drive my damned old plugs. Upon that I made up my mind to discharge him. In Salem, on Monday, I learned from another source that he was driving my team. I came to Boston, and on Tuesday morning sent word to the store not to let that boy take the team out. My boy went in-Gray was there-and informed him he could not take the team out. Gray said he would. He went in a house near by and said he would make it hot for us; that he was going somewhere to testify.

By Mr. McDONALD:

Q. You are not giving this as something that he said to you?—A. I have not seen the man.

Q. You are stating what somebody has told you about it ?—A. I am stating the information that I received from somewhere else.

Mr. BLAIR. The witness is stating the reason why he discharged the

man.

Mr. McDONALD. No, he is merely giving what somebody has told him.

The WITNESS. It is only hearsay with me.

By Mr. BLAIR :

Q. Have you seen him since ?-A. I have not.

Q. Not since your conversation with him?—A. I left word with my foreman to discharge him on Saturday night.

Q. That resolution was formed last Saturday ?-A. It was.

Q. You say you had had difficulty with him before?-A. I had. Q. What have been your objections to him?—A. I think he is a lazy man; that he loais, and that he don't always tell the truth. Of course I have other business to attend to, and I can't follow him around to see whether be tells the truth or not, but he is not a capable man to attend to my business.

Q. For how long a time have you been dissatisfied with him?—A. Either two or three years ago he was discharged, and my father took pity on him and said he could go back to work again. I said he could not, but he came to me and asked my forgiveness for something that had happened.

Q. But he went to work, and has been working more or less since then?—A. I discharged him on Saturday night, and told him he might look for another job on Saturday week, but he got doing a little better, and I kept him.

Q. Had his political action anything whatever to do with his discharge-A. Nothing, as far as I am concerned.

Q. Do you know what were his politics formerly -A. I guess he would vote most any way, for the party that would pay his taxes. Q. For whom did you vote last year?-A. I voted for Butler. Q. You are a Butler man?-A. I was last year.

Q. Did you know anything about this investigation or of his testifying here at the time that he was discharged, or the time at which you resolved to discharge him last Saturday?-A. I knew nothing of it until I saw, yesterday morning, in Chelsea, about some men there in Chelsea engaged in different business being here, and bringing his name up in connection with the matter. I knew nothing of his testimony until I read it in yesterday morning's paper.

Q. Then neither his voting nor this investigation had anything to do with the discharge of that man from employment?-A. No, sir; not that I know of. I have six or seven men who vote. I asked those men if my father had ever said anything to them in regard to their voting. They said no. It is very funny if he would go to one man and say any

thing and not say anything to any of the rest of them, when they are all naturalized citizens.

Q. Do you know how this Gray voted last October ?-A. I do not. I didn't go to the polls to see him throw his vote.

Q. You did not discharge him nor feel much provoked at him for voting? A. If I had, I think he would have been discharged long before now.

Q. Is your father much accustomed to taking part in political affairs? -A. No, sir; he has always had so much business to attend to that he has left political affairs alone. He has always had plenty of chance to get into office if he pleased, but he never solicited anything of the kind. Q. There are how many members of your firm ?-A. Three.

Q. What are your father's sentiments?-A. He is a Republican. Q. You voted for Butler? How do you think the other one of the firm voted ?—A. I think he voted for Talbot. He is now on his vacation; so that I cannot speak for him.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. You do not know what your father's politics are?-A. I cannot say-well, yes, sir; he voted the Republican ticket. That's what he talks on.

Q. You do not know that he did not say this that has been testified to as having been said by him?-A. It don't seem hardly possible. Q. You were not there to hear it?-A. No, sir.

Q. You only judge about it ?—A. I only judge about it.

By Mr. McDONALD:

Q. You are now stopping at Wenham ?-A. Yes, sir; I go to Wenham every night. I went to Wenham on Saturday night, came to Bos ton, and was at my factory yesterday (Tuesday) morning.

Q. At what time?-A. Between eight and nine o'clock; my train gets in at half past eight, and my man is at the depot to meet me.

Q. Then you got back to your factory about nine o'clock ?-A. Somewhere thereabout.

Q. You were not at Chelsea nor at your factory from Saturday afternoon until yesterday morning at nine o'clock ?—A. I was not.

Q. You don't know what took place at Chelsea only from what you have been told?-A. Only from what I have been told.

Q. Just how this discharge took place on Tuesday morning you do not know, except as you have been informed?-A. Yes, sir; that is all.

CHARLES HEYWOOD Sworn and examined.

By Mr. BLAIR:

Question. Do you reside in Garduer ?-Auswer. Yes, sir.

Q. You are president of the national bank there? A. Yes, sir.

Q. There is but one national bank there ?-A. Only one.

Q. Are you connected with the manufacturing interests of the town also?-A. I have been.

Q. Are you now?-A. No, sir.

Q. State whether or not you have made an examination of the books of the bank; and, if so, whether there has ever been any pecuniary transaction between the bank and one Warren Newell.-A. There has not been. We never heard the name until yesterday.

Q. Do you know of any such man?-A. From inquiries that I made last evening I am satisfied that I have seen a man by the name of Newell, though I did not know his name at the time.

Q. What was his occupation?-A. He was a carpenter. It was some time last year.

Q. Did you make inquiries to ascertain where he was boarding?—A. He was boarding with one Perham.

Q. Do you know where he is now ?-A. I do not.

Q. You say that there has been no deposit in your bank for this Newell, nor any transaction whatever between him and the bank ?—A. I do.

Q. The witness, Jonathan A. Perham, states that he lived in Ashburnham, voted in Gardner last fall; that Newell boarded with him; that Newell came in and threw a bundle of bank bills upon the table, saying that there was fifty dollars which he had received from the national bank, and that he, Perham, could have ten dollars of it if he wanted it. Can such a statement as that, so far as it concerns the bank, be true?-A. It has no foundation at all.

Q. Do you know anything about where Newell now is ?-A. No, sir. Q. Do you know anything of this Mr. Perham ?—A. I knew a Perham. I don't know his given name, who is a stone-cutter. I have not seen him for a year or two perhaps.

Q. What is his standing in the community ?-A. I don't think that any one knows much about him.

Q. Did you ever hear any one say anything as to whether he could be believed or not?—A. I heard.

Mr. MCDONALD objected. [To the witness:] If you know what his character for truth and veracity is in the neighborhood in which he lives, you can speak of it.

The WITNESS. I do not.

Mr. BLAIR. You do not know whether he has any character or not? Not answered.]

By Mr. McDONALD:

Q. You are not very well acquainted with Mr. Perham ?-A. No, sir. Q. You simply know the fact that such a man lived there about that time?-A. I know that such a man has been in town; I do not know that he has been a resident.

Q. You did not know that such a man had made the inquiry?—A. No, sir; I knew him to Q. You know nothing about what took place other mau ?—A. No, sir.

been in town until you be at work there. between him and this

Q. You have ascertained that Newell boarded at Perham's when he was there?-A. That there was a man by the name of Newell who boarded at Perham's some time last year.

Q. Some time last season ?-A. Yes, sir.

IVERS WHITNEY sworn and examined.

By Mr. BLAIR:

Question. You reside in Gardner, and are one of the overseers of the poor of that town?-Answer. Yes, sir

Q. You were such last year?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you know Mr. Albert Sanderson ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you know of any effort to influence or control his vote last year?-A. I do not.

Q. Did you ever hear of any until this investigation? And, if so, state what you have understood.-A. An article came out in the Boston Globe last winter accusing the overseers of the poor of changing his That was the first information I had about it.

vote.

Q. Was there any truth in that accusation?-A. No, sir.

Q. Was there, to your knowledge, any conversation with Mr. Sanderson by any of the overseers of the poor in regard to his vote at any time-A. There was twice, I think, while he and I were having some business together. In the course of the conversation that subject came up, but there was very little said upon it, and he didn't tell me for whom he was going to vote, nor did I ask him.

Q. Who is Albert Sanderson ?—A. He is the master of the almshouse. Q. Is he a man of character and independence, or otherwise?—A. We considered him such, or we shouldn't have him there.

Q. Of how many individuals does he have charge?-A. There are fifteen or sixteen there now, I believe.

Q. Do you know how he did vote?-A. He told me, I think, on the day before yesterday, how he voted; that was the first that I knew about it.

Q. You never knew until then?—A. No, sir.

Q. You never asked him how he designed to vote?-A. No, sir; I did not consider that that was any of my business.

Q. Did you ever, directly or indirectly, try to influence him?-A. No, sir.

Q. Did either Mr. Eaton or any one of the other overseers to your knowledge?-A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. I find in an issue of the Gardner News of January 11th, 1879, a quotation from the Boston Globe, with a statement by yourself and Messrs. Eaton and Wood, overseers of the poor of Gardner, and also a statement by Mr. Sanderson in reply. Examine the article which I now show you and state whether you recognize that which appears over your name as an article which you wrote, or authorized to be written and published, and, if so, whether its statements are true.-A. (After referring to newspaper article.) Yes; I signed and authorized that statement.

Q. Do you recognize the statement which accompanies it, signed by Mr. Sanderson?-A. Yes; I saw that in the paper.

Q. He made a statement, did he?—A. I understood so; I was not present.

Mr. BLAIR. We wish to put in the statement by the overseers of the poor as it appears in the newspaper, and pass on.

The newspaper article containing the comments of the News and the statements referred to, here ordered to be inserted, is as follows:]

SOME BULLDOZING IN GARDNER.

[From the Boston Globe.]

In Gardner, as in so many other towns, the town functionaries were active opponents of Gen. Butler. Albert Sanderson is master of the poor farm there, and during the campaign he was an enthusiastic Butler man. He contributed to the Butler campaign fund, and did what he could to induce the voters of the town to support Gen. Butler. On Saturday, November 2, the overseers of the poor went to the poor farm and had a talk with Mr. Sanderson on the election. What they said to him has not transpired, but immediately after the talk Mr. Sanderson announced that he was an anti-Butler man. The inference to be drawn from this sudden change in opinion is too obvious to need comment.

The above is given by the Globe as among the two hundred cases of bulldozing in Massachusetts which will be presented to the Blaine Congressional Investigating Com

mittee by Gen. Butler. It is probably a fair sample of the whole, and that the principal and important charges which it contains are entirely false will appear to every intelligent reader after a perusal of the following letters from the interested parties: "EDITOR OF THE NEWS: We see by a statement in the Boston Globe, January 6, that the overseers of the poor of Gardner went on Saturday, the 2d day of November, 1878, to their poor farm and had a talk with Mr. Albert Sanderson on the election, which is false. We were at or near our houses all of the day excepting a while in the afternoon, when we met at the house of Ivers Whitney, one of the undersigned, for the purpose of receiving and paying bills against the town of Gardner and doing any other business that might come before us. We have never said anything to Mr. Sanderson concerning that election which might intimidate, coerce or influence him in any way in regard to voting, not to our knowledge, nor have we ever had any intention of doing so.

"IVERS WHITNEY,

· CHARLES EATON, "LYMAN F. WOOD,

• Overseers of the Poor of Gardner.

"EDITOR OF THE NEWS: In reading the Boston Globe of January 6, I find I am represented as a bulldozed man of Gardner, and one of the cases to be presented before the Blaine committee. In justice to the board of overseers of the poor and myself, I will say that they did not by word or act attempt to bulldoze me, neither did any one else. The board did not meet at the town farm November 2, and I do not know what the political sentiments of all the board are. I contributed to the Butler fund in this way: A friend came to the farm and gave me a Boston Globe, and told me that E. D. Howe was having seventy-five dailies sent to him. He said I could have a copy if I would call at Mr. Howe's office. I called and made my errand known to E. D. Howe, and he told me I could have a copy, and then he asked me to help pay for them. Í asked him how much he wanted me to pay, and he said one dollar. I gave him fifty cents. This is the history of my contribution to the Butler campaign fund. I did talk Butler, and thought some of voting for him, but being a hard-money man, and rioting and mob law were so prominent among Gen. Butler's followers, that I became disgusted and made up my mind to vote the Republican ticket, as I always have.

"Yours respectfully,

“GARDNER, January 10, 1879.”

"ALBERT SANDERSON.

The Butler cause must be in a very deplorable condition when men are obliged to resort to such false and transparent charges as here given in order to keep it afloat. If Gen. Butler desires the support of honest and upright men, he should at once make an effort to weed out the malicious falsifiers who are numbered among his agents in this State. No man can achieve any permanent success on the basis of fraud and deception.

By Mr. McDONALD:

Q. Who appoints Mr. Sanderson for that place?-A. The overseers. of the poor make a written contract for one year. He is the party with whom we have made the contract.

Q. Upon the expiration of the year, you make another contract and make it with him, if you please to do so, and if not, with somebody else; so that at the end of each year he is subject to be removed?-A. Yes, sir: by the overseers of the poor.

Q. You say that, last year, you were there on one or two occasions and bad some conversation with Mr. Sanderson ?—A. Yes, I happened to be with him twice when the subject came up.

Q. When something was said about the political prospects?-A. Yes. Q. In that conversation, did you not inquire of him how many Butler men there were on the farm at work there?-A. No, sir. He had one hired man, but I don't think that that man was a voter.

Q. You think there were no hired men on the place then who were voters?-A. None who were voters.

Q. Were not some men engaged there in chopping wood for the farin? -A. Mr. Sanderson hired some wood, or we gave him leave to have some cut until he could carry it off.

Q. Was not some person there then cutting?-A. There was a man.. I didn't know it until afterwards. One day I happened to be there; I