put in the box, when Mr. Dousman, inspector, drew from the box two ballots, both of which were for King. (Signed,) JAMES H. HALL. Sworn and subscribed to, this ninth November, 1840, before me. SAMUEL ABBOTT, Notary Public. Joseph Ranville's Affidavit. State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: I, Joseph Ranville, being duly sworn, depose and say, that I am well acquainted with the father of Francois Robinson, which Francois Robinson is now a resident of this county, and that the said father of Francois, is a full negro, and was married to a Canadian woman, in the city of Montreal, Lower Canada, and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, said Francois is his son, by said woman; and further deponent saith November, 1840. Subscribed and sworn to before me, this eighteenth day of WILLIAM JOHNSTON, H. G. Graverat, Jr.'s Affidavit. State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: I, Henry G. Graverat, Jr., being duly sworn, depose and say, that I was present at the general election held in the township of St. Ignace, in this county, on the second day of November, 1840, and that I then and there saw Francois Robinson, mentioned in the above deposition, offer his vote at said election, and that his vote was received by the inspectors of election, without being challenged, and was deposited in the ballot boxes, in the usual manner. (Signed,) HENRY G. GRAVERAT, Jr. Sworn and subscribed to before me, this eighteenth day of November, in the year 1840. WILLIAM JOHNSTON, Justice Peace. Jairus Rankin's Affidavit. State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: Jairus Rankin being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that at the general election holden in the township of Holmes, in said county, on the second and third days of November, 1840, I was present as a voter; that I was present during the canvassing of the votes for representative for said county; that on the commencement of said canvass, J. P. King, one of the inspectors, retired, and the canvass was conducted by Michael Dousman, William Johnston, and Gilbert S. Skiff, justices of the peace, and William D. Holt, the two last being young men, and I believe never before having acted as inspectors. In counting the ballots in the representative box, it was found to contain 119 representative ballots and one state ballot, being 120 in the whole; the state ballot befng thrown aside, they were again counted, and were found to agree with the poll list, viz: 119 votes for representative. Upon canvassing the same, there were found to be 121 ballots, viz: 52 for King, and 69 for Drew, 50 of King's votes were written, and Drew's were printed, the canvassers divided the ballots on the table, Mr. Holt opened them and Mr. Dousman called them over; King's were called first, and tallied 50; they then called over Drew's, and among them were found two ballots in which Drew's name was erased, and that of King's inserted; these Mr. Holt held in his hand until Drew's votes were all tallied, they were then called and placed to King's list, making 52, and laid upon the table; Mr. Johnston took them up, and said these are the extra or surplus votes, and must be destroyed; this was disputed and was not agreed to; it was then proposed to put them back into the box and draw two ballots out, which was done by Mr. Dousman, by the consent of the board, one ballot of each delegate was drawn, leaving King 51, and Drew 68, which was undoubtedly right; Mr. Johnston then evinced a disposition that two of King's votes must be destroyed at all hazards, and takes up the two altered votes, and says, these are the extra votes, and must be destroyed, and tears them to pieces; here some altercation took place, in which Mr. Johnston said that he would not agree to what the board had done in the case; that it was not right; that it must be done over again, and was finally seconded by Mr. Dousman; and by his, Johnston's advice and request, the ballots were again put into the box, when he, Johnston, wrote four new ballots with a pencil, stating that three of them were for King and one for Drew, making up the hundred and twenty-one as at first canvassed; Mr. Dousman again drew from the box, two ballots, both of which, as it proved in the result, were for King, whereupon the board declared that Drew had nineteen majority. (Signed,) JAIRUS RANKIN. Sworn and subscribed before me, this sixteenth day of No vember, 1840. SAMUEL ABBOTT, State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: This is to certify that Samuel Abbott is a notary public in and for the county of Mackinac, duly commissioned and qualified according to law, and that the above signature, purporting to be his, is genuine, and that his attestations to the affidavits of Gilbert S. Skiff, Nathan Nickerson and James H. Hall, accompanying this, is the genuine signature of the said notary. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and [L. S.] official seal, this eighteenth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty. J. P. KING, County Clerk. Joseph La Faver's Affidavit. State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: I, Joseph La Faver, being duly sworn, depose and say, that whereas Jonas A. Stone, has publicly stated, that I told him, some time previous to the late general election, that Mr. John A. Drew, one of the candidates for representative for this county, promised to give me one dollar per day and my board, if I voted for him, or so long as I should attend the said election; I, therefore, do swear that his statement is false and malicious, and that Mr. John A. Drew never, either directly or indirectly, made me such a promise, to the best of my knowledge. (Signed,) his JOSEPH LA FAVER. mark. Sworn and subscribed to before me, the twelfth day of No vember, in the year 1840. WILLIAM JOHNSTON, Justice of Peace. Gilbert S. Skiff's Affidavit. State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: I, Gilbert S. Skiff, being duly sworn, do depose and say, that I, together with Michael Dousman, Jonathan P. King, William Johnston and William D. Holt, were inspectors at the general election held in the township of Holmes, in this county, on the second and third instant, that the inspectors canvass for "state," "congress" and "senate," was conducted by all the inspectors; that at the commencement of the "representative" box, Mr. King retired; that on first counting the ballots for representative, they agreed with the poll lists at one hundred and nineteen, (one ballot belonging to another box being among them, but discarded;) that on canvassing the same, there were found one hundred and twenty-one ballots, viz: fifty-two for Mr. King, and sixty-nine for Mr. Drew; that the ballots were taken from the table to be called, instead of being drawn from the box. It was agreed by the board of inspectors to put the ballots into the box and draw therefrom two ballots, and destroy them; this being done, it appeared that one ballot for each candidate had been drawn and destroyed, leaving Mr. Drew seventeen majority. Fifty of the ballots for Mr. King, were written ones, and two of them altered ones from the printed ballots of Mr. Drew, whose ballots were nearly all printed. The board after much altercation, agreed to draw a second time; before which, one of the inspectors had torn and destroyed the two altered ballots for Mr. King, as before mentioned, and four new ballots were written with a pencil, three of which were for Mr. King, and one for Mr. Drew. These new ballots were then put with the others into the box, and one of the inspectors again drew two from the box, both of which proved to be for Mr. King. (Signed,) GILBERT S. SKIFF. Sworn and subscribed before me, this eighteenth day of November, 1840. SAMUEL ABBOTT, Notary Public. N. Nickerson's Affidavit. State of Michigan, county of Mackinac, ss: I, Nathan Nickerson, being duly sworn, depose and say, that I was one of the clerks at the general election holden in the township of Holmes, in the county of Mackinac, on the second and third days of November, 1840; that the canvass of the representative box was performed by Michael Dousman, William Johnston, William D. Holt and Gilbert S. Skiff, Jonathan P. King, one of the inspectors, having retired; that on first counting the ballots, 120 ballots were found, one of which proving to be for another box, was discarded, making the ballots and poll lists to agree at 119; the said ballots were left scattered on the table, the inspectors separating the printed ones for Mr. Drew, from the written ones of Mr. King; they were thus taken from the table to be called on the canvass, instead of being drawn from the ballot box; on canvassing the same, there were found two ballots too many, viz: fifty-two for Mr. King, and sixty-nine for Mr. Drew; fifty of those for Mr. King were written, and two of them altered from the printed ballots of Mr. Drew, whose ballots were all printed. It was then agreed by the board to return the ballots into the box, and that two ballots should be drawn and destroyed; this was done, and one ballot for each candidate drawn out and destroyed, thus leaving Mr. Drew seventeen majority. This result not proving satisfactory to the board, and two ballots for Mr. King having been destroyed by one of the board, it was, after more than one hour's altercation, decided that new ballots should be made, and a new drawing had. Four new ballots, three for King and one for Drew, as stated, were then written, by one of the board, with a pencil, and with the other ballots, put into the box, and two ballots for Mr. King drawn and destroyed; the table where the canvass was held being surrounded nearly the whole time and crowded upon by noisy and excited spectators. Deponent has many times acted either as inspector or clerk of elections, and understands the manner of conducting them; and he considers the canvass of the said representative box, to have been fraudulently and illegally conducted; deponent is of the opinion and belief, that had the said canvass been legally conducted, Mr. Drew would have had a majority of fifteen only, over Mr. King, in said township of Holmes. (Signed,) NATHAN NICKERSON. Sworn and subscribed before me, this sixteenth day of November, 1840. SAMUEL ABBOTT, Notary Public. [No. 16.] Report of the committee to whom was referred the memorial in relation to the Saginaw election. The committee on elections, to whom was recommitted their report upon the matter of the Saginaw election, and to whom was referred the memorial of Hiram L. Miller, together with certain other papers relating thereto, ask leave to report: That they have investigated, as far as they are able to do, the said matters referred to them. The report of the board |