Thompson and said, "How's that, Thompson; isn't that intimidation?" To which said Thompson replied, "I said nothing to him until after he had voted." To which said deponent replied, "It is just the same as any intimidation; you have no right to stand here and do any such thing." And further this deponent says none. JOHN A. FYNES.

Q. Is that statement true or false?-A. It is false, at least in the

name.

Q. You may go on and state wherein it is false, and give a correct account of any transaction that did occur which led to a conversation between you and Mr. Fynes that day, and what the conversation was. Give your own account of it fully.-A. In the first place I state this (and I make the statement to show the degree of accuracy with which the affidavit was drawn): The man's name was not Greene. He did not vote the Butler ticket; and he was not discharged. The facts are that a man named Woods was employed by the Warden city committee to distribute ballots.

Q. Was he a colored man ?—A. He was a colored man. I discovered in my capacity as a representative there that a number of ballots were being distributed with what we call "Morse pasters." There was a contest for Congressman at that election between Mr. Morse and Mr. Brimmer, when we discovered that Republican ballots with the other candidate's name upon them were being distributed. I made a search for such ballots. The ballots of either side were so clearly marked that there was no mistaking those of the one party from the other. When this man came up to vote he voted a Republican ticket; but something upon his ballot attracted the attention of the ward and city committee

man, who spoke to him, and then reported to me that this man had one of the Morse Republican ballots. This all took place in an instant. I spoke to the man; took his ballots from him, and examined his ballots. He said to me frankly that he had voted a Morse ballot. I examined his work, but did not find that any of the ballots had been pasted. I watched him closely, but did not discharge him. Mr. Fynes, who was behind the rails, some distance from me, made some remark to me in an overbearing tone about the matter, and I replied to him in a somewhat chaffering way, what it was I do not remember. I have never seen this man of whom I have spoken from that day.

Q. Was this man employed by you in his ordinary labor?-A. I never saw him before that day, and have not seen him since.

Q. The relation of employer and employed never existed between you?-A. That relation never existed between us. The only connection that there was between us was this, that he was employed by the ward and city committee to distribute ballots, and was paid for that day's work. My report against him, if I had reported that I had found him to be guilty of a breach of duty, would have been sufficient to prevent him from receiving any pay for that day's labor. I did not make any report against him, and he did receive his pay for that day's labor. I did not care to look into the question of how he voted. This man Greene, referred to in the affidavit, was another man who was engaged in distributing the ballots. I did not see Greene vote; did not know how he voted; nor did I care.

Q. Did he ever work for you?-A. He was a waiter at a hotel at which I boarded; but that was two or three years before this election. Q. Was there any conversation between you and that man during the day?-A. Not the slightest.

Q. Was there any conversation between you and Mr. Fynes in regard to that man's voting, or any on that subject, except as to this mau Wood ?—A. As to no man except this man Wood. I do not recollect the exact language that he makes use of in the affidavit there.

Q. (Referring again to the affidavit.) He states this, that you ap proached the man after he deposited the Butler ballot, and as he passed out between the rails pointed your finger at him and said, "You need not work for me any more"; that he (Fynes) stepped up to you and said, "How is that, Thompson; isn't that intimidation?" To that he says you replied, "I said nothing to him until after he had voted." Fynes then said, "It is just the same as any intimidation; you have no right to stand here and do any such thing." That is the way in which he states the conversation between you.-A. With the exception of the reference to the word intimidation, which I do not recollect being made use of, that is in substance what took place. I stepped up to this man and took from him his ballots. We had three or four men distributing. We had given to each one a small number of Republican ballots, and, from time to time, as those were exhausted, we gave them more to take about the room to give to people as they came in. I took the ballots from him and made some expression equivalent to "You needn't work here any more." I did not say "You need not work for me."

Q. You took the ballots from him, found that they were all right, returned them to him and told him to go ahead?—A. I found that they were all right, returned them, and told him to go ahead.

Q. And he worked during the rest of the day and got his pay?—A. He worked during the rest of the day and got his pay.

Q. Have you anything further to state in regard to it?-A. I have come from a distance.

Q. Did you come purposely to meet this testimony?-A. I came purposely to meet this testimony.

Q. From where?-A. From Upper Canada.

Q. You came for this purpose?-A. For this purpose alone. I will add that I saw in the newspaper report some reference to challenging men for their not being able to read and write, and that, in one instance, upon the man writing his name the challenge was withdrawn. I will state just how the work that day was carried on there. There had been given to us what purported to be a list of men who were not proper persons to vote, who were disqualified either because they could not read or write, by change of residence, or for other reasons. Every man whose name was upon that list was warned, when he came to the polls. Upon the question being raised, we stated to him that if the report as to him was a mistake he knew the facts and we did not; that this list had been sent to us, and that if he was acting wrongfully he would get into trouble. We told him, "You know the facts, and if you are all right don't hesitate to vote." There were two or three cases there (though only one has been mentioned here) where those men who were checked when they came forward convinced us that the report against them was wrong, and as to whom, in order to avoid doing any wrong, I took the responsibility and withdrew the challenge. I have no doubt that the man whose case has been referred to here was one of those. The only case in which there was no right to vote was one in which the man could not read or write. I knew that he could not read nor write, and the man was warned but persisted in voting and was arrested.

Q. At whose instance was that?--A. Probably mine. The marshal, who was standing there, had a list equivalent to mine, and I warned this man not to put his vote in, but he did put it in, and was arrested.

FRANKLIN HAVEN, Jr., sworn and examined.

By Mr. PLATT:

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

Q. Did you formerly hold any office in the city of Boston?-A. That of United States assistant treasurer.

Q. For how many years?-A. From June, 1868, to March, 1879.

Q. In 1878 had you anything to do with the construction of the postoffice building?-A. I was disbursing agent.

Q. Do you know one Burckmyer?-A. Yes; I think he was one of the employés on the building.

Q. Please to read the affidavit of James H. Daily, which I now hand you. [Affidavit shown] In that affidavit Mr. Daily states that Burckmyer told him, in the presence of Elijah McIntyre, that he was discharged on the 22d of October. Do you know when he was discharged, and why-A. Elijah Melntyre was discharged. As I understand it this man Daily does not state that the statement was made in the presence of Burckmyer. Burckmyer, I understand, denies any such statement. Barckmyer was not discharged. MeIntyre was discharged in July, 1878.

Q. By whom?-A. I caused him to be discharged.

Q. For what reason?—A. Because I was dissatisfied with the way in which he performed his duties; for inefficiency; for the good of the public service.

Q. Do you know his politics?-A. No.