Q. And when open, you could tell for whom the party was voting?A. O, we could tell the Democratic or Butler ticket from the other kind.

Q. It is easy to tell the one from the other?—A. Yes, sir; because the Republican ticket had not the likeness upon it.

Q. At what time did the polls open ?—A. I think at ten o'clock.

Q. Then at 12 o'clock Mr. Moore took charge of them, and held it until two o'clock ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. During that time the operatives from the Slater mills voted?—A. Yes, sir; they took that time to come and vote.

Q. What position did Moore hold under these companies?-A. He is agent of one of the mills-the woolen mill.

Q. Then at 2 o'clock he gave way to some one else?-A. I would not be positive about that.

Q. You do not remember his being in charge of the box after that time?-A. I do not.

Q. When he had charge of the box, where did he stand?—A. Right over the box. The box stood before him, and he stood right up in front of it.

Q. In approaching the box to cast the ballot, was there any chute or narrow passage-way to pass through?-A. Yes; they had benches along like this [indicating], and a voter had to go away around and take his

turn.

Q. And pass right in front of this selectman to put his vote in ?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. So that that selectman could see every man who voted, and as to those who voted with open ballots could see for whom they voted?— A. Yes, sir.

Q. You say that some envelopes were used?-A. A very few.

Q. Were they used by the mill hands?-A. I think that a few might have been used by the mill hands. We could not get any envelopes until after they had commenced to vote. The selectmen said they would not let us have any until the voting commenced. Then they gave us one or two of what we wanted.

Q. Did other parties have the use of them before that time?—A. They had plenty around. I do not know where they got them.

Q. The envelopes are furnished by the State authorities, and the selectmen have them for distribution ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. They are distributed by the selectmen?-A. I think so.

Q. You could not get them on the day before?-A. No, sir; I went two days before, I think on Saturday, to get them, as there were some parties who wanted to use them; that is, they did not want to vote openly, and said that if they had an envelope they would vote.

Q. They were willing to vote the Butler or Democratic ticket if they could vote it secretly, but were afraid to vote it openly, were they?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. You said you could not tell how many voters there were in these mills. You can approximate the number, can you not?—A. There were a great many persons employed in the mills who were not voters.

Q. About what was the probable number of male persons employed in these Slater mills?-A. There must have been 700 in all, voters and non-voters.

Q. What is your best judgment as to the number of votes that came from those mills out of those 700 persons? Deducting the portion that came from the other population of the town, about how many votes do you suppose were cast by those mills?-A. I should think there might

be about 200 voters in the mills-maybe more; I could not tell positively.

Q. You would call it somewhere along in that neighborhood?-A. I should think it would be about that.

Q. Of those voters in the mills, what proportion would you say, from your intercourse with them-your meeting them at political meetings and at club meetings-were Democrats in sentiment?-A. nearly all; yes, nearly all of the operatives in the mills were Democrats. Some of the overseers were Republicans.

sir.

Q. From that on up they were all Republicans, were they?-A. Yes,

Q. But of the operatives or employés in the mills, you think a large proportion were Democrats?-A. Yes, I know they were; that is, they told me they were.

Q. How many Democratic votes do you think were actually cast by the operatives in those mills last fall?-A. That I cannot tell.

Q. I know that you cannot get at it accurately, but can you not approximate it?-A. I know that we had twenty or thirty men on our roll who went back on us and admitted afterwards that they had voted the Republican ticket, that is; some of them admitted it. Some would not admit it at all; were ashamed to.

Q. How many altogether of those who were mill hands did you have on your rolls?-A. I could not say.

Q. Taking off these twenty or thirty that you speak of having as voted the Republican ticket, how many more of the mill hands did you prebably have on your rolls, as near as you can give it ?-A. We might have had a hundred and over, but I could not say. There were some who said they were Butler men, but would not sign the roll because it might get out on them; some of them thought it better not to sign it lest somebody might see the roll and there would be trouble.

Q. From your observation there that day, and from all the facts you have stated to us, did the mill hands in the Slater mills vote freely and of their own accord ?-A. No, sir; I should say not.

Q. Their votes, you say, were not according to their own wills?—A. No, sir.

By Mr. PLATT:

Q. Are you a brother of Jason Waters, who testified yesterday ?—A. I am.

Q. What is your occupation?-A. A teacher.

Q. How long have you lived in Webster ?—A. About seventeen years; that is, voted there; I have not been there all the time.

Q. How long have these Slater mills been there?-A. Some of them a great while. One of them (the cotton mill), I think, was one of the first mills built in the State, one of the first in the country and perhaps the first, except one, in Rhode Island.

Q. Are they owned by Massachusetts capital or the capital of other States-A. Nelson Slater, one of the firm of the corporation, lives there in Webster.

Q. What are the politics of Webster in State affairs?-A. It has been Democratic, and has been Republican. It went for Gaston.

Q. Is it considered a close town?-A. A pretty close town when there is a fair vote. It went against us last year by about eighty or ninety, I think it was ninety.

Q. You said that some of those operatives were men who said they were going to vote for Butler, and who did not ?--A. Yes, sir.

Q. About twenty or thirty altogether?--A. About twenty or thirty altogether; I would not say positively the exact number on our roll. Q. You say there were twenty or thirty who, as you say, went back on you?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. That is the extent of those who were going to vote for Butler and who did not do it ?—A. Oh, no; those were only the men whose names were upon our roll and who had signed in our club.

Q. Were there not many meu in the town who were not operatives who said they were going to vote for Butler and did not ?-A. I do not know. Q. If we can judge from the newspapers, the result did not quite justify all the expectations of the Butler men?-A. I do not believe all that they say on either side.

Q. What is the full name of Mr. Shumway?—A. William T. Shumway.

Q. Was he connected with the Slater establishment?-A I am not positive.

Q. How many of the selectmen were there?-A. Three.

Q. Give their names.-A. James H. Hull.

Q. Give his politics.-A. He was an Abbott Democrat, and opposed to Butler, strong, every time.

Q. What are Shumway's politics?-A. Republican. Mr. Moore was the other selectman.

Q. Then of the three selectmen in Webster one of them, Mr. Moore, is connected with the Slater establishment; the others are not ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. What proportion of the operatives vote an open ballot?-A. It would be impossible for me to tell.

Q. Give an estimate.-A. I should say three-fourths; it may have been more.

Q. By the law of Massachusetts must a man vote either in a sealed envelope or an open ballot ?-A. With either at State elections.

Q. But he cannot double his ballot and put it in that way if he is requested to open it, can he?-A. I do not know the law in regard to it. Q. As you understand the law, he must either vote a sealed envelope or or an open ballot?-A. Yes; I think a man has the right to vote a sealed envelope.

Q. Or otherwise to vote an open ballot?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. I do not know how it is in Massachusetts, but I know how it is in other States. Is it provided in Massachusetts that, if a man votes an open ballot or does not vote an envelope, the presiding officer shall examine the ballot and see that it is not doubled?—A. I do not know what the law is in regard to that.

Q. You got a considerable number of the Democrats among the operatives for Butler ?-A. Yes, sir; some. They did not all vote the Republican ticket I know, and there were a good many who were for Butler who voted the Republican ticket.

Q. A number of those operatives in the Presidential election and at subsequent elections have voted the Democratic ticket ?-A. Nearly all. When I say nearly all, I mean that the majority have voted the Democratic ticket.

Q. You have heard of no man being discharged on that account ?— A. There was one man that I know of who was discharged a year or two ago for voting the Democratic ticket.

Q. Did you ever hear of any other being discharged for voting the emocratic ticket?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Was it last year or since-A. I think it was in 1878.

Q. Give the names of those men?-A. One man who was discharged two years ago is here. I cannot think of his name.

Q. How far from the polls do you live?-A. About forty rods, I guess. Q. Did the men who you say went back on you vote an open ticket or a sealed ticket?-A. Some of them voted a sealed ticket and some an open ticket.

Q. What portion of those who you think went back on you voted an open ticket?—A. I could not tell you. Some of them voted in envel

opes.

Q. Some of the men went back on the Republicans, did they not?— A. I do not know.

Q. You had a pretty active canvass up there?-A. Yes.

Q. You got or tried to get all that you could on your side ?—A. Certainly. We did not hire any men or tell any men to go and vote so.

Q. You did, as a Massachusetts man says, "your level best?”—A. I went myself and voted; yes, sir.

Q. You were one of the officers of the Butler club?-A. I was elected one of the delegates; I was not one of the officers, because I had alw.ys been a Republican until last fall.

Q. Did not these men who you say went back on you, some of them, vote open tickets?-A. Some of them did.

JOHN J. LOVE sworn and examined.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. Where do you reside?—Answer. In Webster.

Q. How long have you lived there?-A. Twelve years.

Q. Do you know anything about the Slater Manufacturing Company there?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Who is its agent or controlling man of the woolen mills?-A. The controlling man of the whole concern, of the whole three mills, is Captain Amos Bartlett, who is the agent.

Q. Where does he live?-A. In Webster.

Q. Who has control of the woolen-mill?-A. Asher T. Moore.
Q. Is Mr. Moore a selectman of the town?-A. He was last year.
Q. Were you at the fall election of 1878?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Detail the circumstances under which the men were brought there, whether Mr. Moore was in charge of the ballot-box, and when.-A. Mr. Moore was in charge of the ballot-box from noon-time until along after two o'clock. I do not know about the circumstance of how the men were brought there, because I was on the outside, sitting down, and in a position not to see them. I had a check list, checking the voters. Q. For which party were you acting?—A. The Butler party.

Q. How did the men from the mills come up, separately or en masse?· A. They came mostly together.

Q. Who was with them; who gave them tickets, or did you not see that?-A. No; I did not see that.

Q. Do you know who of the agents of the mills were there actively working?-A. I saw "supers " [superintendents] from the three mills. Q. Who were they?-A. I saw Mr. Fletcher (I think it was W. W. Fletcher), from the north village, and Mr. Hilton, superintendent of the East village.

Q. These three, Moore, Hilton, and Fletcher are the controlling men of the three mills?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. What are the politics of these three men?-A. They are all Republicans.

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

Q. At which mill was he employed?-A. He is superintendent or agent for the store. They have a large store that belongs to the company, and he runs it.

Q. What are his politics?—A. He is a Republican, as far as I know. Q. What is his full name?-A. I think his initials are C. K.

Q. Were these gentlemen, the three superintendents, and Mr. Lavaree there in the morning?-A. I could not say.

Q. Did you see them there in the morning?—A. I saw Mr. Moore, as he was on the platform about all day.

Q. Had he charge of the ballot-box between twelve and two o'clock?—A. Yes, sir; he changed off with one of the other selectmen after that time.

Q. Did you see either of the other superintendents there after the mill hands were done voting-A. I could not say that I did, as I was so busy attending to what I had to attend to that I did not pay much attention to what was going on in the hall.

Q. Do you know of any men who were connected with the Butler or Democratic organization, or any other political organization, who voted the other way? and, if so, describe who they were.-A. Yes, sir; I know one man in particular who belonged to the Butler organization, was a member of the club, had subscribed money to help carry on the campaign, and who, when it came to election day, voted the Republican ticket.

Q. Who was he?-A. He was an operative in the Slater woolenmill.

Q. Do you know why he so voted?—A. I do not.

Q. Did you distinguish the tickets in the hands of the men when they came up to vote ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. How did the most of the operatives vote?-A. Quite a number of them voted in envelopes.

Q. Those who did not vote in envelopes but voted open tickets, how did they vote?-A. Some of them voted the Republican and some of them the Butler ticket.

Q. How many of those who belonged to and had subscribed to the Butler club voted the Republican ticket, or did not come to the polls, that you know of?-A. We estimated that there were thirty, or between twenty and thirty of them.

Q. Was there any case on the morning of the election in which a man came to you with a sealed envelope in regard to voting; and, if so, what was it? A. Yes, sir; a young man came to me with a sealed envelope. His name is Thomas Sherlock. He was an operative in one of the mills. He told me that the envelope had been given to him in one of the mills by his overseer either on that morning or the night before, and he really did not want to vote that way.

Q. Was the envelope open or sealed?-A. My impression is that it was sealed. He did not know what kind of a ticket it was, so that the envelope must have been sealed. I took the kind of ticket he wanted, broke open the envelope that he was to vote, put it in that and handed it to him. He seemed even then to be afraid to vote the ticket that I gave him.

Q. Why was he afraid?—A. Because, as he said, he was told to vote the other way.

Q. Who did he say told him to vote the other way?-A. His over

seer.