586 



NEW YOKE. 



nsed, and that the agents may be permitted to j/ro- 

 ceed and take further soldiers' ballots, to be for- 

 warded to the State of New York ; and that a mili- 

 tary officer of the New York Volunteers may be 

 ebsignated by the Department to attend at the New 

 York agency to administer oaths to voters. 



The undersigned also request a copy of the charges 

 against Col. North, and the others in custody. 



Also, a permit for the undersigned to see Colonel 

 North and the others in custody, and to make provi- 

 ion for furnishing counsel to defend them. 

 AMASA J. PARKER, ) 

 W. F. ALLEN, V Commissioners. 



WILLIAM KELLY, ) 



The Secretary assented to the request, and 

 gave directions to his subordinates for their 

 compliance. Several hundred ballots were ob- 

 tained in different parcels through the Jndge 

 Advocate, which were all that had been seized. 

 They had been detained five days on their 

 way. They also visited Col. North in prison, 

 which visit they thus report : 



The undersigned availed themselves of the permit 

 granted them to visit Col. North, M. M. Jones, and 

 Levi Cohn. They found them in the " Carroll 

 prison," in close confinement. They then learned 

 that Messrs. North and Cohn had been confined 

 together in one room, and had not been permitted to 

 leave it for a moment during the four days they had 

 been prisoners, even for the purpose of answering 

 the calls of nature. They had been supplied with 

 meagre and coarse prison rations, to be eaten in 

 their room where they constantly breathed the foul 

 atmosphere arising from the standing odor. They 

 had no vessel out of which to drink water, except 

 the one furnished them for the purpose of urination. 

 They had but one chair, and had slept three of the 

 nights of their confinement upon a sack of straw on 

 the floor. They had not been permitted to see a 

 newspaper, and were ignorant of the cause of their 

 arrest. All communication between them and the 

 outer world had been denied them, and no friend 

 had been allowed to see them. The undersigned 

 complained to the acting superintendent, who seemed 

 humanely disposed, but justified his course by the 

 prison rules and the instructions of his superiors. 

 The undersigned afterwards complained of the treat- 

 ment of these persons to the Judge Advocate, and 

 also to the Secretary of War and the Assistant Secre- 

 tary, and were happy to learn at subsequent visits to 

 the prisoners that the severities were relaxed and 

 their condition made more tolerable. But at neither 

 of these visits made to the prisoners by the under- 

 signed, were they permitted to see them without a 

 special permit, and only in the presence of an officer 

 of the prison. 



Application was next made to the Judge 

 Advocate for a copy of the charges against 

 Col. North, without success. The Commis- 

 sioners then say : " From the best investiga- 

 tion the undersigned have been able to make, 

 though there may have been irregularities, 

 they have found no evidence that any frauds, 

 either against any elector or the elective fran- 

 chise, have been committed by any person con- 

 nected with the New York agency. 



They then delivered to the Secretary of War 

 the following communication as presenting 

 their case, together with a copy of their com- 

 mission, with the request that they might be 

 filed in the office of the War Department : 



WIT/LARD'S HOTEL, WASHINGTON, Nov. 1. 

 To Son. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

 Slit : We beg leave to submit to and leave with 



you a copy of the commission from Lis excellence 

 the Governor of the State of New York, under which 

 we act in behalf of that State. From it you will pel 

 ceive the nature of the duties assigned us. 



In accordance with the suggestion made by your- 

 self at our first interview yesterday, we take thj 

 liberty of submitting in writing our claims in respect 

 to the imprisonment of Col. Samuel North, Mr. Levi 

 Cohn, and Mr. Morven M. Jones, now and since 

 Thursday last in close confinement in the Old Capitol 

 prison. 



You are aware that they were, at the time of their 

 arrest, in this city (Washington) as agenta of the 

 State under authority from the proper departments, 

 to look after the interests and care for the soldiers 

 from the State of New York in the service of the 

 United States. They were not in the military or 

 naval service of the United States, and by no law 

 of which we are aware were they subject to the mar. 

 tial and military laws of the United States, or to tha 

 orders of the War Department. 



Since our interview with yourself yesterday, wa 

 have seen Col. North in the presence of his keeper. 

 By an inadvertent omission in our permit, we did 

 not see the other prisoners. 



We have also had interviews with Col. Foster, the 

 Judge Advocate, having, as we understand, charge 

 of the cases of the persons named, and have endea- 

 vored to learn the character of the offences charged 

 against Col. North and the others named, and the 

 nature of the charges made against them, and the 

 character of the proofs. This was important to en- 

 able us to inquire into and prevent any attempt or 

 anticipated frauds upon the election laws of our 

 State, if any such were threatened. The proofs are 

 withheld from us. 



The charges, so far as we can learn, are not for the 

 violation of any law of the United States, but relate 

 to acts purporting to have been done under the law 

 of the State of New York concerning elections, and 

 making provisions for soldiers voting in that State, it 

 being claimed that certain irregularities have inter- 

 vened which give reason to suspect that frauds and 

 forgeries are intended, and may be consummated. 



These suspected and anticipated frauds have re- 

 spect solely to the election laws of the Sta_te of New 

 York, and the action of the Government in making 

 the arrest is claimed to be justified upon the ground 

 that unless thus prevented frauds will be perpetrated 

 against the ballot-box at the approaching election in 

 the State of New York. 



We beg leave, in behalf of the State, respectfully 

 to protest against this jurisdiction, assumed as well 

 over the alleged ofl'ence as over the persons of the 

 accused, who are citizens of the State, in its employ, 

 and entitled to its protection. 



The proper business of the State agency is greatly 

 interfered with by the arrest and detention of the 

 agents, and the State is deprived of its proper juris- 

 diction over its agents and citizens, over offences 

 against its laws, and over its own ballot-box, and 

 the exercise of the elective franchise within its 

 limits. 



We therefore most earnestly, and at the same time 

 most respectfully, demand, as we think we may prop- 

 erly do in behalf of the State, the release of the per- 

 sons named from arrest, that they may resume their 

 business at the agency, if the Governor shall see fit 

 to continue them. 



We also ask and would urge a compliance with 

 our request that all the proofs in possession of the 

 Government of the United States tending to show 

 any wrongful acts or irregularities on the part of 

 these agents may be furnished us, that we may re- 

 port them to the Governor or other proper authority, 

 to the end that the unfaithful agents may be removed, 

 and if guilty of any offence, that they may be prop- 

 erly punished. 



We do not consider this a proper occasion to argu 

 the question of jurisdiction; but it may be fit and 



