CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



167 



Frederick C. Humphries, William H. Holden, and 

 Thomas W. Long, whereby the defendants, after 

 having appeared, pleaded, and put in issue the 

 questions of their own right and title and that of the 

 relators to act as such electors, and after full hear- 

 ing, it was duly and lawfully adjudged by said court 

 that the said Charles H. Pearce, Frederick C. Hum- 

 phries, William H. Holden and Thomas W. Long 

 were not, nor was any one of them elected, chosen, 

 or appointed, or entitled to be declared elected, 

 chosen, or appointed as such electors or elector, or 

 to receive certificates or certificate of election or ap- 

 pointment as such electors or elector ; and that the 

 said respondents were not, upon the said 6th day of 

 December, or at any other time, entitled to assume or 

 exercise any of the powers or functions of such elec- 

 tors or elector, but that they were, upon the said 

 day and date, usurpers, and that all and singular 

 their acts and doings as such were and are illegal, 

 null, and void. And it is further considered and 

 developed that said electors, Robert Bullock, Robert 

 B. Hilton, Wilkinson Call, and James E. Yonge, all 

 and singular, were at said election duly elected, 

 chosen, and appointed electors of President and 

 Vice-President of the United States, and were, on 

 said 6th day of December, 1876, entitled to be de- 

 clared elected, chosen, and appointed as such elec- 

 tors, and to have and receive certificates thereof, 

 and upon the said day and date, and at all times 

 since, to exercise and perform all and singular the 

 powers and duties of such electors, and to have and 

 enjoy the pay and emoluments thereof. 



For that the four persons last named did, as such 

 electors, on December 6, 1876, cast the four votes of 

 Florida for Mr. Tilden as President and Mr. Hen- 

 dricks as Vice-President, and as well in that respect 

 as in all others acting in entire and perfect conform- 

 ity with the Constitution of the United States, cer- 

 tified the same vote to the President of the Senate. 



They did everything toward the authentication of 

 such votes required by the Constitution of the 

 United States or by any act of Congress, except sec- 

 tion 136 of the Revised Statutes ; and in conformity 

 with the aforesaid judgment of the Florida court, 

 the Governor of Florida, who had been duly inducted 

 into office subsequent to December 6, 1877, did, on 

 the 26th day of January, 1877, give to the last-named 

 four electors the triplicate lists prescribed by said 

 act of Congress (Revised Statutes of the United 

 States, section 136), which they forwarded, as pre- 

 scribed by the act of Congress, as a supplement to 

 their former certificate in that behalf. And in sup- 

 port of said objections and claims the undersigned 

 beg leave to refer to the reasons and documents sub- 

 mitted herewith, and to such petitions, depositions, 

 papers, and evidence as may be hereafter produced, 

 and as may be competent and pertinent in consider- 

 ing the said objections and claims. 



Among the papers herewith submitted are the 

 following, namely : 



1. So much of the official Congressional Record 

 of February 1, 1877, as contains the report of the 

 House committee on the recent election in Florida. 



2. The original report of said committee. 



3. A certified copy of the act of the Legislature 

 of Florida, approved January 17, 1877, entitled 

 " An act to procure a legal canvass of the electoral 

 vote of the State of Florida, as cast at an election 

 held on the 7th of November, 1876." 



4. A certificate of the State canvasser of the elec- 

 tion held November 6, 1876, dated January 19, 1877. 



5. A certified copy of an act of the Legislature 

 of the State of Florida, approved January 26, 1877, 

 entitled " An act to declare and establish the ap- 

 pointment by the State of Florida of electors of 

 President and Vice-President." 



6. The certificate of George F. Drew, Governor 

 of the State of Florida, of the names of the elec- 

 tors chosen on the 7th day of November, 1876, bear- 

 ing date January 26, 1877. 



7. The certificate of Wilkinson Call, J. E. Yonge, 

 R. B. Hilton, and Robert Bullock, elected and ap- 

 pointed by the State of Florida, of the vote cast for 

 President and Vice-President by them, bearing date 

 of January 26, 1877. 



8. The" record of the proceedings and judg- 

 ment of the Circuit Court of Leon County, second 

 judicial circuit of the State of Florida, on informa- 

 tion in the nature of quo warranto, in the name of 

 the State of Florida ex rel. F. C. Humphries, Charles 

 H. Pearce, William H. Holden, and T. W. Long; 

 also, a certified copy of the act of the Legislature of 

 the State of Florida, approved January 26, 1877, 

 aforesaid, and the certificate of the State canvassers 

 aforesaid, and the proceedings and judgment on the 

 information aforesaid, transmitted to and received 

 by the House of Representatives on the 31st day of 

 January, 1877. 



CHARLES W. JONES, ) 

 HENRY COOPER, > Senators. 



j. E MCDONALD, ) 



DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, 1 M , -., 



J. R. TUCKER, 



^ House of 



G. A. JENKS, 

 WILLIAM SPRINGER, 



Representatives. 



The Presiding Officer: "Are there further 

 objections to the certificates from the State of 

 Florida?" 



Senator Sargent, of California: "In behalf 

 of certain Senators and members of the House 

 of Representatives who signed the same, I pre- 

 sent three papers containing objections ; the 

 first one of which I send to the Clerk's desk, 

 and ask to have it now read." 



The Secretary of the Senate read as follows : 



An objection is interposed to the certificates, or 

 papers purporting to be certificatesj of the electoral 

 vote of the State of Florida as having been cast by 

 Wilkinson Call, J. E. Yonge, R. B. Hilton, and 

 Robert Bullock, upon the ground that said certifi- 

 cates or papers are not authenticated according to 

 the requirements of the Constitution and laws of the 

 United States so as to entitle them to be received or 

 read, or the votes stated therein, or any of them, to 

 be counted in the election of President and Vice- 

 President. 



S. B. CONOVER, 



A. A. SARGENT, 



JOHN SHERMAN, 



H. M. TELLER, 



WM. WOODBURN, 



MARK H. DUNNELL, 



JOHN A. KASSON, 



GEO. W. McCRARY, 



Senators. 



Members of the 



House of 

 Representatives. 



Senator Sargent : " On the same behalf, I 

 present the paper which I send up and ask to 

 have read." 



The Secretary of the Senate read as follows : 

 An objection is interposed to the certificates, or 

 papers purporting to be certificates, of the electoral 

 votes oi the State of Florida as having been cast by 

 James E. Yonge, Wilkinson Call, Robert B. Hilton, 

 and Robert Bullock, upon the ground that said cer- 

 tificates or papers do not include or are not accom- 

 panied by (in the package or inclosure in which 

 they were received and opened by the President of 

 the Senate in the presence of the two Houses) the 

 certificate of the executive authority of the State of 

 Florida, of the list of the names of said electors, 

 Yonge, Call, Hilton, and Bullock, or any of them, us 

 being said electors ; nor are said certificates or papers 

 objected to accompanied by any valid or lawful cer- 

 tification or authentication of said electors, Yon^e, 

 Call, Hilton, and Bullock, or any of them, as having 

 been appointed or as being electors to cast the elec- 



