the warrants, twenty who attempted to vote were arrested and brought before me, as I have stated.

Q. What became of the cases?-A. Of the cases of illegal registra tion, twelve were sent up to the court for trial (I knew nothing of them after they passed from my court); eighteen were discharged; and in one hundred and sixteen, no service was made of the warrants. Of the cases of refusal to answer questions, eleven were sent by me up to court or held for trial, four were discharged, two were discontinued without arrest, and one party arrested was defaulted.

Q. Who swore out these warrants for illegal registration?-A. They were sworn out by the assistant United States attorney.

Q. He made the oath and put them in your hands for execution ?—A. He made the oath; and in each complaint there was a statement of the case and the names of the witnesses to substantiate it, which were filed with the papers in the case.

Q. From where was the information upon which this complaint was made gathered-A. That information was gathered from the supervisors and from the deputy marshals.

Q. From the reports made to you by the supervisors?-A. From the reports made to me by the supervisors and from personal inquiry of the witnesses.

Q. Why were not all the warrants executed on election day, when they had been sworn out and issued?—A. For the reason I have already stated, that these persons were charged with illegal registration, whereas the fact was, as to many of them, that they had done nothing toward procuring the placing of their names upon the voting-list. I personally knew of several cases in which the persons whose names appeared there were foreigners not entitled to vote and had no knowledge of the fact of their names so appearing. In such cases I did not feel at liberty to make arrests until I was fully satisfied that the placing of their names there was due to some act of their own.

Q. Were these men against whom warrants were thus issued notified of the fact that these warrants for their arrest were in the hands of the officers-A. No one knew it; their names were not given to the public.

Q. Were they notified of that fact by the supervisors on election. morning or prior to it ?—A. Not by me; nor could they have been by the supervisors if the supervisors followed my instructions, that those warrants were not to be used unless the parties voted. It was not my intention that they should be used except in that contingency. My instructions to the supervisors were to keep those warrauts private and not to execute a warrant except in case of the party voting.

Q. I understand you to say that a number of warrants were issued on account of refusals to answer questions?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. Who made oath to the facts contained in any information for a warrant against a person refusing to answer questions propounded by the marshal?-A. My impression is that it was the deputy marshal or the supervisor to whom the refusal had been made.

Q. Is that an offense known to the United States law?-A. Yes, sir. Q. That is, when a voter-- A. When a voter shall refuse to answer, or, answering, shall answer untruly any question that may be put to him.

Q. Does that apply, in your judgment, to the day of election and the offer to register, or does it apply to any casual conversation that the marshal or other official may have with the party asking the right to

vote?-A. It applies to a formal interrogation made by the officer or person known to the party answering the question to be such officer.

Q. At any time or place?—A. At any time or place.

Q. That is your view of the United States law?-A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you have acted under it in Boston?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. How many warrants were issued on account of refusals to answer questions?-A. Eighteen.

Q. How many parties have been sent to court for that offense?-A. Eleven.

Q. Have any of those cases been tried to your knowledge?-A. I do not know.

Q. How many of those warrants were issued for refusals by the voters to answer questions on the election day?—A. None.

Q. How many for refusals to answer questions propounded to the voters at the place of registration?-A. None.

Q. Then all the warrants that were issued were for refusal to answer questions at a place other than the place of registration or of voting ?A. Yes, sir; all were for refusal of parties to answer questions at their place of abode or place of business.

Q. Have you any minute of the hearings, if any, that took place when a person was brought before you for any of the offenses charged in any of these warrants?—A. I have not. It is not my custom to take miuutes in any cases.

Q. Have you the record of the warrants in all of those cases in which the parties came before you and were discharged?-A. I have. I say that I bave, but I should say that my papers were all returned to the next term of the court. Those papers are all upon the files of the court, having been returned by me to the district court. I think that it was to the next term of court.

Q. Did any of these hearings occur prior to the election day?-A. My impression is that some of them did, though I could answer that question definitely by referring to my books.

Q. If you can speak with comparative accuracy from recollection it may not be necessary for you to make the reference. When you had a party thus before you and he was discharged, was anything said to him in regard to voting ?-A. If I was satisfied that he had no right to vote I cautioned him against voting.

Q. You told him not to vote?-A. I told him not to vote and told him that a warrant for his arrest would be at the polls and that in case he voted he would be arrested. There were many such cases in which a party who had declined to answer the officer was brought before me (I issued my warrants and they came before me), and in every instance but one when I put to them the question which they had declined to answer when put by the deputy marshal or supervisor, they made answer. If when I asked them whether they were naturalized they replied that they were not, I said "You are not entitled to vote although your name is upon the voting-list; if you vote you will vote at your peril and a warrant will be there for your arrest." In any instance in which I found the party was not entitled to vote because he could not read or write, I cautioned him in the same way. If not entitled because of being under age, as was the case in one or two instances, or for any reason, I cautioned him against voting and told him he would be arrested if he did rote.

Q. Did you in any of these cases, under a warrant issued prior to the election, bind over the party for his appearance at court?-A. Those

that were for refusing to answer questions, the eleven that were held to court, were all prior to the election.

Q. But as to those who you, in your judgment, determined were not entitled to vote-did you bind any of those men over to court at that time or not?—A. I did not so far as I can remember. I think I had no hearings prior to the election because of my being so much occupied at the time, but that all the cases were continued by me until after the election. Q. Do you say now that you told these men who were brought before you, against whom warrants had been issued, that they must not vote?— A. I warned them against voting. I did not tell them that they must not vote, but I warned them that, if they did vote, they would be ar rested for voting.

Q. There were how many cases of that character?-A. Ten or a dozen, perhaps more.

Q. With reference to the character of the illegal registration of which you have spoken, state whether these warrants that were sworn out were for offenses against the State law, or for offenses against the United States law?-A. They were issued because the parties were not voters under the State law, either in not having been naturalized, or in being unable to comply with the reading and writing requirement of the State constitution.

Q. By way of defining the distinction more clearly in my own mind, I will ask you this: The non-naturalization was in violation of a Federal statute?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. And the non-compliance with the State requirement, under your State constitution, for an educational qualification was another reason why some of these men were about to be arrested for illegal registration?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. The warrants for their arrest were issued by Federal authority, that is, by yourself, and put into the hands of the Federal marshal ?— A. Yes, sir.

Q. Then there were other warrants issued for alleged improper regis. tration-A. They were all issued under the general charge of illegal registration; no distinction was made.

Q. But in the one instance they were to enforce a distinction imposed by the State, and, in the other, a distinction regarding United States citizenship. I want to ascertain, if it can be ascertained, as to these alleged offenses, how many were against the State laws and how many can properly be taken cognizance of as against the United States laws-A. It would be a pure guess ou my part as to the number. I cannot give it.

Q. Under the law of Massachusetts, is the appearance upon the reg istration or voting list of the name of a man offering to vote a conclusive test of his right to vote?-A. The name of a man offering to vote must appear upon one of the voting lists. Those lists are posted in conspicuous places some ten days before an election. No man can vote whose name is not upon one of those lists. The list has been handed down to us, I may almost say, from former generations. It has been in existence for perhaps thirty or forty years.

Q. That registry list is the evidence of the citizen's right to vote?— A. It is the evidence of the citizen's right to vote.

Q. State the process under which that conclusive test of the right to vote is made up.-A. That is a matter pertaining to State regulation with which I am not entirely familiar.

Q. It is made up partly from State sources and under State laws?A. Yes, sir. In connection with what I have already stated on the sub

ject, I will say that, after the election was over, I had in my hands, unserved, the papers in some 140 complaints for illegal registration. I had become satisfied from investigation that there were many errors in the list of voters in the city of Boston, and that persons whose names appeared on the voting list improperly were by no means responsible for the appearance of their names there. In conference with the United States attorney, it was decided to take a few of these 140 cases, examine into them and see what the nature of the registration was in the city of Boston. Some four or five warrants were served, the parties brought up, and the city clerk and one member of the board of registrars of the city summoned as witnesses. The city clerk testified as to the form in which the voting lists had been prepared. His testimony showed that it had been the custom to copy names from the city assessors' list directly upon the voting lists; that the city assessors, who went around to assess the taxes, would get the names of the residents in the houses; and the city clerk had been in the habit of taking those lists from the city assessors and copying the names directly upon the voting lists. In many instances, the names of men who had been in the country but a short time, who had not been naturalized and were in no way entitled to vote, got upon the voting lists in that way without any wrongful intention of and without even the knowledge of the men themselves.

Q. Then I understand you to state as the result of the examination you have made in regard to it that that registry list, although it is the evidence under State laws of the right of a man to vote, is in many instances a defective list ?-A. I found that upon examination.

Q. But in 140 of the 169 cases the warrants were not executed?—A. In about 120, I should say.

Q. Do I understand you to say that any of these warrants were served before the 5th day of November?—A. The warrants for refusals to answer were all served before the 5th of November.

Q. But as to those issued for offenses connected with illegal registration, what is the fact?-A. There were thirty warrants issued for illegal registration. I do not think that any of those were served prior to the election, these matters having occurred a year ago and not having been thought over by me since. I cannot answer in regard to them with precise accuracy, as I would be enabled to answer by reference to my books and papers.

Mr. McDONALD. If, upon reflection, you find that your memory has been at fault in regard to any statements you have made here, you will be at liberty to make the correction.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Q. Were any warrants executed upon the morning of the election day? -A. Twenty warrants were executed upon the morning of the election dav.

Q. Were they all in one locality or in different localities throughout the city?-A. Throughout the city, in different directions, impartially. Q. For what offense were they issued; was it for the consummation of the illegal registration?-A. For the consummation of the illegal registration, or for illegal voting in cases where I felt satisfied that the party himself bad procured the registration.

Q. Are those the cases of which you have sent a portion to court?A. Those cases have been to court, and many of them have been tried, as I am informed. That record is in the district attorney's office.

Q. The verbal instructions given by you to the supervisors in the differ

ent wards were the same in each locality, were they?-A. From time to time, as the supervisors applied to me, I gave them instructions upon particular questions which they put to me, and upon one or two occa sions instructed them orally. On one occasion, the day before the election, having them all together, I addressed them orally and also issued to them a paper containing general instructions for the government of their conduct at the polls, a copy of which I now submit to the committee.

[The paper is as follows:]

INSTRUCTIONS TO SUPERVISORS.

OFFICE OF CHIEF SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS,
MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT,
Boston, November 1, 1878.

In compliance with the provisions of the several acts of Congress, the following instructions are issued to supervisors of election, appointed under the laws of the United States with reference to the election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, A. D. 1878. Supervisors of election are expected and required to attend the places of election in the respective wards and voting precincts to which they have been appointed from the opening of the polls until their close, and perform the following duties:

1. To check upon the voting-list furnished them, the name of every person who votes. This duty will be performed at each precinct, by the supervisors selected by the chief supervisor for that duty. Immediately on the closing of the polls, the voting list will be placed in the envelope provided for that purpose, sealed up, and retained by the supervisor who has kept it, who will return it, together with the certificate of the ballots polled, to the chief supervisor on the morning of the day after the election. 2. To challenge the vote of every person marked for challenge on the voting list furnished you, and any vote offered by any person whose legal qualifications the supervisors, or either of them, may doubt. You will also note on your voting list any name challenged by any other person, and the reason for such challenge. Should any one offer to vote on the name of any person marked on your list for arrest, you will at once order his arrest by a deputy marshal. The law authorizes the arrest, without warrant, of any person voting, or attempting to vote, illegally, in the presence of a supervisor. If no deputy marshal is present, the law authorizes the supervisor himself to make the arrest without warrant. Should you have to do so, you will give the person so arrested to the custody of the police, and at once resume your duty at the ballot-box.

3. To be and remain continually where the ballot-boxes are kept, after the polls are open until each and every vote cast at said time and place shall be counted, the canvass of all votes polled be wholly completed, and the proper and requisite certificates or returns are made, signed, and endorsed.

4. To personally inspect and scrutinize, from time to time, and at all times, the manner in which the voting is done, and the way and method in which the voting list, talleys, or check lists are kept.

Supervisors are cautioned against any interference with the officers appointed by the city government to take charge of the polls, unless such officers should act in direct violation of law.

5. You are authorized and directed, the better to enable you to discharge your duties, to take, occupy, and remain in such position or positions, from time to time, whether before or behind the ballot-boxes as will, in your judgment, best enable you to see each person offering to vote, and as will best conduce to your scrutinizing the manner in which the voting is being conducted.

In the discharge of this duty, you will be careful not to interfere unnecessarily with the city officers.

6. At the closing of the polls for the reception of votes, you are required to place yourself in such a position in relation to the ballot-boxes, for the purpose of engaging in the work of canvassing the ballots in said boxes contained, as will fully enable you to count and canvass each and every ballot in each and every box.

If it is found inconvenient for you to count the votes at the same time with the city inspectors, you will wait until they have made their count and canvass, and then proceed to make yours, being careful that each supervisor examines and counts every ballot cast.

7. A certificate of the total number of votes, the number of votes cast for each candidate for the office of governor and Representative in Congress, will be made out on the blanks furnished, and signed by both supervisors, and returned in a sealed envelope to the chief supervisor on the morning of the day after the election.