in Pintlala beat, and are they over the age of twenty-one years?-A. I know both of them; they are each over twenty-one years of age, and have resided in that place for the last twelve years. Q. What office did you hold on the day of the election; were you commissioned, and where is your commission now? (Counsel for contestee objects to the question, upon the ground that it calls for secondary evidence.) A. I was United States supervisor, I was commissioned; and my commission is at home. Q. Were you present all the day of the election, and did you attend to the manner in which the voters cast their ballots, and did you carefully scrutinize the manner of conducting said election?-A. I was present during the day of the election and noticed the manner in which the voters cast their ballots, and I carefully scrutinized the manner in which the election was conducted. Q. Who received the ballots from the voters; what did he do with them; did you keep a tally or any account of the number of ballots cast for each candidate for Congress at said election?—A. Robert Dandridge, one of the inspectors, received the ballots from the voters and passed them to another inspector, who deposited them in the box. I kept an atcount part of the day. There were but two candidates, and I kept an account between the two. Q. What part of the day was it that you did not keep an account?-A. After about half past three o'clock I ceased to keep an account. Q. After half past three o'clock were you in the room, and did you observe the voting State, if you have any means of knowing, how many votes were cast after half past three o'clock, and for whom.-A. I was in the room, and observed the voting after half past three o'clock. The only means I had of knowing how many were cast was my seeing the ballots as they were handed in with the name of James Q. Smith upon them. Q. Were the ballots deposited in the box counted?-A. They were not. Q. State as near as you can the number of votes cast for James Q. Smith for Congress up to three and a half o'clock; state as near as you can the number of votes cast for him between the hour of three and a half o'clock and until the voting was over.-A. Up to three and a half o'clock he had gotten about two hundred and seventy or seventy-five votes; from my best judgment, from that time until the polls were closed, I should say he got between forty-five and fifty votes. Q. State why it was the ballots were not counted.-A. About eight or ten minutes before the closing of the polls E. P. Holcombe came in the room and took the box from the table where it had been all day during the voting; he said he was a bailiff and had a right to take possession of the box. He put it in his sachel. Five or six minutes afterwards his son-in-law, Samuel J. Murray, came to the door of the room and urged him (Holcombe) to give him the sachel, saying he was in a hurry to go home. Thereupon, Holcombe took from the sachel a box other than the one in which the ballots had been deposited and then handed to Murray the sachel containing the box he had taken from the table. We did not discover that the box had been changed until Murray had driven off with the sachel containing the proper ballots that had been voted that day. Q. Describe the boxes, and how you discovered that they had been changed?-A. They were two cigar-boxes. The right box was bound in bright red paper, and had a picture on one end of a man with a sword in his hand. The hole in which the ballots were passed was in the end of the box, and the end was split from one side of the hole to the edge of the box. The box that was substituted was bound with a kind of pale bluish paper, and had the bust of a man on the end of the box whose features were illuminated with a smile. This box also had a hole in the end of it, but was not split. Q. Did the inspectors open the box that was left upon the table. And state if it was examined, and what you discovered it to be. (Question objected to upon the ground that the box and contents are the best evidence of the matters called for, and when last heard from was in the hands of the friends of the contestant.) A. We opened the box, after we discovered the fraud, to see what it contained. We did examine it, and found it stuffed with Shelley and Stephens tickets, and only about nine for Smith. Q. Do you now state that the box left by Holcombe, and which you opened, is not the box in which the ballots cast during the day were deposited ?-A. Yes, sir; I do. Q. Do you know the number of colored voters in Pintlala beat, and do they chiefly vote the Republican or Democratic ticket?-A. There are, I think, between three hundred and fifty and three hundred and sixty, and they vote the Republican ticket; I know of no exception at the last election. Q. Do you know the number of white men, voters of Pintlala beat, and do they chiefly vote the Republican or Democratic tickets?—A. There are between thirty and thirty-five white voters, I think, and with the exception of two, they all vote the Democratic ticket. Q. Do you come to Montgomery voluntarily?—A. Yes, sir. Cross-examined by JOHN F. WHITE, Esq., counsel for contestee: Q. What are the politics of the inspectors who held that election?-A. They were Republicans. Q. You stated that so many votes were cast for James Q. Smith at that beat; is that an accurate statement!-A. It was accurate up to the time that I kept the account. Q. How many votes did Charles M. Shelley receive during the time you kept the account?-A. He received about twenty-one or two votes. Q. Did he receive any after you ceased to keep account; and, if so, what is your best judgment as to the number -A. My best judgment is that he received a few votes. I cannot state the number. Q. Did you keep a written memorandum of the votes cast there that day?—A. I kept a tally of the votes as they were cast. Q. Where is that tally-list ?-A. Did not preserve it. Q. You do not pretend to make an accurate statement of all the votes cast there that day and for whom they were cast, do you ?-A. The account was accurate up to three and a half o'clock; as to the remainder, I give my best judgment. Q. Who was present when Colonel Holcombe came in and took possession of that box-A. Robert Dandridge, Toney Davis, Philip Samuel, Henry Green, Sampson M. Rives, and myself. Q. What kind of sachel was it Holcombe had?-A. It looked like it was made of brown linen. Q. Where are the parties you name as having been present when Holcombe came into the room?—A. They are all at their homes in Lowndes County, except Sampson M. Rives, who has moved away since the election. Q. Do you know whether any or all of them were subpoenaed to attend this commission?-A. I do not. Q. State as fully as you can what conversation occurred after Holcombe took possession of this box in regard to his doing so.-A. There was a great deal of confusion when it was found that a box had been substituted. We protested against Holcombe's taking the box, and myself and one of the inspectors caught hold of the sachel. Q. Did any of the parties present go out of the room while Holcombe had possession of the box?-A. I went out, after leaving the sachel in charge of one of the inspectors, who had his hand upon it. Holcombe had his hand on it. Q. What was the condition of things when you got back?-A. I was gone about two or three minutes. I heard confusion at the room door before I got back. When I returned to the room the sachel and proper box had both been carried off by Murray. Q. If these boxes were changed it was done in your absence, was it not?—A. To that extent, I suppose that it was. Q. Did you actually witness the changing of one box for the other?-A. I witnessed the box being taken by Holcombe from the table, and know that the one he returned to the table was not the one we had in use all day. Q. Did you see Holcombe take any box at all out of that sachel and place it upon that table?-A. I did not, but he said in my presence that he put it on the table. Q. To which box did he refer?-To the box that was substituted for the right one. Q. What has become of that box?-A. We forwarded it to the sheriff by the returning officer, Ed. Smith. Q. Did you make out any returns in accordance with its contents?-A. We wrote a certificate that it was not the proper box, and forwarded it with the box, so that it might not be counted. Q. Did you ever see or hear anything of that box that Murray carried off?—A. No, sir. Q. Were you ever a member of the legislature of Alabama; and, if so, in what year?-A. In 1874 I was a member. Q. Were you not deprived of your seat by impeachment; and, if so, what were the charges against you?-A. I was not deprived of it by impeachment. Q. Were you not unseated by a vote of the legislature for bribery?-A. I decline to answer any further questions on that subject, because I don't think it is right. Q. State, as accurately as you can, the hour at which the polls were opened and closed at Pintlala beat that day.-A. The polls were announced opened at about halfpast eight o'clock and closed at the hour designated by law—5 p. m. Re-examined by the contestant: Q. Did you make any return to Chief Supervisor Dimmick of the manner in which the election at your beat was a failure, and why it was you were unable to count the vote? Does your report, as made, contain a true statement of the votes cast at that election for James Q. Smith for Congress? (Contestee objects to the question, upon the ground that it calls for new matter and secondary evidence.) A. I made a return to Chief Supervisor Dimmick of the manner in which the election was a failure, and why we were unable to count the vote. To the best of my knowledge and belief, my report contains a true statement of the votes cast for James Q. Smith for Congress. Statement of inspectors. W. D. GASKIN. Beat No. 17. Pintlala, Lowndes Co., Ala., Nov. 3d, '50. The inspectors of the above-named beat will swear to the following statement, to wit: That they saw Col. E. P. Holcomb in possession of a satchel containing a cigar-box prior to the time that the said Holcomb took charge of the ballot-box, against the protest of the inspectors; and that Gaskin ordered the aforesaid Holcomb not to put hands on the box, when he, in reply to Gaskin, said the the said Gaskin has nothing to do with the box containing the votes or anything else; that as U. S. supervisor could give no orders nor handle any paper belonging to the election; but that he. G., could only stand, look on, and report how the election was held, and all that was done irregular; and that while the said H. was saying this to G., and asserting his rights as an officer of the election, notwithstanding all that G. had said to him against taking the box from the table on which it was, and had been during the election, the said H. seized the box and took it from the table and put it into a satchel which was brought into the room where the voting was carried on, and known as his private property. The box referred to above was the box in which ballots was voted by the people of the precinct was deposited. At least three hundred and fifty-four had been polled up to about ten minutes of five o'clock, when everybody desiring to vote had voted; and there was no one at the polls who had not voted, and Col. H. put the box in the satchel above mentioned. The satchel was of a brown linen color, containing a petition in the middle; and on one side was the box supposed to be conceal, and on the other side, which appeared to empty, he put the box taking from the table, and when he had done this Gaskin first took hold of the satchel himself, and finding afterwards that he was compelled to go to himself a few minutes called Robert Dandridge, and made him take hold of the box in his absent, until he could return, and as soon as G. went out to the door, he called the marshal, Wesley Nolls, and place him at the door of the election room, and instructed said Nolls, as U. S. marshal not to allow anything to be brought of said room until he, G., could return. And a few minutes before Gaskin left the room, Tony Davis, one of the inspectors, ask leaf of absent or leaf to step aside rather for two or three minutes. As there was no voting going on, and was not yet five o'clock, leaf was granted and Davis went, and was back in a short time, and when Davis return this was the time that G. went out, and in short time after Davis' return to the room, the other inspectors all being in the room, and Mr. B. W. Mason, also U. S. supervisor, and Col. E. P. Holcomb, the alarm was made that the box containing the votes that was put in Col. H.' sachel was out of place and that another fraudulent box was inserted in its place on the table, from which the proper box had been taken. ROBERT DANDRIDGE. TONEY DAVIS. mark. (Indorsed :) AA. Election 1880, Lowndes County. Inspector's report at precinct No. 17. Pintlala beat. Rec'd & filed the 19 day of Nov., 1880. J. W. Dimmick, chief sup. U. S. supervisor's return of votes cast for Representatives in Congress from the 4th Congressional district of the State of Alabama, at precinct or poll No. 17, commonly called Pintlala, in the county of Lowndes, on the 2d day of November, 1880. James Q. Smith. Total Congressional vote.. Names of candidates. Number of votes, as returned by inspectors. Number of votes, Ballot-box stolen. The ballots which were cast at this precinct were as follows, as nearly as I can ascertain: For J. Q. Smith, 315; for C. M. Shelley, 35. For full report, see supervisor's report marked AA. I, the undersigned, supervisor of election, appointed by the circuit court of the United States, hereby certify that the foregoing return is true and correct. Witness my hand at Pintlala, Ala., this 2d day of November, 1880. W. D. GASKIN, Supervisor. To J. W. DIMMICK, Chief Supervisor of Elections, Montgomery, Ala. In stating above that the managers at the Pintlala precinct made no return of the election, I intended to say that they made no such count of the votes or certificate thereof as is contemplated by law. They did make a certificate, which is in words and figures as follows, to wit: "We, the undersigned, managers of Pintlala beat, do hereby certify that there is three hundred and fifty-five tickets in the box, and the poll-list shows three hundred and fifty-four, and we do not believe that the box containing such tickets is the correct box." TONEY DAVIS, Managers. The foregoing is the only certificate made by said managers as far as I know or have been informed. Nov. 3d, 1880. B. W. MASON, Supervisor of Elections for 17th Precinct (Pintlala), Lowndes Co., Ala. This certificate is found with Mr. Dimmick, chief United States supervisor, and indeed there is no evidence which materially contradicts the facts above stated. Mr. Smith should have counted for him the 315 votes cast. Your committee state that it would swell this report to undue proportions to give in detail the evidence showing the fraud, collusion, and bad faith of those managing the elections for the contestee, and must state as briefly as possible the true state of the votes at the other disputed precincts, as shown by the evidence. Whitehall precinct, Lowndes County, Smith had 276. In these precincts the Democratic inspectors failed to appear, except at Whitehall, and returns rejected because of informality, but should be counted for contestant. Prairie Bluff precinct, Wilcox County, Smith had 305 and Shelley 35; this vote rejected for the reason that the name of the precinct did not appear in the return, and yet the following is the return of the supervisor of that precinct: U. S. supervisor's return of votes cast for Representatives in Congress from the fourth Congressional district of the State of Alabama, at precinct or poll No. 4, commonly called Prairie Bluff, in the county of Wilcox, Ala., on the 2d day of November, 1880. I, the undersigned, supervisor of election, appointed by the circuit court of the United States, hereby certify that the foregoing return is true and correct. Witness my hand, at Prairie Bluff, Ala., this 2d day of November, 1880. T. J. SYKES, Supervisor. Your committee cannot think that the Democratic supervisors rejected this through ignorance of the law, but in violation of the same, and these votes should be given to Mr. Smith, as the electors intended them. NEWBURN PRECINCT, HALE COUNTY. The following is the evidence of the United States supervisors of this precinct, and which is corroborated by other and competent evidence, and the evidence of the actual vote will be found as follows: M. House, pp. 300-305; exhibits, pp. 429-431; E. J. Saunder, pp. 305, 308; exhibits, pp. 318-321; Lawson Hill, pp. 308, 309; exhibits, 321, 322; Granville Thompson, pp. 312, 313; exhibits, 323. MERRITT HOUSE, United States supervisor: Q. Were you present all day of the election, and did you carefully scrutinize the manner of depositing the ballots and the counting of the same?-A. I was present all the day of the election, and I carefully scrutinized the manner of depositing the ballots and also the counting of the same. Q. State fully and particularly all that was done and said after the polls were closed in reference to the counting of ballots by the inspectors, giving the name of each inspector or person who took any part or said anything about the counting of the ballots, and anything else that transpired in reference thereto on that day.-A. When the polls were closed, the inspectors, Mr. Wyley Croom, Noah Huggins, wanted to take the ballot-box from the room in which we had held the election into an office outside of the room and building where we held the election; to this I objected, and insisted upon counting the ballots there. To this Mr. Croom said he would be d -d if he didn't do it. By this time it had got dark inside the room, and I said, “If you will go in there I will take the box and carry it along." Mr. Huggins says, "You put that box down, by God; Mr. Croom is the man to carry that box." I then put the box down; Mr. Croom then took the box up, put the papers-poll-list-on top of the box; then we started from the front of the store to go out of the store at the back door, and before getting to the back door Mr. Croom and Mr. Huckleby, one of the clerks, went behind a hay pile. Robert Lee, the colored inspector, said, "What are you all going around there for? You know you can't get out there." Mr. Croom said, "Oh, that is so; and they then turned and came back and got to the right side of this hay, where there was a door, and we could see, and Mr. Johnny Huckleby had the box. Robert Lee, the colored inspector, says, "What are you doing with the box, Mr. Huckleby?" Mr. Huckleby said Merritt saw him pick the box up off the counter: witness is Merritt. I said, "No, sir; it was not you picked it up; it was Mr. Croom." To this there was no reply, and they then walked out into the next room. When we got into the next room I said, "I am not satisfied about this box." Mr. Huckleby tried to draw my attention on to another subject. Then we commenced counting, and counted a good many tickets. I then discovered that this was the wrong box. I had marked the box in the polling room with a straight mark, with my knife, under the lock, and Bob Lee made a mark across my mark, and the one we had in there had no mark on it. I then got up and said, "There are illegal tickets here; I thought something would be wrong, was my reason for not wanting to come in here." I then went out doors, and tried to go back in the room where we had been all day. I was told that the key was lost, and they wanted to know what I wanted to go in there for; I told them I wanted to go in there to get the right box; that the one they had counting the tickets out of was an illegal box. Mr. Croom and Lewis Turpin let me go into the storeroom in the front, and then I asked to go back to the hay pile, and they would not let me go, saying that that was his private room; they then made me come out of the store. Noah Huggins, one of the inspectors, then threatened to shoot me, and I said, 'Gentlemen, if I cannot count the right box, I will go home;" and then I left. This was about nine o'clock p. m. None of these votes counted for Smith, although honestly cast for him, and he should have them counted for him, and your committee so find, as they are convinced that not to do so would be an outrage upon |